Digital Comic Museum
General Category => Comic Related Discussion => Topic started by: ychirea1 on October 27, 2014, 06:53:58 AM
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Hello everyone,
I am researching religion and comics for an academic book on the subject. Any and all leads will be gratefully acknowledged in the final text! ;)
I am looking at religions, broadly and comparatively (not only Christianity, but Buddism, Hinduism, native American/indigenous, Islam, Judaism) in the comics from the golden age onward. I am looking for resources that will help me to identify and list these comics, perhaps so that I can create and work from an index.
Any suggestions, recommendations, insights and questions are welcomed. This is enjoyable work, and this museum is a unique resource! Thank you for sharing
Y. Chireau
Professor
Swarthmore College
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Just off the top of my head, I can think of those comic/publishers:
Catholic - Catholic Comics, George A. Pflaum Publishers, and a few others I'm sure others can chime in about this one
Hinduism - Amar Chitra Katha series of comics, along with the other Indian comic publishers such as Chaturang Katha and Adarsh Chitra Katha
Christianity - Spire Publications, Chick Publications, and one more that escapes my mind right now
Not aware of any for Buddhism but I could be wrong.
You can easily pull up indexes of series/stories using the Grand comic database at www.comics.org
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Back in the 1980s Marvel did a couple special issues.
One on John Paul II
the other on St. Francis.
Both pretty good!
B.
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Thank you! I am looking for American publishers, so this is exactly what I need. The Marvel editions will fit directly in with my research. I have a comic on Buddhist super hero called THE GREEN LAMA, but I haven't had a chance to read it. Your help is so very appreciated on this fascinating subject.
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Kismet - Man of Fate appeared in all four issues of Bomber Comics. DCM has them all. Kismet appears to be the first Islamic Mystery Man published in a U.S. comic.
Kismet wears a Fez hat and dresses like the stereotypical movie Harem guard. He says things like, "By the Beard of the Prophet." Why he operated in Nazi occupied Europe is not clear.
I believe Kismet appeared not too long after the successful Broadway play and film of the same name. (The musical version of the play & film came sometime later.)
BTW, check out the Green Lama not only in his own comic, but in Prize Comics, as well. That version is much more like original prose character in Double Detective.
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will do!! this is exactly what I wanted :D
thanks for your expertise friends
Prof. Chireau
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Marvel did a one-shot of THE EASTER STORY some years back. They also had a shortlived religious imprint which pubbed THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS and a brief run of ILLUMINATOR, a Christian superhero. MENDY AND THE GOLEM was a Jewish religious (?) comic, and there have been tons of adaptations of Biblical stories. One of my faves was SUNDAY PIX with its serial of Tullus, iirc. DC did that big BIBLE tabloid. Eastern Color did TALES FROM THE GREAT BOOK and Atlas had a brief series of well-done Bible adaptations. Also there are the Archie Christian comics from Spire, which got me interested in Archie all over again. The stuff's out there.
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this is indeed a great topic! thanks for the references!
Prof.
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You should also check the Jewish themes in Will Eisner's books - The Building, Contract with God, Figan the Jew, and so forth. All excellent reading.
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In any number of media some of the better, if not best, Christmas related stories were overseen or just plain created by Jewish folks.
Jack Benny is but one example on radio. Of course many of the old time movie studio heads were Jewish while providing content for a mostly Christian audience.
Julie Schwartz edited any number comic book Christmas stories. "The Silent Night of the Batman" comes to mind.
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Max Gaines' Picture Stories from the Bible.
Teshkeel's The 99
Spire comics from Fleming H. Revell Company
Left Behind from Tyndale
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Both Marvel and DC have done "Tales from the Bible" over the years. Some are still in copyright, but I may have scanned copies that can be provided as part of "fair use" for scholarship purposes. Please feel free to write to me at churnworks at att.not if you would like to follow up.
Here, you might want to look at the Treasure Chest comics from the Catechetical Guld (several have been uploaded recently) as well as Catholic Comics, from Catholic Publications. Several examples are loaded here, and you can find them in the "Small Publishers" section of DCM.
If you search for "Challenger, you'll find one copy of this Interfaith Publications comic. (In fact you can preview the comic using the link http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/preview/index.php?did=16472.) There is a retelling of the Golem story in an early work by Joe Kubert, who went on to become well-known in the industry.
Possibly off-topic, but there are three issues (the complete run) of the comic "Jewish War Heroes" from the Canadian Jewish Congress, ca 1944.
Best, Loren MacGregor
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Not sure if this is what you're looking for but Dell Comics ran an adaptation of Ben Hur in Popular Comics #38-44.
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Zondervon graphic novels
http://www.zgraphicnovels.com/
Powermark
http://www.comics.org/series/name/powermark/sort/alpha/
Serenity
http://www.comics.org/series/25170/
Archangels
http://www.comics.org/series/name/archangels%3A/sort/alpha/
There was an issue of Thor where Odin died and all the other mythological gods were contacted to give part of their belief to revive him.
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The BIBLE 1 DC Limited Collector's Edition C36, 1975 TREASURY, Giant sized comic book with great art by Joe Kubert. All the stories as I recall are from Genesis.
Here is a link to a Ebay listing of it: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1975-DC-treasury-edition-comic-THE-BIBLE-Limited-Collectors-Edition-/351191336293?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item51c4a28565
A few years ago Robert Crumb illustrated the entire "Book of Genesis" from the Bible. I have seen a few pages and it is pretty good.
If you go to YouTube you can listen to a half-hour interview with Crumb when the book came out a couple of years ago! A good listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flBMtQzVgGM
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Strangely enough Sgt. Fury & his Howling Commandos #1 was a ground breaking issue in more ways than one. Stan Lee & Jack Kirby set out to create a diverse World War 2 Army unit within the confines of the overly sensitive Comics Code
Atrocity Authority.
The members included:
Dum-Dum, of Irish descent, faith not specified, IIRC.
Dino, an Italian-American Roman Catholic.
Gabe, a Negro (in the terms of the time), serving with whites in a segregated Army, probably Protestant.
Izzy, a Jew from Brooklyn.
However, even in an early story about a highly bigoted replacement member of the squad, the words Jew & Jewish are not used. In the "no bigots in foxholes" scene Izzy says something like "So now you're not worried about my religion no more!"
Sgt. Fury #1 was also (AFAIK) the first comic to carry the term Marvel Comics with the picture of the lead character on the cover. Amazing Spiderman followed with issue #2 of that title.
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Basil Woverton did a version of the Bible aslo
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There is also this page for Christian-oriented comic book links and discussions: http://www.christian-comic-books.com.
Some of the comics discussed are listed here: http://www.christian-comic-books.com/apps/photos/
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thanks for the link
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Of course religion in comics probably wouldn't be complete without some reference to Jack Chick and his Chick Tracts http://www.chick.com
Might be outside what you're looking for but here are some websites listing various comic characters religions
http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.html
http://www.comicbookreligion.com
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Bible Tales (Atlas Publ) 1953
Book of Genesis by Robert Crumb (Norton Publ 225 pp black & white hardback). beware some nudity & violence.
Picture Stories of the Bible (1940s comics by EC publ) 2 vols NT, and at least 4 vols OT
Tales of the Great Book (Famous Funnies Publ) 1955
Story of Jesus (Classics Illustrated, 100 pp, Gilberton Co)
Samson and Delilah (Spectacular Features #11, 1950, Fox Publ)
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Story of Jesus (Classics Illustrated, 100 pp, Gilberton Co)
You can't mention that and forget about the "Ten Commandments" put out by Classics Illustrated/Gilberton! (special issue #135A) :)
While we're on Classics/Gilberton, there's also "The Crusades" (World Around Us #16).
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Quote from: larrytalbot on October 28, 2014, 10:16:38 PM
Story of Jesus (Classics Illustrated, 100 pp, Gilberton Co)
..................................................................................................
You can't mention that ....
Sorry, but why can't I mention that?
Thanks.
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There were a number of Biblical or Bible-themed movies in the Fifties and early Sixties adapted to Dell comics. I can think of BEN-HUR and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, for two.
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Quote from: larrytalbot on October 28, 2014, 10:16:38 PM
Story of Jesus (Classics Illustrated, 100 pp, Gilberton Co)
..................................................................................................
You can't mention that ....
Sorry, but why can't I mention that?
Thanks.
No no, I meant it as you can't just mention that issue alone and not also mention the Ten Commandments issue that was in the same series. I guess humor is lost in the emotionless forums :)
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OK, Sooth. Guess I was slow on the uptake. Also, wasn't aware of Gilberton's "10 Commandments" issue. Thanks.
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A more contemporary comic would be Shaloman Comics which ran from 1988 to 2012. A good comic with goldenage type art.
Mr_Goldenage
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The genius that was Dudley D Watkins not only created classic works such as The Broons and Oor Wullie and many other classics for D C Thomson, but was a committed Christian and produced a small series of Christian comics. Have a look here:-
www.christiancomicsinternational.org/watkins_pioneer.html