Posted by Chris Well on February 14, 2009 at 10:00am
I was once discussing the idea of doing a "Christian" story inside the familiar framework of a major comic book company, and the other person dismissed it. As he put it, if God appeared in this comic and saved the day, the reader would think it no different than if Galactus or some other cosmic being had done so.It was impossible to disagree with him on this point, simply because our heads were in two completely different places. In his mind, the concept of a "Christian" version of the familiar comic book construct was to simply include God or Jesus, or even Judeo-Christian ideals, inside. To fold Him up and shove Him (and, apparently, His Eternal Glory) inside that tiny, 32-page, stapled pamphlet.So if that had been the discussion -- i.e., how to include Jesus (Lord of All That Was, And Is, And Is To Come) inside a comic book -- then sure. The reader would have no choice but to conclude that any character on the page is relative to any other character on the page.But here is the problem with that course of thinking:God is bigger.Our Heavenly Father, the Creator of All Things, is Eternal. He is omnipotent. He is omnipresent. He is Infinite.His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, has been declared Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. There is nothing over the Earth, or on the Earth, or under the Earth, that is not under his jurisdiction. There is nothing that happens that is outside His control.And you can't fit THAT inside your fiction. No matter how hard you try, no matter how noble your intentions, it is simply impossible to shoehorn an Infinite and Eternal God into your little made-up story. The second that God or Jesus (or the Holy Spirit) appears inside your story and acts or speaks, you have, in fact, performed an act (albeit, unintentionally) of bait-and-switch.You may tell the reader that this character in your story is the "real" God, but it's not. It's a false god. An idol. A graven image.* * *But that's not even where I'm headed.Let's go back to the "Galactus" statement that the other person had made. Now, I would say that he was correct in the way that he meant, and in the specific context that he meant.But God is infinite. Try to imagine that:God is bigger than you.Bigger than your home.Bigger than your town.Than your region.Than your state.The country.The hemispere.The planet.The solar system.The galaxy.Bigger than space, bigger than time ... bigger, in fact, than anything and everything that He created.Now, if we are small and finite, that leaves a LOT of room for all kinds of amazing things in that space that exists between the frail things that we are and the Infinite Being that He is.Given that, if Galactus were to show up ... he is simply a component of creation. If Bruce Banner were to be gamma irradiated, Peter Parker bitten by a radioactive spider, or Thor came down from Asgard -- or, for that matter, if baby Kal-El was rocketed from a dying planet, Hal Jordan inducted into an intergalactic police force, or Barry Allen struck by lightning and doused in chemicals -- none of these events would contradict the biblical truth that GOD IS BIGGER and that JESUS IS LORD.Any character or place or thing that has ever been imagined -- any superhero, mythological god, urban legend, or grand, super-science scheme ... anything -- is smaller than infinite. Out here in the real world, should any (or all) of these things show up on your street today, it would be foolish to let them shake your Christian faith. They would simply be part of a Creation that points to an even bigger Creator.So would I put God inside a Marvel comic? No. Because that wouldn't be God. But to think of ways to use those characters to point to God ... now, that would be something.
Consider treating Galactus, etc., as angelic beings, and consider how such metahumans would relate to the Creator God.
The best treatment I know of is when Spectre made quasi-Christian motions. That even with God-like powers, the Spectre was treated as being still a mere created being in an overt relationship with a righteous and holy God.
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The best treatment I know of is when Spectre made quasi-Christian motions. That even with God-like powers, the Spectre was treated as being still a mere created being in an overt relationship with a righteous and holy God.