By DEEPA BHARATH, Related Press
“Captain America doesn’t put on 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, as a result of I knew that this child was going to have this picture of me, a Sikh Captain America, without end in his thoughts,” Singh mentioned. “This picture has a lot energy to it that it opens up conversations about what it means to be American.”
Illustration 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 commonly inauthentic and typically damaging.
Lately, nevertheless, comedian e-book writers and teachers who examine the intersection of faith and comics observe a renaissance of kinds, 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.
A Sikh superhero with a message
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 attraction of comics and superheroes — an space the place he discovered Sikh illustration to be “nearly zero.”
He suited up as Captain Sikh America in Manhattan for the primary time in summer season 2013 — one 12 months 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 got here up and hugged me,” Singh mentioned. “Law enforcement officials needed photographs with me. A pair needed me to be a part of their marriage ceremony ceremony. I felt I had a sure privilege I’d by no means had earlier than.”
In 2016, Singh gave up his full-time job to journey across the nation to varsities, authorities companies and firms to share his story and educate youth about his tradition and religion. He doesn’t converse straight about faith however relatively the core values of Sikhism.
“I discuss equality, justice and in regards to the common mild being current in each speck of creation,” he mentioned.
Africana religions in comics
Marvel’s Black Panther heralded higher illustration for Africana religions within the U.S., in keeping with Yvonne Chireau, a professor of faith at Swarthmore Faculty in Pennsylvania. Nevertheless 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 speak in regards to the Orishas, divine spirits that play a key function within the Yoruba religion of West Africa, whereas one other may function Egyptian gods. One of many first superheroes with African spiritual roots, Chireau mentioned, was Brother Voodoo, created within the 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 international locations, together with Haiti, led to elevated understanding of non secular practices originating in these locations.
“It’s positively gotten loads higher and way more genuine as a result of the people who find themselves telling these tales care about these spiritual practices,” she mentioned.
Incorporating Black mythology and spirituality
Brooklyn-born Haitian American comedian e-book author Greg Anderson Elysée mentioned he didn’t study African and Caribbean spiritual traditions till he was an adolescent. 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, information 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 degree of respect as European fairy tales and Greek mythology.
“After I went in search of something on African spirituality within the bookstore, I discovered it within the occult part versus the faith or mythology part,” he mentioned. Widespread depictions of African religion as voodoo and witchcraft are colonialist narratives geared toward demonizing Indigenous non secular practices, he added.
“After I began going to ceremonies and rituals, I noticed how a lot energy there’s in it. Once we know who we’re — whether or not you imagine within the faith or not — it fills you with pleasure, a function and a way of being.”
Elysée is worked up and relieved by the response to his work.
“Whereas that is leisure, you additionally don’t wish to offend those that imagine in it and really get a lot energy from it,” he mentioned. “A few of my portrayals of those religions in my comics will not be 100% genuine, however there’s a degree of analysis and respect that goes into each piece of it.”
Zen comics that heal, floor and heart
Zen Buddhism has knowledgeable a lot of John Porcellino’s work. For over three many years, he has produced and self-published King-Cat Comics and Tales, a largely autobiographical mini-comic collection. 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’re each involved with the essence of issues relatively than appearances.” Each are methods of life — easy but nuanced.
He gave the instance of a wordless story titled “October,” featured in King-Cat’s thirtieth situation, that exhibits him as a highschool scholar strolling residence one night time from college. When he will get residence, his mother asks him to take the canine exterior; as he steps out, he sees the celebrities.
“It’s the expertise of being in on a regular basis, mundane life … after which all of the sudden breaking by means of to some sort of transcendence,” he mentioned.
Porcellino views these comics as a therapeutic presence in his life.
“They’re an essential a part of my non secular follow,” he mentioned. “Any time I’ve a significant disaster in my life, my first response is to sit down down and begin making comics and put my focus into that. It simply helps floor me.”
Why illustration issues for youngsters
Teresa Robeson, who wrote a graphic novel in regards to 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 reminiscences of kinfolk praying to Buddhist gods, taking within the perfume of burning incense and the sound of Buddhist chants.
Although she practices neither Catholicism nor Buddhism right now, Robeson jumped on the alternative to inform the story of the Dalai Lama in graphic novel type as a result of the e-book centered on a pivotal second within the non secular chief’s life, when he fled Tibet for India after the Chinese language occupation.
Robeson appreciated the concept of representing a faith and tradition that don’t get a lot consideration in media.
“Kids’s books are like mirrors and home windows for teenagers,” she mentioned. “It’s useful particularly for youngsters of immigrants who don’t usually see themselves in mainstream literature. They don’t see anybody who seems to be like them or prays like them. On the similar time, it additionally helps children who will not be Asian or Buddhist to study one thing about these communities.”
The comics renaissance in India
Amar Chitra Katha was a comic book e-book firm began by the late Anant Pai in Mumbai in 1967 as a method to train Indian kids about their very own mythology and tradition. The primary title was “Krishna,” an essential god in Hinduism and protagonist of the Bhagavad Gita, one of many faith’s foremost 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 may construct cabinets for bookstores that refused to show his comics as a result of they lacked shelf area, 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.
However faith stays the mainstay of Amar Chitra Katha, and books that train kids about religion, historical past and tradition are additionally the most well-liked within the diaspora, Puri mentioned.
“Most just lately we’ve additionally portrayed (Indigenous) religions and have gathered folktales relating to those traditions from throughout India,” she mentioned.
Amar Chitra Katha comics confronted criticism up to now 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. However that has modified, Puri mentioned.
“We’ve educated ourselves and realized that our historical texts weren’t as racist or colorist as we could also be at this time,” she mentioned. “We’re correcting these misconceptions now.”
Atheism, paganism and … Lucifer
British comedian e-book author Mike Carey is thought for his 2000-2006 DC Comics collection “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 college solely “for the enjoyable, tales and chocolate.”
Carey portrayed Lucifer because the “son of God, however as a rebellious disobedient son who desires to seek out himself as distinct from his father.”
He has additionally explored pagan themes, notably what he known as the “bizarre interface between British folklore and British spiritual traditions.”
Carey delved into the ideas of religion, God and morality in a collection titled “My Religion in Frankie,” which tells the story of an adolescent with a private god known as Jeriven who will get jealous of her boyfriend.
Though lots of his comics and novels discover faith and ethics, Carey mentioned, he has by no means “felt any temptation by any means to imagine.”
“I’ve turn out to be an increasing number of entrenched in that place, as a result of organized religions are like all group that maintain themselves, amass energy, wealth and authority,” he mentioned. “So I’ve by no means actually grappled with spiritual points. What I do typically is discover, play with and tease out ethical points that had been essential and significant to me.”
Related Press faith protection receives help by means of the AP’s collaboration with The Dialog US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely accountable for this content material.
