A fish?! Seriously! No… two fishes! (fish?fishes?fish umm fishi?) All silliness aside, this comic obviously seems a bit of a stretch. But it does however maintain interesting parts of Jesus’ life and character. Fishers of men, nails through the wrists (where most Christian paintings focus Jesus’ holes from the nails in his hands, which would have pulled off due to the weight of a body), the crown of thorns and the purple kings sash. Fighting with fishes doesn’t add up to any Biblical story, but fish was significant imagery within the Biblical narrative. So the interest comes in the details, the fight between Jesus and Superman aside, it does present an interesting take on who Jesus was.
Modern myths team up to fight crime… it makes sense right? Both are too absurd to be real and so why not distort their original character and make them fight crime along side the wave of heroes that culture celebrates today?
But for millions of people in present day and many more in history … he’s a lot more than just a sidekick to Santa. But once again, if you can make a quick buck and degrade people who’ve often caused religious hurt and pain, why not give it a go right? There’s not a comic writer in the world who wouldn’t want to make money, and Jesus can be a productive name to mock or to promote.
So what do we do Church? Do we respond to this? Do we laugh it off and keep going? Perhaps we simply use it as a conversation starter with a superhero subculture, it would be a great tool to explain who He really is. Not to attack, but to love.
In today’s society there’s lots to say about the Zombie culture. But Jesus fighting along side Abraham Lincoln as a zombie slayer… come one world. This has gotta be one of the longest reaches for a story line I’ve encountered as I look into Jesus in comic/superhero universes. It’s a definite twist from the Biblical Jesus that millions have learned about for millennia. Now he’s swinging a bat and breaking skulls… oh boy.
Beyond the outrageousness of the cover, the concept that “Jesus hates Zombies” might be accurate, or rather what they are being used to do. The obsession in our current culture with the undead has diluted concepts of an afterlife and promoted obviously grotesque violence. If people can hide their concerns of life after death in a morbid culture, then they don’t have to face their worries and thoughts. So does Jesus hate Zombies – I imagine he’s not to fond of them, but He is all about real people.
With a quick glance into the halls of time – this modern Superhero image meets an older church ideology. This screams a bit of arrogance and “we’re right so deal with it” mentality… is that truly Christian? Obviously it’s an image that is mostly to affirm Christians, after all what person without a connection to religion or church is going to know what ‘saved’ means in this context. This ideology seems to come out of an old (but still very present) church inbreeding mentality. The focus is inside the church and those outside are outcast… clearly far from the heart of the Biblical Jesus that we study yet this reality is something many church people live in unaware.
Truthfully this image is straying again from the exact image of Jesus that this blog was intended for; but I felt it warranted a deeper look. I get truly concerned when Christians forget the power of words and the importance of love. Now – is this made by a Christian? We don’t know. But images like these and ideologies often do more harm a good. Just wondering if Jesus has to deal with Christians sometimes to get them out-of-the-way of the Gospel picture. He left it up to us to spread His message, not as Superheroes but more like messengers. A humbling role to be sure.
“there’s only one God ma’am, and I’m pretty sure He doesn’t dress like that”
Note: While it strays a little from the direct imagery of Jesus that I normally write about, this quote has been burned into my mind since first seeing Avengers in theatres and I simply have to include it in my writings about superheroes and faith.
People certainly can form some interesting images when trying to fathom an infinite being. From the abstract to the ornate, human beings have been blessed with an incredible imagination and flowing from that comes ideas and pictures of God. Captain America demonstrates his own views of God, while Black Widow cites the Asgardians as “practically gods”. It is clear that both aren’t communicating the same thought process. Widow seeks to warn Cap of the danger, while Cap simply says that these men aren’t what people like to make them out to be. But isn’t that the trick? How often do we make God out, intentionally or not, to be exactly what we want Him to be? Which ever is easiest to accept, or reject depending on our momentary desires; we fit God into our mild of what He should be. He shouldn’t dress like a fanciful comic character but yet He should somehow look majestic and creative. He should bend space and time and free will to make our lives easier, but He’s not to be a tyrant and a dictator. The truth of the matter, in my opinion, is that there is only one God – and He doesn’t look exactly like we want Him too. Fortunately for us His book does shed some light onto who He is and what He’s like.
May we constantly strive to know the True God – not our image of His likeness.
The honest cry of our world looks something similar to this… yet they know it not. Christ was the Hero the world needs but most certainly not what we deserved and yet the cry doesn’t go out night after night to see the Saviour come through for the masses. If most of us are honest, we might be glad that there isn’t a Christian equivalent of the Bat-signal. Because if there were then the world would also have a way to call us into action and saying no might be just a little harder.
The reality is that the world is desperate for something greater than themselves, the entire genre of the Superhero displays the aspiration to be something and someone greater. Jesus Christ fills that desire and gives Kingdom purpose which is much greater than the worlds current plight. Yet as the signal shines across the city, it remains unanswered by the messengers left to point the seeking to the Saviour. I wonder if that’s how many people deep down see Jesus, as an unanswered Bat-signal. A cry for help, unheeded because His people were either asleep or too focused on improving the Bat-caves speakers and lighting.
Pop Culture hasn’t only been affected by the main stream world… sadly there has been some less then stellar Christian influences that have shaped the view of Jesus within today’s world. Here we find a normal everyday, run of mill, incredibly cheesy Christian comic book based on a hero who defeats demons… An archetype of the Christ figure, Captain Salvation vanquishes evil across the earth. Really? That’s the best we can do? If we only considered images and concepts like these, it’d be no great wonder that humanity views Jesus Christ as cheap and outdated. When the Christian community presents their own brand of pop culture, complete with its own language and way of speech, we lose an entire genre of fans. If a young comic enthusiast wants to find something (the following is a rare situation I know) with a more positive influence – He might have to look past DC’s the New 52 and the recent Marvel comics released. But when he does what does he find?
I’m not saying that Christianity go to the polar opposite and create really great looking garbage… But could we at least take our eyes off our own selfs and realize that everything we create, post and produce is watched by the world. If media is where a modern day youth base their opinions off of, then Christianity had better awaken on all fronts, not just on the coattails of Captain Salvation.
So the Olympians decided to stop by the crucifixion to trash talk Jesus.
(Note that Jesus is the primary consideration when it comes to the Deities of earth. Marvel comics could have drawn from an long list of other deities and yet Jesus rose to the forefront of the issue.)
… Jesus then jumps off the cross and proceeds to silently battle the Greek gods, ending with a show down between the silent Lamb and the arrogant Zeus ensues.
My initial response was one of resigned shock and mild annoyance … really? They actually made this and sold it? Beyond the cheesy art and over-exaggerated dialogue, this image brought to light the misunderstandings of the Cross and sad misrepresentation of the Christian Saviour. Personally I felt an initial offence and need to rebuttal this material. Yet, that was simply what the authors were doing, creating a situation in which a non-violent Saviour would strike out. Maybe it made us feel better about our humanity and need for blood, maybe it let a Christian feel justification for fighting against those who disagreed or argued that “my religious beliefs are better”. Whatever the case, it presents and interesting notion for Christians to understand. The understanding of the Cross and of Jesus as a person, in the outside worlds minds, is tragically lacking truth and objectivity. Redeeming such an image, or entire comic, would only be possible by dialogue and intelligent discussion about the presented ideas. If an argumentative or defensive attitude are present within the Christian, the discussion will lead to even deeper misrepresentation.
A thought drawn from the concepts rather than the direct image itself – how often do we need to defend ourselves viciously and defend our beliefs with an air of attack in our breath? Why do we feel the need to fight back? If we truly believe truth is on our side – shouldn’t peace be also?
Superheroes have grown increasingly in popularity throughout the past 70 years, since the release of Action Comics issue #1 – which was the birth of Superman. Ironically, a genre created with the first hero bearing elements of a Christ figure, now gives way for internet comedians to mock anything and everything.
One such comedian produces this image, one superhero’s power against a religious figure in an attempt to disarm the powerful acts of the religious figure. Essentially, “My dad’s bigger than your dad!” – in this Thor v. Jesus image, this is the argument that we find, an attempt at humour yet (not so) subtly targeting the Christian beliefs. Personally I do find it a clever play on logic, if only for a second. Considering the full scope of the image’s message, it bears little thought to the believing question – while Thor bears a hammer, Jesus rose again, in spite of the nails. Redeeming this image, that is using it for a purpose that is positive for the Christian message, would be a simple task with the given content. For it allows for discussion and illumination into the true Christ story and could in fact bring contrast of the Norse-god’s tale and those found in Christianity.
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