Category Archives: from the Internet

from the Internet

“I can’t give my superhero a Muslim name.”

What is the purpose, one might ask, of creating, for instance, Muslim superheroes, much less studying them? Last year, The Muslim Vibe produced an article that gives one such answer to that question: “Erasure of the Muslim Superhero: The Effect of Islamophobia on Muslim Children.”

The lesson need not be limited to Muslim children alone — any oppressed or vilified group will face the same backlash, particularly among its most impressionable and least powerful subgroup, children. But, at this moment in American and world politics, that effect falls particularly hard on Muslim children. Therefore, as the author Afrah Mansour relates, there is a duty “an educator to make the younger generation value themselves” alongside others.

http://themuslimvibe.com/muslim-lifestyle-matters/parents/erasure-of-the-muslim-superhero/

Muslim Superheroes: Comics, Islam, and Representation comes out in Spring 2017 from the ILEX Foundation.

academic, from the Internet

MUSLIM SUPERHEROES Begins “In Earnest”

Mizan logoIn advance of the Spring 2017 release of Muslim Superheroes: Comics, Islam, and Representation, Mizan has been featuring a series of related articles on its Mizan Pop site. The first, dated this past summer, provides an overview of that category’s — “Muslim superheroes” — history.

The study of Muslim superheroes has only quite recently begun in earnest, with scholars like comics historian Fredrik Strömberg and French scholar Shirin Edwin publishing some of the first scholarly articles in this specific field in 2011. There has been a small but steady stream of work on the subject since. Regrettably, while some of this scholarship is of high quality, it has, to date, been scattered over multiple disciplines, and new work has only rarely been in dialogue with what has come before.

In theory, Muslim Superheroes, edited by A. David Lewis and Martin Lund, is intended to further that dialogue and provide stronger connective tissue between the disciplines on the topic. Their promotional Facebook page features links to some of that “steady stream on the subject” and a preview of the book jacket (featuring art by Qahera artist Deena Mohamed).

Muslim Superheroes

articles and essays, from the Internet

Easter Treasure – The Catholic “Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact”

[This article first appeared in the Catholic University of America’s “Archivist’s Nook” by William J. Shepherd. It is reproduced here with permission.]

Iconic painting of ‘The Last Supper’ by Hans Holbein the Younger, ca. 1520. Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact, v. 18, n. 15, March 28, 1963.

Readers of The Archivist’s Nook blog well know the popularity of the Catholic comic book, the Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact, published for most of its history, 1946-1972, by George Pflaum of Dayton, Ohio. The digital version of the collection is especially popular and has been highlighted in three previous blog posts, the first reviewing the origin of Catholic University’s digital collections, ‘Hark! The Digital Angel Comes!’;  the second examining issue covers featuring Jesus Christ,‘Treasure Chest – Your Own Virtual Jesus’; and the third an exposition of covers related to the celebration of Christmas, ‘A Merry Treasure Chest Christmas to All!’.

The Last Easter cover, silhouette of Christ’s profile while on the Cross,Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact, v. 21, n. 16, April 7, 1966.

It will therefore be no surprise The Archivist’s Nook returns to the Treasure Chest’s remarkable treasure trove to commemorate Easter, past, present, and future. From the first volume of the Treasure Chest in 1946, through the next twenty years, there was usually an annual issue with a cover marking an Easter related event. Occasionally, the Treasure Chest skipped a year, while other years had two Easter related covers. Overall, the most popular were scenes of the empty tomb with the resurrected Jesus Christ announcing his presence (6 occasions) or an angel or angels (3 times) proclaiming the good news to Christ’s followers. Also, there were usually no Easter related stories therein to march the covers, though there were sometimes short features such as ‘Easter Eggs You Can Make’ (April 1, 1947) and ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’ (April 8, 1954).

The first Easter cover, presumably the scene from the Book of Mathew, Chapter 28, Verses 1-2, with the Angel of the Lord at Christ’s empty tomb proclaiming the Good News to Mary Magdalene, and another Mary,Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact, v. 1, n. 4, April 23, 1946.

Other covers depict the removal of Christ’s body from the Cross by family and friends (3 issues), including one of Michelangelo’s celebrated Pieta; Stations of the Cross (twice); and certain more singular events, including the triumphal Palm Sunday entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, the inspirational and iconic Last Supper, the stunning betrayal of Christ by disciple Judas Iscariot in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the heart wrenching scene of Christ’s brutal execution by the Romans via the process of Crucifixion.

The Treasure Chest of the post Second Vatican Council era became more secular in outlook and appearance so that few religious scenes, including any depicting Easter related events, appeared in its last five years, 1967-1972. Sadly, this change of direction was perhaps a harbinger of the Treasure Chest’s ending. Gone, but most certainly not forgotten!

articles and essays, from the Internet

“This is the Avengers, not the God Squad!” (Sequart.org)

(The following article by Mario Ribeiro first appeared at Sequart.org on 5/5/2016 as “They Were Lost in Space-Time and Then They Found God.” It is presented here with his permission.)

Written by Steve Englehart and drawn by Al Milgrom, the Lost in Space-Time saga ran from West Coast Avengers #17 to 24. The real meat is between 18-23, with the others serving as a prologue and an epilogue. Now, before we go any further, keep in mind that this was published in 1987. For modern readers, mainstream superhero comics from the eighties, with very few exceptions (Moore, Miller, Morrison) are old-fashioned and childish with terrible writing (exclamation points, thought balloons, tons of exposition, obvious plots, unrealistic dialogue) and crude, ugly, lazy art. Vanilla heroes fighting cardboard villains, with no depth or subtlety. They are silly, I get it, that’s exactly how we felt back in the eighties about Silver Age comics and that’s how readers in 2046 will feel about today’s comics. But, whenever they come from, if we accept them on their terms we can often find incredible beauty in execution and ideas.

Accepting them on their own terms doesn’t mean accepting them unconditionally. Lost in Space-Time has many flaws, and I won’t enumerate them all. Suffice to say that the first issue (17) is pretty bad, even for its time. The text clashes with the art more than once, one of the villains is Cactus (“he causes fear in every other living thing”) and the main plot is basically filling till the last three pages, when the real story actually begins.

But, before we move forward, we must provide some context. The West Coast Avengers, lovingly called Whackos, consisted of newlyweds Hawkeye (the group’s chairman) and Mockingbird, plus Iron Man, Tigra and Wonder Man. Hank Pym, looking for redemption after the Trial of Yellowjacket storyline, didn’t join the team, but lived in the compound in civilian capacity, doing scientific research and some house-keeping. The Thing and Espirita (then still called Firebird) were candidates for the sixth slot, but neither joined the team.

What is missing from the first 16 issues is the big concept. It is a good read, but the fights against uneventful villains like Ultron, Master Pandemonium and Graviton are not that exciting. Still, Englehart and Milgrom do wonders with their characters, particularly Wonder Man, Tigra and Hank Pym. Wonder Man finds the confidence to be a real hero when he overcomes his fear of death; Tigra finds confidence and a tail as her personalities are merged and she regains control of herself; and Hank sees no other choice but to kill himself. And then it’s time for the big concept.

Continue reading “This is the Avengers, not the God Squad!” (Sequart.org) →