Who is the most influential religious character in comics?

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Who is the most influential religious character in comics?

Post by Uncle Yusuf »

I never really thought of this before seeing a web page dedicated to examining the religions of various superheroes throughout pop culture. If I had to choose who I think is the most religious character in comics, I would definitely say Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler), of 'X-Men' fame. He seems to be a really committed Catholic. He even became a priest for a time, from what I remember.

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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by Chiclo »

This is an interesting question if only for the openness in interpretation of the question. Nightcrawler is certainly the most openly Christian character that I can think of but other, more influential characters have been characterized as religious. This pops up as a sub-plot early in the Infinity Crusade. The heroes assembled by the Goddess are either religious or have had some sort of death from which they recovered. Sue Storm was among the abducted and openly confirmed her Christian beliefs and I would say she is a more influential character than Nightcrawler. Captain America is a pretty religious guy. Thing is pretty openly Jewish.

Then we open up to the non-traditional religions. Thor, Hercules and Wonder Woman are members of pantheons in their own rights and I suppose that their very existence is religious in nature. I am pretty sure Doctor Strange has to observe some sort of religion.

There have been many comic book adaptations of the Bible. Would Jesus count? I don't know of any comic book adaptations of the Koran. The 99 draws heavily on a few passages within the Koran, with each of the 99 representing one of the 99 attributes of Allah (the unseen, the inflictor, the eternal, the lightbringer and so on).

I can't think of any really major comic characters that are openly evangelical, though.

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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by lorddunlow »

*SQUEE* your science, I have a machine gun.

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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by MarkRoseHFX »

Jesse Custer :D
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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by Burrito Boy »

The Redeemer from Spawn. :thumb:

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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by BugsySig »

Well Magneto, The Thing and Kitty Pride are all well known Jewish characters. Ever since the original XMen movie, Magneto has been closely associated with the Holocaust.
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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by String »

MarkRoseHFX wrote:Jesse Custer :D
+1 :clap:

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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by DrSoup007 »

Chiclo wrote:This is an interesting question if only for the openness in interpretation of the question. Nightcrawler is certainly the most openly Christian character that I can think of but other, more influential characters have been characterized as religious. This pops up as a sub-plot early in the Infinity Crusade. The heroes assembled by the Goddess are either religious or have had some sort of death from which they recovered. Sue Storm was among the abducted and openly confirmed her Christian beliefs and I would say she is a more influential character than Nightcrawler. Captain America is a pretty religious guy. Thing is pretty openly Jewish.

Then we open up to the non-traditional religions. Thor, Hercules and Wonder Woman are members of pantheons in their own rights and I suppose that their very existence is religious in nature. I am pretty sure Doctor Strange has to observe some sort of religion.

There have been many comic book adaptations of the Bible. Would Jesus count? I don't know of any comic book adaptations of the Koran. The 99 draws heavily on a few passages within the Koran, with each of the 99 representing one of the 99 attributes of Allah (the unseen, the inflictor, the eternal, the lightbringer and so on).

I can't think of any really major comic characters that are openly evangelical, though.
I didn't know the Thing was Jewish...the more ya know facepalm
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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by BugsySig »

DrSoup007 wrote:
Chiclo wrote:This is an interesting question if only for the openness in interpretation of the question. Nightcrawler is certainly the most openly Christian character that I can think of but other, more influential characters have been characterized as religious. This pops up as a sub-plot early in the Infinity Crusade. The heroes assembled by the Goddess are either religious or have had some sort of death from which they recovered. Sue Storm was among the abducted and openly confirmed her Christian beliefs and I would say she is a more influential character than Nightcrawler. Captain America is a pretty religious guy. Thing is pretty openly Jewish.

Then we open up to the non-traditional religions. Thor, Hercules and Wonder Woman are members of pantheons in their own rights and I suppose that their very existence is religious in nature. I am pretty sure Doctor Strange has to observe some sort of religion.

There have been many comic book adaptations of the Bible. Would Jesus count? I don't know of any comic book adaptations of the Koran. The 99 draws heavily on a few passages within the Koran, with each of the 99 representing one of the 99 attributes of Allah (the unseen, the inflictor, the eternal, the lightbringer and so on).

I can't think of any really major comic characters that are openly evangelical, though.
I didn't know the Thing was Jewish...the more ya know facepalm
He was modeled after Jack Kirby himself, though it was only fairly recently that his religion was declared as such.
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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by nutflush76 »

Battle Pope:

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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by Bone-A-Fach-ee »

Sabra? she's pretty jewish too. what about daredevil? he's always perched on top of churches and giant crosses...?

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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by X-O HoboJoe »

String wrote:
MarkRoseHFX wrote:Jesse Custer :D
+1 :clap:
Amen.
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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by dave »

The original Archer. He even led an entire group of followers.

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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by siren3-4 »

X-O HoboJoe wrote:
String wrote:
MarkRoseHFX wrote:Jesse Custer :D
+1 :clap:
Amen.
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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by X-O HoboJoe »

siren3-4 wrote:
X-O HoboJoe wrote:
String wrote:
MarkRoseHFX wrote:Jesse Custer :D
+1 :clap:
Amen.
This is exactly where my mind went . . . I knew this board would not disappoint . . :)


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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by Aram »

Hard to say which character would be "influential".. it's kinda a loaded question. Influential as in it's impact on the comic medium or influential as in it's real world influence on religious belief?

For the medium I'd agree on Jesse Custer hands down. Could potentially be the second as well though I've not seen much talk about how Preacher influenced peoples personal beliefs. I think that would be for another thread.

I doubt we'd have many of the edgy religious based comic stories out there today if it wasn't for preacher blowing the doors down, setting them on fire and stringing them up for the world to see.
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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by Cyberstrike »

Hellshock.
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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by Chiclo »

Cyberstrike wrote:Hellshock.
Who?

I mean, I remember the Image series, but - who? Was Tom Judge not available?

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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by Dr. Solar »

I agree with the Jesse Custer sentiment.
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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by Uncle Yusuf »

Aram wrote:Hard to say which character would be "influential".. it's kinda a loaded question. Influential as in it's impact on the comic medium or influential as in it's real world influence on religious belief?

For the medium I'd agree on Jesse Custer hands down. Could potentially be the second as well though I've not seen much talk about how Preacher influenced peoples personal beliefs. I think that would be for another thread.

I doubt we'd have many of the edgy religious based comic stories out there today if it wasn't for preacher blowing the doors down, setting them on fire and stringing them up for the world to see.
Influential on the comic book medium, not the world. That would be a bit extreme, Lol

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Re: Who is the most influential religious character in comic

Post by Uncle Yusuf »

Chiclo wrote:This is an interesting question if only for the openness in interpretation of the question. Nightcrawler is certainly the most openly Christian character that I can think of but other, more influential characters have been characterized as religious. This pops up as a sub-plot early in the Infinity Crusade. The heroes assembled by the Goddess are either religious or have had some sort of death from which they recovered. Sue Storm was among the abducted and openly confirmed her Christian beliefs and I would say she is a more influential character than Nightcrawler. Captain America is a pretty religious guy. Thing is pretty openly Jewish.

Then we open up to the non-traditional religions. Thor, Hercules and Wonder Woman are members of pantheons in their own rights and I suppose that their very existence is religious in nature. I am pretty sure Doctor Strange has to observe some sort of religion.

There have been many comic book adaptations of the Bible. Would Jesus count? I don't know of any comic book adaptations of the Koran. The 99 draws heavily on a few passages within the Koran, with each of the 99 representing one of the 99 attributes of Allah (the unseen, the inflictor, the eternal, the lightbringer and so on).

I can't think of any really major comic characters that are openly evangelical, though.
You know, if I were being completely objective, I guess technically one could POSSIBLY count Jesus, peace be upon him (if you're talking about which character has been the most influential in the comic book medium), since there have been many comic book adaptations of the Bible here in the United States, if not throughout the rest of the world. Still, if that is the case, then equally Moses, David, and Abraham, peace be upon them, should probably be included in there as well since they're mentioned far more in the Bible than Jesus, peace be upon him. Being subjectively bias however, as I am a Muslim, I'd disagree. All of the Prophets of the Bible are Prophets of Islam as well, peace be upon them, and visually depicting them in any way is completely forbidden in Islam. Islam doesn't really translate well to the comic book medium in my opinion because there are rules which would make it practically impossible to produce a superhero comic book based on the Islamic faith. That is one of the reasons why I don't agree with the production and distribution of 'The 99'. It is created, produced, and written by a Muslim, yet it gives a terribly misleading and confusing explanation of the core tenets of Islamic beliefs, the proper names and descriptions of Allah in the Qur'an, and it fails to mention even the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, much less his name, AT ALL. There is NOTHING Islamic about 'The 99' comic book or animated television series AT ALL. I don't care that it was made by a Muslim. There is nothing in it for non-Muslims to benefit or learn about concerning Allah, The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, or Islam AT ALL. I'm a Muslim and I would NEVER buy this comic book. Nor would I allow my children to read it or allow them to watch the animated series. There is NOTHING influential about it. At least, not in a positive way that would benefit anyone.


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