Comic books and graphic novels are not only popular sources for television and Hollywood films. They are also increasingly the object of academic and critical scrutiny. Christopher Knowles has made his own contribution in this area with his book Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes (Weiser Books, 2007). As the back cover of the books asks, “Was Superman’s arch nemesis Lex Luthor based on the early twentieth-century occultist Aleister Crowley? How is Batman linked to the Kabbalah?” Knowles suggests that the answer to these and similar questions is a resounding “yes” as paganism and Western esotericism has served as an influence in comic books. He probes this topic in the following interview.
TheoFantastique: I recently read a piece online which discussed the impact of H. P. Lovecraft on comics. You discuss his literary work, and that he was a self-professed atheist, but you mention that some question whether he had esoteric interests and connections given the cosmology and mythology he constructed. What types of esoteric influences have some attributed to Lovecraft, and regardless of his metaphysical views, how do you see him as an influence on contemporary comics?
Christopher Knowles: Well, a lot of the discussions of Lovecraft’s immersion in the occult have been from occult partisans. Kenneth Grant, who was head of the Ordo Templi Orientis, comes to mind here. Lovecraft was obviously aware of the occult since it was very much part of the pulp milieu- the counterculture of its time. I think he may have read some occult texts — maybe some Theosophical or Rosicrucian material — since he was a voracious reader and was looking out for story material. But Lovecraft to me was a guy who was very much in touch with an aspect of the unconscious mind that nightmares dwell in, night terrors, hallucinations — things like that. I think that was a much more powerful influence on him than occultism, which can get so nebulous as to include anything. Lovecraft really did the occultism of his time one better and created a more immersive universe than you could with spells or incantations. He’s an occult order unto himself.
TheoFantastique: One of the types of comic heroes as gods that you put forward is the Golems, based upon Jewish mysticism. I was surprised by the great number of comic heroes you included in this list, but they seem to fit. Why are there so many comic heroes that have been influenced by this form of comic mysticism?
Christopher Knowles: Here’s basically how I see it with the archetypes I named — The Messiah is the daddy fantasy, the Amazon is the mommy fantasy, the Brotherhood is the fantasy group of friends but the Golem is us. The Golem is the one who suffers and who wants revenge. The one who feels victimized and needs armor to cover the wounds. So when the general audience drifted away the comics were being read by hardcore fans, who often feel marginalized and victimized. So you’re going to have a built-in audience for this archetype from kids who feel a need to vindicate, to avenge wrongs done to them.
TheoFantastique: I appreciated your discussion in the chapter called “The Visionaries” where you mention key figures who helped develop our “gods in spandex.” The first and perhaps most influential is Jack Kirby. Many fans of Kirby’s work will likely be surprised to learn of his infusion of mysticism in his comics. How did he come to produce a body of work that you describe as “fundamentally psychedelic and intrinsically pagan”? And how has Kirby been influential on other visionaries, whether in comics or other venues?
Christopher Knowles: Well, how Kirby became Kirby is the $64,000 question. Kirby had a pretty rough and tumble childhood and then had an unusually traumatic experience in the war. He also was almost autistic in the sense that he existed inside his head and projected those stories from his mind onto the paper. Then something extremely strange happens to him and he undergoes this metamorphosis in the mid-60s and his art becomes very primitive and very futuristic at the same time, but also extremely psychedelic. It has a frightening similarity to shamanic art from the ayahuasca cults and the rest of it. At the same time he’s tapping into this ancient, archaic visionary mindset he’s also becoming obsessed with the aliens and UFOs and comes right out and says that all of these ancient astronaut stories he starts doing with the Fourth World and the Eternals and the rest of it are him being “mystical.” That’s the word he uses. It gets to the point that he’s working over these themes in the art he does for himself, the paintings like Incan Visitation and the Bible portfolio.
As to who he influenced, everybody doing anything with sci-fi or superheroes has been influenced by Kirby, whether they realize it or not.
TheoFantastique: How might Alan Moore’s work be seen as incorporating his interest in ritual magic?
Christopher Knowles: I’m not sure I can answer that exactly, other than the very literal stuff he wrote for Promethea. I was really disappointed in that series, because it was a comic that was magic and became a comic about magic. Big difference there. But by the same token I think the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is the best work anyone’s done as far as superhero teams go, bar none. I don’t think anything can touch it. So he can answer this better than I, but I’d guess he’s allowed himself to really explore the depths of his psyche and really dig deep into what storytelling is, which is a much more powerful form of magic than anything else I can name.
TheoFantastique: How does Mike Mignola incorporate occult history in his comics?
Christopher Knowles: How doesn’t he? It’s really what his work is about. All of his writing digs into lore that most people have forgotten. I have this weird picture of him sitting there by lamplight, poring over some dusty grimoire that was written on the tanned skin of virgins back in the Dark Ages. I can just see the demons and spirits and jinns leaping from the darkness into this imaginary magical quill Mignola is holding that allows him to force them to do his bidding. I’m really sorry he doesn’t do much drawing anymore because the magic comes when he’s riding all the horses, but I understand it. He scares the hell out of me because he makes it all so real, yet intensely hilarious at the same time.
TheoFantastique: At one point near the end of your book you write:
“Comic-book fans are a small, but highly dedicated and influential group. They usually develop an intense, intimate relationship with the comics medium at an early age, often as a result of childhood trauma. Many have a general disposition toward shyness or social awkwardness that tends to cement their dedication to the form, turning them into, in Stan Lee’s words, “true believers” indistinguishable from your average theology student or seminarian.”
As a former seminarian and comic fan I identified with this statement. Do you find this as a general tendency in your work among comic fans?
Christopher Knowles: Well, my experience with comic fans is past tense now, but sure. One of the reasons the book was so controversial was because the average fan loved it and the hardcore fan thought it was heresy. And they also thought I was telling tales out of school. Hardcore fans tend to form very intense, subjective and personal bonds with the medium, and tend to shut out anyone else’s relationship to the material. That’s why you can go to a comics store and see a bunch of middle aged guys trying their damnedest to ignore each other, even though they spend their days surrounded by people who have no idea what any of this comics stuff is about at all. It’s very much an escape from the rest of the world, which you also see in monasteries, strangely enough.
TheoFantastique: I strongly resonated with two brief paragraphs in your concluding chapter:
“We live in extremely depressing and disheartening times, in which old certainties vanish before our eyes. The world we once knew is either collapsing or being systematically dismantled, and there is nothing we can do about it. The daily political and economic bad news and the constant drumbeat of war and terrorism are making superhero fantasies more relevant and visceral, as well as more comforting and reassuring, than at any time since World War II.
“American religion seems unable to provide a viable salvation myth in this time of crisis. Most denominations have become nothing more than badly disguised political movements, interested only in money and power. On the other hand, our bloodless secular culture has no room in it for wonder. It should not surprise us then, when Harry Potter, Star Wars, and The X-Men step in to fill the void.”
I tend to agree, and would slightly modify your statement in that I wonder whether much of American Christendom likewise lacks wonder, mystery, transcendence, and a sense of inspiring mythic stories every bit as much as secular culture. Given this present state of affairs, what do you think not only about the future of comic’s potential as entertainment in pop culture, but also its potential to incorporate the supernatural, the spiritual, and the esoteric?
Christopher Knowles: I don’t know about comics in and of themselves. I think there’s a kind of winding down feeling about the market lately. There’s been a real risk-averse mentality at the big companies that has to do with the economics of publishing, which are pretty scary at the moment. I think that comics and superheroes have this common history but may not have a common future, necessarily. Superheroes might well belong onscreen and not on the page, now that the technology has caught up with the storytelling. I loved the Watchmen movie — to me it stomps all over the comic, as heretical as it is to admit. Same with Kick Ass.
The thing is that comics are the best place to take risks and really explore the possibilities but we don’t seem to value that in the culture. This is a really terrible time for this country, but also for the culture and the only way we’re going to get out of it is by using our creativity and imaginations. I don’t see that same energy in comics to kickstart that I did five or ten years ago. Other media tend to cherrypick the best creators and it’s very hard for new creators to get noticed. We’re starting to see the migration to the internet and to social media, but we’re still not seeing the magic yet. This might be a transitional period. But there’s a whole century of inspiration to explore that incorporates all of those themes, usually unconsciously. And the great news here is that a talented creator can create a universe with a pencil.
TheoFantastique: Chris, thanks again for your book and for probing its thesis and contents a little more deeply here.
A recent visit to my local library to peruse the shelves for horror and science fiction DVDs revealed a few treasures the other day, including a copy of The Mummy (1932) Special Edition. This is part of the Universal Legacy Series that I have yet to add to my collection.
This 2-disc set includes bonus features, including Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed and He Who Made Monsters: The Life and Art of Jack Pierce. There were a number of interesting facets of both mini-documentaries, but in the former I found one piece of trivia particularly interesting in regards to Boris Karloff’s co-star, Zita Johann. Two film historians are featured in the documentary who had opportunities to interview Zohann before her death. They both state that she was a practitioner of the “occult sciences,” that she was a believer in reincarnation, and one of the men claims that during filming Zohann passed out and claims to have had an out-of-body experience (mistakenly referred to in the documentary as a near-death experience). This appears to have been a case of art imitating life since Zohann plays a character reincarnated in the film. Just one of the interesting pieces of trivia related to a classic horror film and its connection to the esoteric religious tradition.
Comic artist and historian Arlen Schumer will lecture at Rice University on “Jews ‘n’ Comics.” Schumer’s views on the subject as part of the upcoming lecture are described in Jewish Herald-Voice:
According to Schumer, it’s no coincidence that several pioneers of the America comic book art form were Jews. A short list includes Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, co-creators of Superman; Bob Kane (born Robert Kahn), creator of Batman; Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg), creator of Captain America; and Stan Lee (born Stanley Lieber), co-creator with Jack Kirby of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, the Hulk, X-Men, Iron Man and others.
Besides their personal Jewish identities, these artist geniuses infused their superhero creations and their sagas with Jewish culture, Schumer explains in his work.
“I try to demonstrate that there’s been a strong Jewish influence in the creation of our modern-day superheroes that go back to stories that go as far back as you want to go back,” he said in an interview with the JH-V.
The Superman creation story, for example, is based on Jewish archetypes spelled out in the baby Moses story and messianic prophecies, Schumer noted. Iconic superheroes like Superman, Batman and Captain America each were created by first-generation assimilated American Jews at times of national crisis.
“When there was a crisis facing the Jewish people, we can look back to the golem myth from late 16th century Prague. The Jews were threatened by pogroms, so the rabbi conjured a man out of earth and gave life from nothingness to save the ghetto and protect the Jewish people,” Schumer said.
American superheroes of the 1930s, like Batman, were a response to the rise of fascism and Nazism. Others superheroes, like Captain America, were created to help raise American consciousness about the war and to change isolationist attitudes, he added.
The whole article can be read here. See Schumer’s website for further examples of his lectures and work.
Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film is a feature-length documentary based on the book of the same name by Joseph Maddrey. It examines the idea that horror films reflect the times and places in which they are made – illustrating how classic monster movies exploited the anxieties of war-time generations, and how more savage modern horror films stem from the psychic fallout of America’s counterculture movement and the subsequent rise of increasingly conservative political forces.
At the same time, the documentary explores the timeless, universal appeal of horror movies by examining the pervasive theme of The Outsider. From the silent films of Lon Chaney to the box office reign of Hannibal Lector and his peers, the history of the horror film is a story of the individual at odds with any organization that threatens his life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. In-depth interviews with many of the nation’s greatest horror filmmakers reveal that the appeal of the genre is rooted not only in timely fears but in the spirit of rebellion – a spirit that consistently defines American life, as well as many of its best horror filmmakers.
Nightmares in Red, White and Blue is narrated by horror icon Lance Henriksen and features exclusive interviews with legendary auteurs like John Carpenter, George A. Romero, Joe Dante, Larry Cohen, and Roger Corman, as well as film historian John Kenneth Muir and Fangoria editor Tony Timpone and others. Their observations are illustrated with clips from more than 150 films – ranging from the classic Universal monster movies to the psychological horrors of film noir, from groundbreaking films like Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist and Jaws to contemporary slasher movies, Torture Porn and beyond.
In short, it is the most comprehensive documentary on America’s most durable and prolific film genre.
Two significant news stories surfaced over the last couple of days that involve extraterrestrials and UFOs. In the first story, several U.S. Air Force officers have come forward claiming that as recently as 2003 several bases with nuclear weapons were visited by and vulnerable to UFOs. As Gather.com reports:
Claims of UFOs circling nukes and military bases are nothing new but what is new is the number of military personal willing to collaborate those sightings. It’s terrifying to think of someone or something being able to tamper with our nukes from a distance.
The Mail Online includes a more extensive discussion of this phenomenon in the U.S. and U.K. You can also view a CBC News clip that features an interview with one of the Air Force officers discussing his experiences on YouTube.
In the second news report various news outlets stated that the United Nations had approved a position for an “alien ambassador” who would serve as a point of contact for possible future extraterrestrial visitors. Although this story was widely circulated it appears to lack confirmation as the Guardian.co.uk reports.
I recently received a review copy of Horror Movie Freak (Krause Publications, 2010) by Don Sumner. The book is an enjoyable discussion of horror films for those fans obsessed with the genre. At one point early in the discussion Sumner provides a description of the purposes of the book:
Horror Movie Freak is not a listing of “best” horror movies, but rather a collection of ones that fall into a variety of horror subgenres with the simple inclusion criteria that they don’t suck.
Sumner’s subgenres include aberrations of nature, aliens and outer space, Asian horror, beginner’s shelf, classics (Universal, Hammer, and others), evil from hell, foreign horror, ghost stories, homicidal slashers, monsters, psychotics, supernatural thrillers, vampires, and zombie invasion. The book also includes discussion of those horror films that receive honorable mention, and various remakes. The book also includes a number of striking photographs from various films, and these alone make the volume worth securing for horror fans. As an added extra, the book includes a bonus DVD of Romero’s Night of the Living Dead with an introduction by Sumner.
In terms of what the book brings to the subject matter by way of narrative discussion in a field with a large numbers of books available on horror films, there is little new ground broken in the author’s discussion of these films, although the passion Sumner has for horror is evident in his writing. With these thoughts in mind, Horror Movie Freak is best suited for the new horror movie fan who wants an introduction to many of the films in various subgenres. You can learn more about the book at the official website, and it can be ordered there or through the TheoFantastique Store.
Graphic novels and comics continue to be a great source for contemporary fantastic film and television. On October 31 Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel The Walking Dead comes together with the direction of Frank Darabont in what promises to be a great horror television series on AMC. You can visit The Walking Dead AMC Series website here, and Robert Kirkman’s website with examples of his other work here.
Douglas Cowan, author of Sacred Space: The Quest for Transcendence in Science Fiction Film and Television (Baylor University Press, 2010, has been interviewed by The Atlantic. In the interview he mentions his next book completing the trilogy on the fantastic titled Sacred Visions: Fantasy, Film, and Mythic Imagination. You can read the previous interviews with Cowan on Sacred Space in two parts with part 1 here, and part 2 here. You can also read an interview with his thoughts from Sacred Terror, his book on religion and horror, also in two parts with part 1 here and part 2 here.
This week has seen a few interesting science fiction items in the news.
In the first instance, the astronomer for the Pope went on record stating that if alien life exists he would gladly baptize it “no matter how many tentacles it has.” See an example of this brief news item here.
In the second science fiction item in the news, alarm was expressed concerning a genetically engineered form of Atlantic salmon that grows twice as fast as those not tinkered with by geneticists. The Food and Drug Administration will weigh in on whether to approve this type of fish for human consumption.
The interesting facet of this news item is the label applied to the animal by many news stories which referred to it as “Frankenfish.” In her book Frankenstein: A Cultural History (W. W. Norton, 2007), Susan Tyler Hitchcock discusses how the Frankenstein myth has pervaded our culture, so much so that the idea of “Frankenfoods” is now a common label in discussions over genetically engineered foods. In a previous interview with Hitchcock at TheoFantastique:
TheoFantastique: In chapter 10 you discuss scientific developments in genetics and how the novel has been attached to debates on this topic so much so that people have expressed fears about “Frankenfoods.” You write that, “Scientists live and operate within a larger world of culture, and the myths that shape that world exert an influence on their beliefs, fears, and aspirations.” How does the Frankenstein myth serve as positively as a mythic foil in contemporary debates like those over genetics and cloning? Susan Tyler Hitchcock: By the time we were seriously discussing the issues of genetic engineering and cloning in the public forum, Frankenstein had lost its ambiguities and was received by most as having a unified message: Don’t mess with Mother Nature; don’t play God; don’t dare to overstep the limits of knowledge established by the status quo. My belief is that that is not what Mary Shelley originally had in mind when she wrote the novel, but it is what we have made of her story. So Frankenstein has become a code word for the idea that any effort to create life is going to make a monster that will haunt and ultimately destroy us. It’s an easy way to express the conservative argument against scientific experimentation in realms that are new and unknown, particularly those having to do with the manipulation or creation of life-forms.
Comic books and graphic novels are not only popular sources for television and Hollywood films. They are also increasingly the object of academic and critical scrutiny. Christopher Knowles has made his own contribution in this area with his book Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes (Weiser Books, 2007). As the back cover of the books asks, “Was Superman’s arch nemesis Lex Luthor based on the early twentieth-century occultist Aleister Crowley? How is Batman linked to the Kabbalah?” Knowles suggests that the answer to these and similar questions is a resounding “yes” as paganism and Western esotericism has served as an influence in comic books. He probes this topic in the following interview.
Christopher Knowles: Well, a lot of the discussions of Lovecraft’s immersion in the occult have been from occult partisans. Kenneth Grant, who was head of the Ordo Templi Orientis, comes to mind here. Lovecraft was obviously aware of the occult since it was very much part of the pulp milieu- the counterculture of its time. I think he may have read some occult texts — maybe some Theosophical or Rosicrucian material — since he was a voracious reader and was looking out for story material. But Lovecraft to me was a guy who was very much in touch with an aspect of the unconscious mind that nightmares dwell in, night terrors, hallucinations — things like that. I think that was a much more powerful influence on him than occultism, which can get so nebulous as to include anything. Lovecraft really did the occultism of his time one better and created a more immersive universe than you could with spells or incantations. He’s an occult order unto himself.
TheoFantastique: I appreciated your discussion in the chapter called “The Visionaries” where you mention key figures who helped develop our “gods in spandex.” The first and perhaps most influential is Jack Kirby. Many fans of Kirby’s work will likely be surprised to learn of his infusion of mysticism in his comics. How did he come to produce a body of work that you describe as “fundamentally psychedelic and intrinsically pagan”? And how has Kirby been influential on other visionaries, whether in comics or other venues?
Christopher Knowles: I’m not sure I can answer that exactly, other than the very literal stuff he wrote for Promethea. I was really disappointed in that series, because it was a comic that was magic and became a comic about magic. Big difference there. But by the same token I think the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is the best work anyone’s done as far as superhero teams go, bar none. I don’t think anything can touch it. So he can answer this better than I, but I’d guess he’s allowed himself to really explore the depths of his psyche and really dig deep into what storytelling is, which is a much more powerful form of magic than anything else I can name.
TheoFantastique: At one point near the end of your book you write:
