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Author Topic: Holy Superheroes  (Read 17660 times)
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TELLE
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« Reply #32 on: June 17, 2005, 06:52:36 AM »

Quote from: "Maximara"
Because they were seen as a national asset Mccarthism never happened and comics largely abandoned the superheroe genre and went to story lines that made EC's stuff look like Little Orphan Annie by comparison.


I wouldn't sell Annie so short.  One of the most political comic strips ever, Little Orphan Annie's right-wing politics, religious themes, and innovative story-telling make it one of the most adult, relevant, and entertaining comics in US history.  Certainly moreso than Superman.  Check out any Annie collection from 20s-30s (or read some of the 50s strips to get a handle on how Annie and Harold Gray "reacted" to the post-war McCarthy era).
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Maximara
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« Reply #33 on: June 18, 2005, 12:57:17 AM »

Quote from: "TELLE"
Quote from: "Maximara"
Because they were seen as a national asset Mccarthism never happened and comics largely abandoned the superheroe genre and went to story lines that made EC's stuff look like Little Orphan Annie by comparison.


I wouldn't sell Annie so short.  One of the most political comic strips ever, Little Orphan Annie's right-wing politics, religious themes, and innovative story-telling make it one of the most adult, relevant, and entertaining comics in US history.  Certainly moreso than Superman.  Check out any Annie collection from 20s-30s (or read some of the 50s strips to get a handle on how Annie and Harold Gray "reacted" to the post-war McCarthy era).


But this goes back to the point I was raising to begin with (which is why I used Little Orphan Annie as opposed to something like Life with Father wish looks like it is still around under the title Mags and Jigs) - our perception of what we thing something was and what it really was are often at odds. For example if you look at strips like Dick Tracy in the 1930-1950 they are by modern standard increably violent even when heavily edited as with Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy (1970) and yet people will claim that this period was 'golden age' of comic where there was little if any violent comics around. You wander just what those people are smoking.
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Gangbuster
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« Reply #34 on: June 19, 2005, 05:39:01 AM »

Getting into this conversation late...by the way, I have a lot of those Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen issues, and they mostly have shock covers, and not shock stories.

As a Christian myself (though I don't always like Christians) Superman is my favorite fictional character, because I agree with the philosophy of Superman, in much the same way that I agree with the philosophy of Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King. By reading Superman stories, I am reminded of the type of person that I should be.

I think Mark Waid said it best...Superman should possess a super morality. Sure, the character has changed over time, but in the beginning he was the "champion of the oppressed"...is that not what Christians should be? He went on to fight Nazis, the KKK, Nuclear Weapons, and the Devil himself (C.W. Saturn.) The oath against killing is an added bonus. What if Christians were to tackle all the world's problems, like Superman Red and Superman Blue?

Heck, Superman was even put to death by Continuity Pharisees. But that's for another post...
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Maximara
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« Reply #35 on: June 22, 2005, 01:19:30 AM »

Quote from: "Gangbuster"
Getting into this conversation late...by the way, I have a lot of those Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen issues, and they mostly have shock covers, and not shock stories.

As a Christian myself (though I don't always like Christians) Superman is my favorite fictional character, because I agree with the philosophy of Superman, in much the same way that I agree with the philosophy of Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King. By reading Superman stories, I am reminded of the type of person that I should be.

I think Mark Waid said it best...Superman should possess a super morality. Sure, the character has changed over time, but in the beginning he was the "champion of the oppressed"...is that not what Christians should be? He went on to fight Nazis, the KKK, Nuclear Weapons, and the Devil himself (C.W. Saturn.) The oath against killing is an added bonus. What if Christians were to tackle all the world's problems, like Superman Red and Superman Blue?


The problem is the solution Superman Red and Superman Blue come up with is roughtly the same one Neo-Queen Serenity used and in all likelyhood eventually have the same disasterous results. In fact there was another Superman story in which a group of aliens retroactively eliminate all evil and effectively throw Earth back to the stone age because without evil and conflict you wind up with a Lotist Eaters effect - there is no drive to improve things. This why the insanely weak Dark Moon Family was able to virtually conquer Earth in the 30th century but got their heads handed to them in the 20th; instead of improving the powers of Neo-Queen serenity and her Sailor Senshi had actaully deminished because there was nothing to challange them.

The old EC comics had a similar story where a good Christian doctor dies and of course goes to heaven. But his drive to help his fellow human beigns is so strong that the perfection of heave drives him nuts. Taking an old back stair to Hell he promply sets up practices and makes a general nucence of himself. Tied of the doctors antics and unable to do anything to him since he does not belong in Hell in the first place the Devil sends the guy back to Earth. In his hospital bed when asked what it was like he thinks of the of the fire and brimstone of Hell and replies "It was Heaven."

Twilight Zone had a similar theme in "A Nice Place to Visit" where a petty crook named Valatine gets everything he ever wanted. Here is the way the episode ends:

Rocky Valentine: 'There must have been a mistake.  Send me to the Other Place because if I stay in Heaven one more day I'll go crazy.'

Pip: "Heaven? Whatever gave you the idea you were in Heaven Mr.
Valentine?  This is the Other Place!"

A episode with a similar theme shows up in Night Gallery: "Hell's Bells"

A hippy dies and finds himself in a room with Lawrence Walk records as far
as the eye can see, and boring man and then two vacationers come in with
their 8,500 slides of their Mexican trip.  Yelling for the Devil he is told there is an identical room Up There for people for which this would be heaven as which point the Devil leaves the hippy to his own personal verison of Hell.
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