Bruce Wayne...owner of a private technology firm, philanthropist, Episcopalian, halfwit millionaire, uppity faux playboy, Caped Crusader, Dark Kni...
Episcopalian?
Hey, fictional average Joes with secret alter-egos--or, in Batman's case, fictional secret alter-egos with secret average Joes--have the right to worthily magnify, too. Superheroes can make negligibly impetuous decisions from time to time ("Bruce Wayne, Dick...pleased to make your acquaintance") or might need a little hand to revive a dead guy (The Thing evoking the Godhead in Yiddish to attempt saving the life of Yancy Street's resident pawnbroker, Mr. Sheckenberg). Nothing's ever dictated they can't summon the lean, mean Lamb and the Heavenly Host Posse when confronted with an ethical or spiritual quandary they can't seem to lick on their own.
Let's face it; batarangs, lassoes or forms of a methyl trichloride-soaked towel or 5th Avenue bar laced with a gentle laxative don't lend much credence if, in some of the more heavily devout cases, they're not backed up by the messianic seal of approval courtesy of--dare I say--The Backhand. The Big Black Bat, Zatanna (eclectic Pentecostal Dianic Wiccan--hoooo), The Man of Steel (Kryptonian religion AND Methodist) and many more are humbly belting out rousing flourishes of "Kumbaya" around the ecumenical campfire in this canonical compendium of superpower sectarianism. Don't ask me how these creeps found their way into the circle. Yeah...not warmly invited.
Anyway, praise the Lord--and pass the Holy Bat-Drinking Water Dispenser!!
Hey, talking about superheros, how about the Things Moyel? Ya think maybe he used a rock saw?
Posted by: K. | January 22, 2008 at 09:57 AM
No joke! Or a Package Shark. Or maybe just a simple aluminum softball bat.
Posted by: Jonathan Steinke | January 23, 2008 at 01:15 PM
Some of these are truer than others, or based predominantly on inferences about a character's background. For years Marvel refused to confirm whether Magneto was Jewish, just that he was a survivor of the Holocaust, and at one point seemed to start implying he was actually a gypsy. They finally allowed that he was a Jew a few years back.
Posted by: vjb2 | January 24, 2008 at 10:00 PM
Vib2 or Vjb2, I can't tell (;--thanx for the comment! It is a shame but, then again, it was 1963. BUT how many other races other than Jews and gypsies were the predominant victims of the Holocaust? I mean, how much of what children of the day would have read in these comics would not have been much different than what they were learning about in history class. Crazy...
Posted by: Jonathan Steinke | February 12, 2008 at 01:53 PM