God of the Week: The Spectre
God of the Week 11/09/09: The Spectre
The Spectre is a modern god and superhero in the DC Comics canon. He was created by Jerry Siegel (co-creator of Superman) and Bernard Baily, and made his first appearance in More Fun Comics #51.
In early appearances, The Spectre was depicted as the spirit of a deceased cop that was on a mission to fight crime on earth. Like many popular comic book characters, the decline in popularity of the comic genre lead to a hiatus in the 1950’s. Once the comic business picked up again in the mid 1960’s, many of the popular comic characters, including The Spectre, were revived and often re-invented. The Spectre became a much more power avenging spirit with near omnipotence, only to be greatly decreased in power in the 1980’s, leaving him as little more than a ghostly detective.
In the latest incarnation, The Spectre was syncretized with the Christian mythos, making him “God’s instrument of divine justice” which, for some reason, probably one that could only be understood by those with theology degrees, seems to entail nothing more than murdering evil doers in ironic ways.
Tags: God of the Week, The Spectre
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
November 10, 2009 at 5:05 PM
You know, I used to think that the worst thing imaginable was to mix up Christianity with Rock n’ Roll music.
Now I realize that mixing it with comic books is about a hundred thousand million times more horrifying. Thanks?
November 11, 2009 at 5:32 PM
Univeral..
But he’s technically not a God, right? I mean, no one prays or make sacrifices to him, and he doesn’t act independently.
Wouldn’t he be more like a henchman of Jesus, like demons are the henchmen of Satan?
Hump
November 12, 2009 at 10:10 AM
I am playing a bit loosey goosey on this one. I was hoping to catch a god in the early stage of development before he became a full fledged religion.