Hero Worship: Religious Iconography In Comics And Sci-Fi: Part 1 Moses vs Superman

Welcome to the first in a line of sporadically appearing columns discussing religious themes, overtones, and iconography in comic books and science fiction. Since the very early days of comic books and sci-fi, religion has played a role, albeit mostly a subtle one. Since the dominant religious faith in America is based on Judeo-Christian traditions, we’ll start there, with further columns examining the role other religious beliefs have had in creating some of our favorite characters and stories.

I’ll start with American comic books, and the superhero, and where better to start than with the godfather of them all. Superman may not have been the first comic hero, or even costumed adventurer, but he is the archetype that all others either followed, or were at least inspired by. In this medium’s embryonic stages of development, just as comics were moving past the era of newspaper strip reprints to feature original characters and content, two Jewish boys from Cleveland, Ohio came to National Allied Publications, soon to be Detective Comics Inc., and now known as DC Comics, with a character they had created years earlier for a failed science fiction magazine, because comic publishers hired Jews who were largely excluded from legitimate illustration work at the time. Most of the early comic creators were Jewish, and their religion and history informed many of their creations and stories.

This version of their character had evolved by this point, from a darker and more villainous being, almost resembling Nietzsche’s Ubermensch, to one with a much more heroic disposition. Much has been said of the influence Samson and Hercules played in the inspiration for this new hero. And while that is surely true based on Superman’s power set, there is another scriptural source that is not spoken of often.

Moses rescued from his craft.

Superman rescued from his craft.

Many think that Superman is a Jesus analogue, and have tried to push that angle in comics, television, and more recently in the film The Man Of Steel. In truth Superman’s origin shares many, if not all, of its major beats with the story of Moses, a man celebrated by not only the Christian Bible, but also the Jewish Apocrypha, the Qur’an, the Book of Mormon, and the scriptures of the Baha’i Faith.

See if this sounds familiar. To avoid his inevitable destruction, a child is forced to undergo an exodus from his people, sent away in a small craft, where after a long journey he is found and taken in by a surrogate family very different from himself, to eventually become a savior to the people. Yep, that’s Moses’ back story.

The orphaned Hebrew child is raised as an Egyptian and given an Egyptian name, while the orphaned Kryptonian child is raised as a human and given a human name. Strangers in a strange land they both struggle with identity as they grow into adulthood, to reclaim their true birthrights. Some scholars even translate the root of Moses’ name to mean “he who draws out”, in the sense of “savior, deliverer”, where as Kal-El sounds similar to the Hebrew Kolel which means “embracing all”.

When the Moses connection is mentioned, Siegel and Schuster have always claimed that “having Superman drop out of the sky just seemed like a good idea”, and while this may be true, surely their faith subconsciously found its way into Superman’s back story, as past experiences, family history, one’s deep-seated beliefs, and the world around us inform our stories, whether we are aware of it or not.

The similarities don’t stop there, though they become rather tenable for sure in later, non-Siegel/Schuster stories. Just as Moses, as an adult, rekindled relationships with family members he thought he’d never see again, so did Kal-El, meeting his cousin Kara Zor-El, and the Bottle City of Kandor. As God spoke to Moses through the burning bush, giving him guidance, so did Jor-El speak to Kal-El through crystals in the Fortress of Solitude.

These were much later additions to Superman’s story though, some added in the comics, others expanded upon in the films, though not put forth by the original creators. Still, Superman’s basic origin cannot be said to be dissimilar to Moses’ story, and this shows that even the world’s first superhero had religious undertones.

Many of the old guard of this industry came from a Jewish background, so of course Judeo-Christian ideas permeate many comic character’s stories. DC’s The Spectre and Marvel’s Ghost Rider have been at times vengeful spirits acting on behalf of The Presence (God) and Mephisto (the Devil) respectively, but both could only enact their vengeance if innocent blood had been spilled.

DC’s Zauriel was one of the Eagle Host of angels, one of the four hosts of Heaven serving, again, The Presence, when he was cast out to live on Earth as a mortal. With the help of the Justice League, Zauriel stopped an invasion of Earth by angels led by Asmodel, and later stopped him taking over Heaven itself. Also note that the suffix -El (of God) is commonly associated with angels, which are flying human-like creatures with superhuman abilities, like Kal-El.

An actual angel fighting alongside The Justice League? Yup. That happened thanks to Grant Morrison, a writer who is known for his pseudo-religious imagery in titles like The Doom Patrol, featuring the Anti-God, the first shadow created when God said, “Let there be light.”. And that isn’t even delving into the religious themes and connotations involved in his phenominal graphic novel Arkham Asylum.

Both Marvel and DC comics were full of characters based around religious themes in the 1960s and 70s, many of which were inspired by the darker side of Christian traditions, and the other side of that coin, Satanic imagery. After all, this was the era of Black Sabbath, Hammer Horror, dark psychedelia, and the true life horrors of Vietnam.

The aforementioned Ghost Rider, Daimon Hellstrom: The Son of Satan, Satana, Etrigan The Demon, the Teen Titans own Raven, and plenty of others all come from this generation, and this darker side of religious iconography. Though definitely using imagery of Hell and Biblical demons as a starting point, both companies go to great lengths to posit that these are not in fact creatures of the Biblical Hell, but of another Hell-like dimension or reality, I suppose as to not offend the deeply religious.

And this theological imagery continues in comics to this day with heroes like Daredevil, Nightcrawler, Moon Knight, and even the new Ms. Marvel’s religious backgrounds being given higher visibility by modern creators. I guess to some readers this gives their favorite heroes a grounding in reality, or just one more thing to relate to, but for whatever reason, it seems in recent decades these characters religious affiliations are being given a prominence not seen in decades past. And these are just characters from the Big Two publishers. What about other publishers?

Well, Mike Mignola is highly versed in MANY religions, mythologies, and folklore, but even Hellboy has plenty of Judeo-Christian concepts in its pages. I mean, the series stars a demon from a Hell-like dimension, who has repeatedly rejected his heritage, using crosses, crucifixes, holy water, rosaries and other recognizable emblems of his Roman Catholic faith to battle the forces of darkness, the very forces he is supposed to lead toward Armageddon! And that isn’t counting the myriad of other religious concepts Mignola fills his comic with on a regular basis.

Religion touches every aspect of life, whether we are practicing or not, including our favorite four color heroes, but this is all just the tip of the iceberg. There is much more just under the surface of which we’ve merely scratched, so please join me next time as I further discuss and discover Religious Iconography In Comics And Science Fiction.