Updated: Sep 3
In comic book lore, there is often societal discomfort with superheroes. The power oligarchs can whip this discomfort to a fever pitch. In The Incredibles, nitpicky lawsuits, bad press and government oversight compels superheroes into the Superhero Relocations Program, effectively forcing them into hiding and banning their superpowers. J. Jonah Jameson uses the Daily Bugle to conduct a relentless smear campaign against Spider-Man, ruining his public reputation. The Avengers and the X-men are decommissioned by order of varied committees of public safety.
The superheroes hide themselves away for a while, but inevitably their absence on the municipal stage begins to be felt. Things go from bad to worse. Superheroes act as the society's immune system and with their influence removed, the white blood cell count drops to frightening low levels. But then the superheroes go through an angsty internal struggle to reassume their superhero identity. Things have got so bad that the internal struggle tends to be much more gut-wrenching than overcoming external opposition. The superhero bans were enacted in time of relative peace, law and order. Now anarchy reigns and the general public has, overcomes its collective distaste for superheroes. They regret outlawing Daredevil and electing Wilson Fisk.
Watching disasters unfold can be escapist when you have front row seats, buttered popcorn, 3D glasses and the catastrophes are happening to others. Godzilla chases panicked crowds through city streets, lighting fires under their fleeing butts with his flame throwing puffs. Space aliens hook up machines to siphon off all of the earth's oxygen. King Kong releases his long suppressed bestial rage on New York City. A doomsday button sets off a launch sequence in 0-9 seconds. Who doesn't like a good disaster? It makes us feel more alive. The above page is only the latest of the many disasters that regularly occur in the The Rise of Nothing, new subscribers all always welcome.
But when disasters are happening closer to home, that is not a time to microwave some popcorn but rather to search for a survival strategy, perhaps you might be genetically endowed with some superpower. There seems to be a stealth operation occurring today in many different locales and circumstances. As circumstances and forecasts get increasingly dire, there is a collective yet independent move of individuals to seek out or reclaim their superpower inheritance.
Christianity did most of the heavy lifting to bring prevent society from turning into a battleground of competing self-interests. Napoleon Bonaparte quipped that "Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich." In his time as well as our own, the law of the land does the same. However, the Christian religion imposes as law on the hearts. For those who accepted that law, it establishes precedent and overtime affected societal change for the better. Issues like slavery and abortion have historically divided establishment Christians and WWJD Christians. Do such things call into question the integrity of Christianity or the integrity of those who call themselves Christian? But that is a separate question, onto the superhero analogy
For centuries, the elites have harboured an animus against religion. Christians have been viewed as either public nuisances or public menaces, much like the powerful oligarchs view super-heros in the comic book genre. In the 1700's, Voltaire (1694-1778) used to sign off his letters to European monarchs and the Epstein class or his day with the cosy catchphrase, "écrasez l’infâme" ("crush the infamy" referring to Christianity). Closer to the present, Hillary Clinton referenced certain citizenry as a "basket of deplorables", President Obama talked about those backward folks who "cling to guns or religion" and President Trump arguably trolled Christ with meme of himself as a "doctor". And all of this occurred in ostensibly Christian countries.
The marglizing of superheroes by the media bigwigs and their government counterparts in the comic-book world is also happening in our own with regards to religious practice. Prayer is banned in schools, faith is pushed out of the public arena, church-going is denigrated and church-goers are given the side eye. Legislative suppression keeps worming its way forward. In Canada, Bill C-9 can be used to declare quoting from sacred scripture as hate speech. This is top-down phenomenon that claims to be grass roots, That is very quickly realized if you are an authentically grassroots person trying to oppose such phenomena.
This may be feeding the likes of Russell Brand, Shia Labeouf, Joe Schmid and Jordan Hall making high profile surprise conversions. However, this there seems to be a ground swell of non-celebrities also making the jump. The numbers are small but they seem to be more committed to prayer and religious practice than previous generations. Today, the observant are witnessing a steep rise in mental health issues, suicides, prices of staples, addictions, general chaos, corruption, unnecessary wars, environmental degradation and diversifying social problems. We can track the disasters 24-7 on a multitude of different channels. We are looking for some sort of antidote to the bad things that are happening. When my life starts to become a slow motion disaster, I found that prayer is the only way to reverse that trend. Prayer is a superpower that is so often overlooked. Days that begins with prayer often are crowned with unexpected blessings. But thinking large, prayer and repentance can change the world, defeat the super-villains, bring us back to a time of relative peace and order.
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St. Michael the Archangel Icon
I do have a limited number of hand painted icons of St. Michael the Archangel. They are written on gessoed oak boards, roughly 9.5 x 12.5 inches in size. The pigments used are traditional raw earth materials and ground up minerals and the halos are gold leaf on clay. Photos of two of the icons are below.
Were a Canadian or American reader to donate $150 dollars in their currency to Fear of the Lord Comics, and also supply me with their mailing address, I would send them a St. Michael icon. God bless and have a great day.
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