The Four Color Media Monitor

The Tribune of India spoke about how religions like the Sikh faith are never explored in mainstream comics, if at all, in an interview with a local fan of Capt. America who loves cosplaying:

“Captain America doesn’t wear a beard and a turban, and he’s white.” Vishavjit Singh looked at the boy who uttered those words, and then he looked at himself — a skinny, bespectacled, turbaned, bearded Sikh in a Captain America suit.

“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. This image has so much power to it that it opens up conversations about what it means to be an American,” Singh said.

Representation of non-Abrahamic religions and spiritual traditions, particularly in the mainstream comics universe, is minimal. Even when they are portrayed in comics, their presentation, as Singh and others in the field point out, is often inauthentic and sometimes negative.

Having read some Golden Age stories, I am aware that there were at least a few instances where characters who could be descendants of India were portrayed as crooks, although there were some where they could be portrayed positively. But I don't think religion was involved per se. It was actually in later years during the Bronze Age that religion was more likely to be explored, and even then, they're correct, religions that may not have been monotheistic were rarely given serious exploration, if at all. And maybe that's just what led to the sad state of affairs we have today in mainstream, where Islam is whitewashed for the sake of political propaganda marketing, and if a godless religion is given prominence, it's the the cult of LGBT, and even communism, for all we know. (Speaking of which, as those familiar with the Silver Age know, communism was depicted negatively then, but in recent years, there can be no doubt it's all taken a change for the worse.) Manga stories are far more likely to explore religions that aren't monotheistic, whether the Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto or Jain religions. While I may be a monotheist myself, I do think there could be advantages for comics writers to research and develop more characters who're adherents to the religions of the far east, but so long as PC reigns in today's USA market, you can be sure the mainstream is unlikely to ever write up a truly respectable focus on faiths like the Sikh, or even Hinduism.

Recently, however, comic book writers and academics who study the intersection of religion and comics observe a renaissance of sorts, which they say is happening because people close to these faith traditions are telling these stories with a reverence and sincerity that resonate with a wider audience.

A Sikh superhero with a message

Singh’s journey to make that connection began after the attacks of September 11, 2001, triggered anti-Sikh hate incidents. Having faced hate and exclusion throughout his life, he decided to spread the message of kindness and inclusion by capitalising on the appeal of comics and superheroes — an area where he found Sikh representation to be “virtually zero”.

He suited up as Captain Sikh America in Manhattan for the first time in summer 2013 — one year after a self-proclaimed White supremacist opened fire inside a gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six and injuring four others.

New York’s reaction to Captain Sikh America was joyous. “Strangers came up and hugged me. 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,” Singh said.

Well great for him if he found fame in his take on cosplay. But what this article fails to elucidate is that some Sikh adherents were mistaken for Moslems after September 11, 2001, and that was the reason for the offensive and reprehensible attacks. It's strange, because as far as I know, the dastar (turban) worn by Sikh adherents doesn't look like that worn by Muslim men at all. Even the outfits worn by lady adherents to the Sikh faith don't look like those worn by Muslim women. What these terrible incidents make clear is how out of touch the education system is even today when it comes to foreign cultures, and one of the most angering results is how these wrongful attacks on Sikh at the time only made it harder to combat the far more serious dangers of Islamic jihadism.

The article does bring up graphic novelists who've explored non-monotheist themes outside the mainstream, and the following is told about African faiths, interestingly enough:

Brooklyn-born Haitian American comic book writer Greg Anderson Elysee said he didn’t learn about African and Caribbean religious traditions until he was a teenager. Elysee was raised Catholic, but he now considers himself agnostic.

For the last decade, he’s written comics about Is’nana, the son of Anansi the Spider, the god of wisdom, knowledge and mischief in the Akan religion of West Africa.

What drives his vision and his creativity, Elysee said, is the need to see more Black mythology, deities and spirituality showcased with the same level 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 said. Common depictions of African faith as voodoo and witchcraft are colonialist narratives aimed at demonising indigenous spiritual 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.”

To be sure, some practices in Africa have been totally confused with voodoo regardless of whether that's all about chicken slaughter for the sake of placing curses upon anybody who could be least deserving. And if there's positive faiths and practices in Africa that could be explored, it's definitely the time to do it. But don't do under Marvel/DC, no matter what their staff's reception could be at this point. What matters is that there's no need to prop up their woke-infested machine anymore by exploring themes in what could end up being stories that won't amount to anything as a result of the lack of respect modern writers have for the established characters, along with the lack of respect for continuity, which has collapsed since the 2000s. To explore these non-Abrahamic faiths is best done in creator-owned projects today, and there, for all know, it could come off much better than in mainstream. Yes, religious diversity can matter, but that's provided it's all done plausibly. That's how it'll work best.

Labels: Africa, Captain America, Europe and Asia, history, islam and jihad, marvel comics, msm propaganda