from the Internet

CBR’s Superhero Jewishness (emphasis on the -ishness)

Earlier this year, CBR took a stab at showcasing the influence of Jewish culture on the superhero genre in comics. After noting Stan Lee’s faith (though not Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel and Joel Shuster, nor even Larry Lieber), the article did a countdown of eight characters “who celebrate their heritage.”

Harley Quinn’s as Jewish(-Catholic)

Of course, there are several problems to such coverage. First and foremost, there appears to be no range to Jewish identity necessarily; Moon Knight, the son of a rabbi, has equivalent Judaic identity as, say, Batwoman who long discounted that aspect of her history. Likewise, while Kitty Pryde has been recognized as Jewish from her earliest appearance, Magneto, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch have been retconned from Roma to Jews, and the Thing gave no evidence of his faith until recent years. In all, there’s something curiously flat and artificial to the Judaism they depict.

Even putting aside Harley Quinn and Magneto’s villainy or Scarlet Witch and Moon Knight’s mental instability, there seems little value assigned to the characters’ ethics or morals arising out of their Jewish identities and leading to heroic action. Is Judaism just a hereditary label, an ethnicity, or the lighting of a menorah?

cultural, interviews, online

Deena Mohamed: “It’s kind of a myth that people won’t support ‘diverse’ work.”

Self-portrait by Deena MohamedEarlier this year, Egyptian comics creator Deena Mohamed, perhaps best known internationally for her work originating the superheroine Qahera, spoke with Egyptian Streets about her latest creation, the graphic novel trilogy Shubeik Lubeik which won Best Graphic Novel and the Grand Prize at Cairo Comix Festival in 2017.

Comic Artist Deena Mohamed on Representation, Authenticity, and Egyptian Art

In addition to minding a balance between authentic, native Egyptian themes and interest by Western audiences, Mohamed also looks to dispel myths not only about women but also about “diverse” work:

“It’s kind of a myth that people won’t support ‘diverse’ work. What actually happens is the opposite – people want you to write about ‘the issues’ (for Westerners, Islam and feminism, for Egyptians, feminism) but they want you to write about it in a very specific way,” she told Egyptian Streets.

“They want really superficial, easily-quoted takes,” she elaborates. “They love women empowerment, if women empowerment means sharing [online] a hijabi superhero comic without ever reading the messages behind it. […] At some point you start to feel very patronised.”

See more of her work at DeenaDraws.art and on Twitter @itsdeenasaur.

events

S&S Returns!

We’re pleased to say that Sacred & Sequential is back for another year! This will be our final year of sponsorship by Caption Box, and we’re grateful to them for funding us over the years.

So, amidst the pandemic and politics, let’s continue our work — as well as look for some new patrons, ultimately. Therefore, as ever, send us your article pitches, your comics to review, and now also your leads on funding!

Cover image to THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS (DC Comics)

cultural, from the Internet

Religion in the MCU Diegesis

In a fun but intriguing bit of a mental exercise, Fandom’s Lon Harris asks, if the events of Marvel Cinetmatic Universe films happened in real life, how might they affect faith and religion? It’s a question we at Sacred and Sequential have asked many times of the comics’ diegeses and storyworlds, so it’s a worthwhile scenario to consider for the film characters.

Harris speaks with Marvel Editor Tom Breevort “specifically, in a 2005 interview with the “:

Breevort explained that, in his mind, characters in the Marvel universe have a separate mental category for superheroes, independent from regular mortals or gods.

“For the average person in the Marvel universe,” Breevort explained, “they look at Thor and they say he is a superhero. He is no different than a Mr. Fantastic or Spider-Man or Cyclops; his get-up, his shtick, his whatever, is based on the mythological god of thunder. But I do not believe that most people in the Marvel universe actually believe he is the bona fide article.”

So denial — or, at least, lack of awareness — keep influence of religious institutions at bay. Eventually, though, “[e]very expert I spoke with — Christian or otherwise — felt that American evangelical Christianity would face the toughest challenges from the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

@ the intersection of religion and comics: Graphic Religion