Saturday, September 06, 2008
Comic Art
Sometimes comics are just creepy, and for me never are they more creepy than when they reflect reality just a bit too much. Such a character from Jack Kirby's New Gods would be Glorious Godfrey. Yes, he may indeed win the "Oh Give Me A Break" Award when it comes to his name, but he was sinister indeed. Here is how the link just provided describes him:Glorious Godfrey is a master mind manipulator. He was sent to Earth by Darkseid to prepare for his arrival. He acted as a preacher, proclaiming the benefits of "anit-life," which would justify the actions of man, whatever they may be. He assembled a strong group of followers, named "Justifiers," to spread unrest and rioting all over America. It took the efforts of the Forever People to defeat him.As if to kick creepy up a notch, he later reappeared trying the same sort of misinformation, uber-leader tactic under the name "G. Gordon Godfrey." Oh no, there was no blatant cultural reference there at all.
The power of propaganda can be frightening - and when my comic book characters practice it, with super powers, well, it gives me pause. Of course, when Kirby cooked up Glorious Godfrey, the cultural reference was to Gobels and the Nazi propaganda machine, but by the '80's when the character resurfaced he was vaguely guised as an American government official, acting all Nazi like.Were he to show up again now, any bets he would be a televangelist? I hate to get all moralistic in a Saturday comic book post, but this gives me real pause. When it comes to doing our job as Christians, the difference between preaching the Gospel and spewing propaganda is a thin one indeed. It might even be a moving target depending on the audience.
My point is, sometimes we deserve, richly, the ridicule we get in the world of pop culture. Maybe we should have a bit higher guard.
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