Oropeza, B.J., ed.
New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2005. 295 pp. $32.95 (USD). ISBN: 0820474223.
[1] As Superman Returns hit movie theatres in the
summer of 2006, debates arose in newspaper columns, entertainment
shows, and Christian evangelical media channels about whether Superman
should be understood as a Christ-like saviour figure. Superman,
of course, originated as a comic book hero created by Jerry Siegel
and Joe Shuster, two Jewish Americans, in Action Comics #1
(1938), where he is described as the “champion of the oppressed” who
was sent by his father to our planet in order to “devote his
existence to helping those in need.” On the cover of
this first issue, Superman stands in an active pose in blue tights
and a fluttering red cape, lifting a green car over his head to
prevent it from crashing into an innocent victim. In tribute
to this issue, Superman Returns features a scene in which
Superman (actor Brandon Routh) stands in the same iconic posture,
holding up villainess Kitty’s car to prevent its crash. Does
this salvific act have a religious message? What is the relationship
between comic book superheroes and religion? What place do
the stories of superheroes like Superman have in our lives? These
are some of the questions explored in the collection of essays that
make up The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Popular
Culture, edited by B.J. Oropeza.
[2] In the introduction, Oropeza outlines his approach to the study
of religion and popular culture, drawing upon phenomenologist Mircea
Eliade to explain how superhero stories “tap into universal
mythic elements” (4). Focusing on the theme of the quest
for a restored paradise, he explains how superheroes typically have
suffered a tragic loss of one kind or another (for Superman it is
the destruction of his home world and the loss of his birth parents)
which impels them to battle evil forces and work toward the betterment
of society in an effort to bring about paradise on Earth: “As
in virtually all traditions, saviors are sent to overcome evil and
restore people to paradise” (7).
[3] The essays in The Gospel According to Superheroes are
divided into three sections. In the first, the classic American
superheroes of the 1930s and ’40s “Golden Age” are
discussed: Superman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, and the early
Batman. The first chapter, for example, is an essay by Ken
Schenck (“Superman: A Popular Culture Messiah”) that
explores the seemingly countless variations on the theme of the
restored paradise as Superman has been recast over time by different
comic book creators and in new media like radio plays, television
shows, and films. For creators Siegel and Shuster, Superman’s
origination story was loosely based on the infancy of Moses, while
his strength resembled that of the biblical Samson which he used
to save the world from Hitler’s Nazis throughout the 1940s. Since
the 1950s, Superman has fought an array of evils including communism,
racial intolerance, and dictators with nuclear power in his quest
for a greater America or world peace. And for many Christians
today, Superman is a Christ-like saviour: “Changing audiences
have each created a Superman in their own image, according to their
own ideals and fantasies. Some of these images endure, others
we now recognize as the echoes of passing cultural preferences. In
every case he has been a ‘super’ man, a larger-than-life
representation of the rest of us, the embodiment of our values” (36-37).
[4] In the second section, the essays analyze “Silver Age” superheroes,
including the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Silver Surfer,
and the X-Men. The superheroes of this age, spanning from
the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s, are more complex than their classic
predecessors, and their humanity is often emphasized as much as
their superpowers. In his essay (“The Perfectly Imperfect
Spider-Man”), B.J. Oropeza discusses his own adolescent fascination
with Spider-Man, first introduced by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in
1962: “I could relate to the growing pains of Peter Parker,
Spidey’s alias. My family just moved to a suburban neighborhood;
I was the ‘new kid’ at Toyon Elementary School, very
bright, and yet the other children laughed at me my first day because
I didn’t know where to sit” (127). Spider-Man
was popular with many fans precisely because he was not Superman:
he was a science geek, he was unpopular, he was a wimp. As
Oropeza demonstrates, Spider-Man also differed from Superman and
other Golden Age superheroes in his guilt—for despite his
powers, Spider-Man cannot save all of his loved ones. It is
this guilt that causes Oropeza to compare Spider-Man’s story
to the Passion of Christ: “Mortals like us can identify with
what is human about a savior. Jesus worked as a carpenter,
grew hungry, tired, cried at the loss of loved ones, and of course,
suffered and sacrificed himself for others. It is definitely
in the humanity rather than the deity of Christ that we see reflections
of Spider-Man most clearly” (140).
[5] The third section focuses on comic books from the post-1986
era and on the expansion of comic book superhero myths into new
media, especially film. Particularly interesting in this section
is Thom Parham’s essay (“Superheroes in Crisis”)
wherein he explores the “seminal postmodern” comic books
that brought this era into being, including Alan Moore and Dave
Gibbons’ Watchmen and Frank Miller’s Batman:
The Dark Knight Returns. Discussing how different Watchmen is
from earlier comic books in its presentation of the quest for a
restored paradise, Parham writes: “Though the Watchmen’s
world teeters on the brink of nuclear annihilation, the conflict
is resolved through a unique synthesis of scapegoating and manipulation
by an unlikely adversary. The authors imply that humans, no
matter how godlike, are still ill-equipped to discern an equitable
balance between justice and mercy when the fate of humanity is concerned” (202). This
is not your father’s superhero story.
[6] Also featured in The Gospel According to Superheroes is
a short foreword by comics legend Stan Lee, who describes himself
as an “equal opportunity writer” who tried to avoid
references to organized religions (xii), and a useful selection
of images from comic books of each of the three eras discussed. Comic
books were initially overlooked by scholars of religion and popular
culture; this book joins Greg Garrett’s Holy Superheroes! (Navpress
Publishing, 2005) and other recent works in the effort to address
this gap. Academic readers interested in the superhero phenomenon
in comics and films, people of faith interested in exploring the
relationship between comic books and Jewish and Christian worldviews,
and “equal opportunity” comic book fans interested in
further exploration of their favorite superheroes will all find The
Gospel According to Superheroes insightful reading.
Karline McLain
Bucknell University
kmclain@bucknell.edu
