The Hindu, the online edition of India’s national newspaper, reported on May 25 that 8 more English-language titles from the Wilco Picture Library (WPL) are going into production. They join a growing number of WPL’s other titles exploring “subjects ranging from mythology and ancient history to religion.” The works are targeted to all age groups and, according to WPL’s official website, is “slated to be a 500+ title series.”
In the wake of Thor‘s #1 opening weekend, Comics Alliance is reporting that another group is unhappy of its godly portrayals. Whereas the Council of Conservative Citizens previously railed against the casting of Idris Elba, a black man in the role of a Nordic god, (mentioned in a previous entry), this objection is a tad more level-headed. Namely, some modern-day Neopagan practitioners are rumbling over the depiction of their deities in the film.
A follower of Ásatrú (or Germanic Neopaganism, as it is also known), writer Eric Scott of religious discourse magazine Killing the Buddha made the sincere and deeply personal observation whilst inspecting Thor merchandise in a Walmart.
I held that foam hammer in my hand for a long time, which I’m sure only confirmed my weirdness to the nightgaunts of the third shift. With my other hand, I rubbed the Mjolnir necklace I have worn every day since my initiation into my family’s coven. I did not know what to think of it.
The truth is, I looked at the toys in my hands and I saw the result of millions of dollars of development and thousands of hours of manpower, put into something bearing the name of a god, my god, and it had nothing to do with me.
Scott suggests that his fellow practitioners were “too few to matter” to the corporations using this material for their merchandise. Pagan Blogger for Patheos.com Star Foster feels quite the opposite: that Thor will bring attention to active Pagans in a positive manner.
The issue here is not just appropriating a mislabeled “dead religion,” but also how these deities function for real-life worshipers versus storytellers. A sideline discussion over at City-Data.com offers the thought that the word “gods” is misused in various narratives, comic books in particular. Are Thor and his fellow Asgardians distinctly gods in the movie, or are they some other classification? Would calling them, say, onses show a greater sensitivity by storytellers or would it divorce them even more harshly from real-world practitioners?
Are you more or less inclined to buy this comic book given today’s news?
Are you now more or less interested in Frank Miller’s long-gestating Holy Terror! project?
How is today’s news likely to affect the superhero industry, the portrayal of Muslims in comics, or its depictions of U.S. foreign militarism?
Following the early February post on Indian Comics, news came in late last month that Anant Pai, creator of Amar Chitra Katha, died of a heart attack at age 81 in Mumbai.
AsiaOne News reported that Samir Patil, the current head of ACK Media which published Amar Chitra Katha, vows Pai’s work will go on. “We will keep his legacy alive.”
Amar Chitra Katha was founded in 1967 by “Uncle Pai” (as he was affectionately known) and has, according to one source, sold “around 90 million copies of its more than 400 titles in more than 20 Indian languages.”
Barry Deutsch, the Portland political cartoonist known as Ampersand, published a distinctly different work in November of 2010 entitled Hereville — “yet another comic book about an 11-year-old troll-fighting Orthodox Jewish girl.”
The Huffington Post praised the book, noting that it “won the prestigious Sydney Taylor Award for older readers from the Association of Jewish Libraries” and has garnered wide critical praise. A 15-page preview of the book, originally a webcomic launched at www.girlamatic.com, can be read here.