Comic Books and American Religion
Matthew J. Cressler
A little over a month ago I paid a visit to the
Archives of the Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis. We
all have our own unexpected-archival-discovery tale - that time when we
stumbled across something completely unrelated to our research but utterly
exhilarating. As I walked across the threshold of yet another musty
basement archive, I was greeted by mine.
Cue
theme music: Saint Fraaaaaancis…broooother of the universe! Yes,
believe it or not, Marvel Comics’ Francis, Brother of the Universe (Vol.
1, No. 1, 1978) is one of the legacies of Franciscan friars on the American
religious landscape. This set me thinking: how might I include comic
books in a course on American religious history? When many of us are
seeking creative ways to engage our students in the digital age, one good
old-fashioned paper medium might escape our attention. (Not to fear,
comics can be disseminated digitally as well!) So, without further ado,
here are my first four suggestions for including comics in American religious
history.
1. The Immigrant Experience
“You know, your angels look a little like
superheroes.”
“Well, it’s a comic book.”
“This is what I’m thinking.”
“Jewish superheroes?”
“What, they’re all Jewish, superheroes.
Superman, you don’ think he’s Jewish? Coming over from the old country,
changing his name like that. Clark Kent, only a Jew would pick a name
like that for himself.”
Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of
Kavalier and Clay
The first one might be the most obvious. A
number of prominent “golden-age” comic book authors and artists were first and
second-generation Jewish-Americans – Jerome “Jerry” Siegel and Joseph “Joe”
Schuster, the co-creators of Superman, among the most famous. Siegel and
Schuster’s iconic character embodied many essential elements of the immigrant
experience, including the (re)creation of identity and fantasies of
American-ness. So, if you’re searching for a creative way to introduce
your students to the religious ramifications of European immigration in the
early twentieth century, look no further than Action Comics #1. (Another alternative would be Will Eisner’s classic graphic novel A
Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories
(1978).)
2. The Comic Book Code of 1954
Public anxiety about comic books peaked in the
decade following the Second World War, when many religious leaders presumed
comics caused juvenile delinquency, crime, and sexual depravity. Faced
with mounting pressure and “evidence,” the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile
Delinquency convened hearings on comic books in 1954. They warned authors
and artists that, unless they self-regulated the content of comic books,
Congress would be forced to institute bans. The result was the Code of the Comic Book
Magazine Association (1954). Its opening lines proclaimed “the
comic-book medium, having come of age on the American cultural scene, must
measure up to its responsibilities.” A number of the regulations will
greatly interest American religious historians:
“Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be
used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue
and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly, nor so as to injure the
sensibilities of the reader.”
“Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated
with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and
werewolfism are prohibited.”
“Ridicule or attack on any religious or racial
group is never permissible.”
“Divorce shall not be treated humorously nor
represented as desirable.”
“Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at
nor portrayed. Violent love scenes as well as sexual abnormalities are
unacceptable.”
This remarkable document speaks for itself and
could be taught in a number of different contexts. You could read it
alongside the Catholic Legion of Decency and its influence on the Motion
Picture Association of America as an exemplar of the religious regulation of
public morality, or as further evidence of the religious revival of the 1950s,
in tandem with the addition of “God” to the Pledge of Allegiance and American
currency.
3. Evangelical Engagement with Popular Culture
If you’re hoping to address the different ways
evangelical Americans engaged popular culture in the twentieth century, one
fascinating (albeit rather dark) example would be Chick Publications.
Jack Chick, a Californian evangelical, started publishing and distributing
Christian comics in the Seventies. His short books, about the size of an
index card, vividly illustrate his premillennial dispensationalist vision of an
America in severe decline. Many of them also provide serve as examples of
late-twentieth-century anti-Catholicism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia. They’re
still in (relatively) wide circulation, so keep your eyes peeled in public
restrooms and subway stations if you’re looking for a copy. If you use
them in class make sure to pair them with Jason Bivin’s Religion
of Fear, which includes an incisive reading of Chick tracts (“‘Jesus
Was Not A Weak Fairy’: Chick Tracts and the Visual Culture of Evangelical
Fear).
4. Religion in American Popular Culture
Over the past few decades, comic books have shifted
from one of the gravest threats to all that is good and holy in the United
States to arguably the most pervasive purveyor of religious imagery and
allegory in American popular culture. One needs look no further than this
summer’s blockbuster Man of Steel (2013). One reviewer makes a
compelling argument that “the Superman of
Man of Steel is the Jesus we wish Jesus would be.”
What other ways could comic books make an
appearance in American religious history courses?
Comments
Since we're among friends, I'll also share that the Flying Nun comics are, like the show, pretty disappointing...
I dare point out that all of these comics are full of images. Hence, one might also consider treating them as case studies in the visual culture of American religions. If we start reading comics as images first, we might come to some different conclusions about their role in religious communities... and it might reshape our understanding of the communities themselves. Please see my forthcoming dissertation chapter on early fundamentalist cartoons. :D
Also, something on comic book bibles, they ways scripture is re-presented in comix of word-image.