“Captain America doesn’t wear a beard and a turban, and he’s white.”
Vishavjit Singh regarded on the boy who uttered these phrases, after which he checked out himself — a thin, bespectacled, turbaned, bearded Sikh in a Captain America go well with.
“I wasn’t offended, because I knew that this kid was going to have this image of me, a Sikh Captain America, forever in his mind,” Singh mentioned. “This image has so much power to it that it opens up conversations about what it means to be American.”
Representation of non-Abrahamic religions and non secular traditions, notably within the mainstream comics universe, is minimal. Even when they’re portrayed in comics, their presentation, as Singh and others within the discipline level out, is usually inauthentic and typically damaging.
Recently, nonetheless, comedian ebook writers and lecturers who research the intersection of faith and comics observe a renaissance of types, which they are saying is going on as a result of individuals shut to those religion traditions are telling these tales with a reverence and sincerity that resonate with a wider viewers.
Singh’s journey to make that connection started after the assaults of Sept. 11, 2001, triggered anti-Sikh hate incidents. Having confronted hate and exclusion all through his life, he determined to unfold his message of kindness and inclusion by capitalizing on the enchantment of comics and superheroes — an space the place he discovered Sikh illustration to be “virtually zero.”
He suited up as Captain Sikh America in Manhattan for the primary time in summer season 2013 — one yr after a self-proclaimed white supremacist opened hearth inside a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six and injuring 4 others.
New York’s response to Captain Sikh America was joyous.
“Strangers came up and hugged me,” Singh mentioned. “Police officers wanted photos with me. A couple wanted me to be part of their wedding ceremony. I felt I had a certain privilege I’d never had before.”
In 2016, Singh gave up his full-time job to journey across the nation to colleges, authorities companies and firms to share his story and educate youth about his tradition and religion. He doesn’t communicate instantly about faith however quite the core values of Sikhism.
“I talk about equality, justice and about the universal light being present in every speck of creation,” he mentioned.
Marvel’s Black Panther heralded higher illustration for Africana religions within the U.S., in response to Yvonne Chireau, a professor of faith at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. However what’s seen in Black Panther or different comics is a synthesis of various African religions and cultural practices, she mentioned.
For instance, one web page may discuss concerning the Orishas, divine spirits that play a key position within the Yoruba religion of West Africa, whereas one other may characteristic Egyptian gods. One of the primary superheroes with African roots, Chireau mentioned, was Brother Voodoo, created within the Nineteen Seventies by Marvel writer Stan Lee, author Len Wein and artist John Romita. He was the primary Haitian superhero.
The flip of the final century was a time of revival for Black-centric comics, she mentioned, including that immigration from African and Caribbean nations, together with Haiti, led to elevated understanding of spiritual practices originating in these locations.
“It’s definitely gotten a lot better and much more authentic because the people who are telling these stories care about those religious practices,” she mentioned.
Brooklyn-born Haitian American comedian ebook author Greg Anderson Elysée mentioned he did not study African and Caribbean spiritual traditions till he was a young person. Elysée was raised Catholic, however he now considers himself agnostic. For the previous decade, he’s written comics about Is’nana, the son of Anansi the Spider, the god of knowledge, data and mischief within the Akan faith of West Africa.
What drives his imaginative and prescient and his creativity, Elysée mentioned, is the necessity to see extra Black mythology, deities and spirituality showcased with the identical stage of respect as European fairy tales and Greek mythology.
“When I went looking for anything on African spirituality in the bookstore, I found it in the occult section as opposed to the religion or mythology section,” he mentioned. Common depictions of African religion as voodoo and witchcraft are colonialist narratives geared toward demonizing Indigenous non secular practices, he added.
“When I started going to ceremonies and rituals, I saw how much power there is in it. When we know who we are — whether you believe in the religion or not — it fills you with joy, a purpose and a sense of being.”
Elysée is worked up and relieved by the response to his work.
“While this is entertainment, you also don’t want to offend those who believe in it and truly get so much power from it,” he mentioned. “Some of my portrayals of these religions in my comics may not be 100% authentic, but there is a level of research and respect that goes into every piece of it.”
Zen Buddhism has knowledgeable a lot of John Porcellino’s work. For over three a long time, he has produced and self-published King-Cat Comics and Stories, a largely autobiographical mini-comic sequence. Porcellino was drawn to Buddhism in his 20s after what he describes as a interval of intense psychological struggling and well being issues.
As a punk rock fan, Porcellino noticed commonalities between punk and Zen as a result of “they are both concerned with the essence of things rather than appearances.” Both are methods of life — easy but nuanced.
He gave the instance of a wordless story titled “October,” featured in King-Cat’s thirtieth difficulty, that exhibits him as a highschool pupil strolling dwelling one evening from faculty. When he will get dwelling, his mother asks him to take the canine exterior; as he steps out, he sees the celebs.
“It’s the experience of being in everyday, mundane life … and then suddenly breaking through to some kind of transcendence,” he mentioned.
Porcellino views these comics as a therapeutic presence in his life.
“They are an important part of my spiritual practice,” he mentioned. “Any time I have a major crisis in my life, my first reaction is to sit down and start making comics and put my focus into that. It just helps ground me.”
Teresa Robeson, who wrote a graphic novel concerning the 14th Dalai Lama, mentioned that despite the fact that her mom was Catholic and raised her within the religion, her grandmother was Buddhist. She grew up in Hong Kong, with recollections of kin praying to Buddhist gods, taking within the perfume of burning incense and the sound of Buddhist chants.
Though she practices neither Catholicism nor Buddhism right now, Robeson jumped on the alternative to inform the story of the Dalai Lama in graphic novel kind as a result of the ebook targeted on a pivotal second within the non secular chief’s life, when he fled Tibet for India after the Chinese occupation.
Robeson appreciated the thought of representing a faith and tradition that don’t get a lot consideration in media.
“Children’s books are like mirrors and windows for kids,” she mentioned. “It’s helpful especially for children of immigrants who don’t often see themselves in mainstream literature. They don’t see anyone who looks like them or prays like them. At the same time, it also helps kids who are not Asian or Buddhist to learn something about those communities.”
Amar Chitra Katha was a comic book ebook firm began by the late Anant Pai in Mumbai in 1967 as a approach to educate Indian kids about their very own mythology and tradition. The first title was “Krishna,” an necessary god in Hinduism and protagonist of the Bhagavad Gita, one of many faith’s major sacred texts.
Pai was an engineer turned comedian books vendor who used different advertising and marketing methods, together with strolling round with planks, nails and hammers in his bag so he might construct cabinets for bookstores that refused to show his comics as a result of they lacked shelf house, mentioned Reena I. Puri, the corporate’s managing director and a 35-year veteran of the enterprise.
Pai began with Hindu mythology and gods however quickly expanded to different faiths, releasing a globally profitable comedian titled “Jesus Christ” and others about Buddha, Sikh gurus and Mahavira, who based Jainism. Later got here secular comics about historic figures and folktales.
But faith stays the mainstay of Amar Chitra Katha, and books that educate kids about religion, historical past and tradition are additionally the most well-liked within the diaspora, Puri mentioned.
“Most recently we’ve also portrayed (Indigenous) religions and have gathered folktales relating to these traditions from all over India,” she mentioned.
Amar Chitra Katha comics confronted criticism previously for his or her portrayal of gods as fair-skinned and “asuras” — usually the antagonists to the gods — as dark-skinned with demonic facial options. But that has modified, Puri mentioned.
“We’ve educated ourselves and realized that our ancient texts were not as racist or colorist as we may be today,” she mentioned. “We’re correcting those misconceptions now.”
British comedian ebook author Mike Carey is thought for his 2000-2006 DC Comics sequence “Lucifer,” which depicts the titular character’s adventures on Earth, in Heaven and in numerous realms after abandoning Hell. Carey counts himself an atheist who went to Sunday faculty solely “for the fun, stories and chocolate.”
Carey portrayed Lucifer because the “son of God, but as a rebellious disobedient son who wants to find himself as distinct from his father.”
He has additionally explored pagan themes, notably what he referred to as the “weird interface between British folklore and British religious traditions.”
Carey delved into the ideas of religion, God and morality in a sequence titled “My Faith in Frankie,” which tells the story of a young person with a private god referred to as Jeriven who will get jealous of her boyfriend.
Even although a lot of his comics and novels discover faith and ethics, Carey mentioned, he has by no means “felt any temptation whatsoever to believe.”
“I’ve become more and more entrenched in that position, because organized religions are like any organization that sustain themselves, amass power, wealth and authority,” he mentioned. “So I’ve never really grappled with religious issues. What I do sometimes is explore, play with and tease out moral issues that were important and meaningful to me.”
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