BASIC CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND
…superheroes have come to fill the role in our modern society that the gods and demigods provided to the ancients…
Kingdom Come—perhaps more than any other comic book in history—delineates what superheroes are to their most devoted fans. They are nothing less than gods…
…reverential treatment of these characters—the essentially religious portrayal of them—that resonates with the mass audience today. We have, in fact, witnessed the emergence of a strange kind of religion here. Indeed, superheroes now play for us the role once played by the gods in ancient societies…Although most of us don’t realize it, there’s simply nothing new about devotion to superheroes. Their powers, costumes, and sometimes even their names are plucked straight from the pre-Christian religions of antiquity. When you go back and look at these heroes in their original incarnations, you can’t help but be struck by how blatant their symbolism is and how strongly they reflect the belief systems of the pagan age…
Alex Ross and Mark Waid “clearly depict the Captain [Marvel]—a discorporate entity incarnated by occult magic—as the new Christ…Billy Batson, accidentally stumbles on a great wizard in an underground chamber. The wizard then teaches him a magical incantation that gives the boy the powers of a god….
Captain Marvel…is not an actual individual, but a magical entity into which young Billy Batson transubstantiates when he utters the occult incantation, “Shazam!”—the name of the wizard who granted Batson his powers, and an acronym for the ancient deities who lend the Captain their powers.
Batson’s transfiguration strongly resembles a Masonic, or secret-society, initiation. In the first Captain Marvel story, Billy, a homeless orphan, is led by a mysterious stranger into an abandoned subway tunnel, recalling initiations performed in ancient times…Billy enters a throne room and his mysterious companion banishes. Billy then encounters an ancient wizard, Shazam, who conjures an inscription on the wall behind him out of the names of six deities. Billy speaks his magic word, is struck by a bolt of lightning, and magically transfigures into Captain Marvel…one of Marvel’s nemeses is Black Adam, whose name is an approximate cipher for “Egyptian Man”…artist/writer Jim Starlin…pitted Marvel against Thanos, an alien tyrant who worships death as his lover.
[Footnotes notes that Marvel’s Shazam acronym refers to: “Solomon, a Biblical figure revered by occultists and Freemasons, who grants his wisdom; Hercules, who grants his strength; Atlas, who grants his stamina; Zeus, who lends his power; Achilles, who adds his Courage; Mercury, who shares his speed.”
As for Black Adam, a note states, “‘Black’ is a rough translation of the ancient name for Egypt, Kemet; Adam means ‘man.’ In Black Adam’s case, SHAZAM stood for the patron deities Shu (Sky God), Heru (Horus), Amon (Amen, king of the gods), Zehuti (Thoth), Aton (Sun), and Mehen (an Egyptian board game).”
The Mighty Thor…crippled doctor Don Blake is vacationing in Norway when an invasion force of rocky aliens appears in the skies. Blake flees to a cave where he discovers a stick that, when struck on the ground, allows its carrier to transform into Thor himself…echoes Captain Marvel’s subway tunnel—both of which harken back to the caverns and grottoes of the ancient mystery religions…
[Jack] Kirby later took over the plotting of Thor and turned it into a full-bore cosmic/psychedelic/mythological freakout. Planets came alive, Hercules and other Olympian gods dropped in and out, and a space-age version of Dr. Moreau called the High Evolutionary sets his “New Men” in balled against the Thunder God. Thor’s nemesis, Loki, granted human villains godlike powers and Don Blake’s lady love, Jane Foster, herself becomes a goddess. Thor died; Thor was reborn; Thor was ungodded by Odin; Ragnarok came; Ragnarok went…Osiris, Isis, Horus, and Set even made their way [into the storyline]…Thor stopped fighting communists and mad scientists and encountered living planets, monsters that contained the power of a billion souls, and genetic engineers creating new races…The Shadow…possessed mystical powers learned during his travels in the Orient, including the ability to “cloud men’s minds”…was created by Walter Gibson, who wrote under the alias Maxwell Grant…had a deep and abiding interest in occultism…
Writer Lester Dent (writing under the alias Kenneth Robeson) aptly described him [Doc Savage] as having “the clue-following of Sherlock Holmes, the muscular tree-swinging ability of Tarzan…and the morals of Jesus Christ.” The first issue’s cover pictured the hero standing in a Mayan ruin, reinforcing the occult and mystical overtones of his milieu…
The pulp superheroes…were usually men of science who fight against occult enemies, despite their own occult “mental powers.” Sorcerers and witch doctors were common enemies of the Shadow and Doc Savage. By contrast, the comic-book superheroes of the 1940s were often occult-powered creatures who spend a great deal of their time fighting against evil men of science”…
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter, Warlord of Wars series has Carter reaching “the red planet, not by rocket, but by using the occult art of astral projection…
Burroughs introduced the Pellucidar novels, starting with At the Earth’s Core in 1922. In this tale, a group of scientists discover Pellucidar, a world inhabited by dinosaurs and—believe it or not—psychic pterodactyls inside the Earth’s crust. Burroughs even sends Tarzan to Pellucidar in 1930 in Tarzan at the Earth’s Core.
Later, he introduces the Carson of Venus, first serialized in Argosy in 1932. This series stars astronaut Carson Napier, who, like Carter, has occult powers—in this case, telepathy. All these psychic supermen seem to reflect Burroughs’ straining toward a new race, one that is both physically powerful and morally upright, and possessed of extrasensory, occult powers that set them apart from the rest of humanity.
[My note: The multi armed Martians were inspired by Hindu depictions of deities]
Robert E. Howard “explained in a letter to a fan that ‘Conan simply grew up in my mind….He simply stalked full grown out of oblivion and set me at work recording the saga of his adventures.’ He wrote to Clark Ashton Smith: ‘I have sometimes wondered if it were possible that unrecognized forces of the past or present—or even future—work though the thoughts and actions of living men’”…
The rise of this network [of comic book clubs] closely mirrored the rise of the neopagan and occult movements of the mid-20th century. In fact, many of the leading figures in fandom were also deeply involved in occult activities. As former Eclipse Comics publisher and occult author Catherine Yronwode, put it, “Neopaganism would never have gotten started without the rise of Science Fiction and comics fandom”…
Created by Lee Flak in 1924, “Mandrake the Magician…studied with ascended masters in Tibet…is an occult magician who uses hypnotic suggestion to convince others he is a true conjurer. Falk incorporated many interesting occult themes into his storylines…
[Created by Fred Guardineer and inspired by Mandrake the Magician, Zatara the Master Magician] is essentially a hypnotist who casts spells by gniklat drawkcab [talking backward; which Alesiter Crowley recommend occultists do]. He vanished in a puff of smoke in 1950, replaced by his sexy, scantily-clad daughter, Zatanna. Perhaps seeking favor with some dark god, writer Alan Moore ritually sacrificed Zatara in the pages of Swamp Thing #50 in 1986…
In Egyptian art, Thoth is depicted as a man with the head of an ibis. Not coincidentally, one of the earliest wizard-heroes in comics is Fawcett’s Ibis the Invincible…Ibis is influenced by Mandrake, this crime-fighting magus is actually a reincarnation of the fictional Pharaoh Amentep—in other words, a reincarnation of Horus…
Doctor Fate, who lived in a doorless and windowless tower in Salem, Massachusetts, is similar in concept to Ibis and other Egyptian-themed DC hero, Hawkman, and bears a thematic resemblance to Doctor Occult. Doctor Fate is sent to Earth in ancient times by the “elder gods” (Lovecraft, again).
Like so many other characters, Fantomah acquired her magical powers through a previous incarnation in ancient Egypt…
In The Comic Book Book [p. 157], Dick O’Donnell unequivocally declares that “students of the history of comics must regard the Occult-Mystic figure as a definite prototype of Superman, performing many of the feats Superman later performed, but doing so by supernatural rather than superscientific means.”
It is highly significant that the characters who becomes the definitive archetype of the modern superheroes is brought into the world by the same men who created obscure ‘Doctor Occult,’ and that Superman bears such a strong, if unacknowledged, resemblance to his mystical progenitor…
In point of fact, the name of Superman’s home planet, ‘Krypton,’ stems from the Greek word kryptos meaning ‘hidden’ or ‘secret.’ The Latin translation of kryptos is ‘occult’…
[See my article and video on Superman]
In the early issues of Action Comics…Superman is not the smiling, idealized Apollo he later becomes. He’s a pissed-off crusader who fights for the common man against the corruption of the power elite. Many of his early adventures touch on occult and mythological themes.
He meets Cleopatra (Action #14), fights to protect the Great Pyramids (Action #), stands alongside Atlas and Hercules (Superman #28), and encounters an extra-dimensional imp with magical powers called Mr. Mxyztplk (Superman #30)…
The source of his power is the Sun, which ties him to solar gods like Horus and Mithras, as well as Biblical characters like Samson and Elijah [though Knowles does not say how]…Historian Bradford Wright [Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America, p. 60] notes that “Superman’s…powers…grew to staggering, godlike dimensions.”
These “godlike” powers became a major news story in 1992 with the cynical “Death of Superman” publicity stunt. In this storyline, Superman is killed by an alien called doomsday and spends several issues in a kind of limbo…Reinforcing his Biblical dimension, Superman dies and rises again, complete with a Christlike mane that most traditionalists hated…
“Master of the world,” Phantasmo…spent twenty-five years in Tibet, where Grand High Lamas (read: Blavatsky’s Great White Brotherhood [of Theosophy infamy]) schooled him in the mystic arts…
Flash Lightning (Sure-Fire Comics #1), received his superpowers “from the Old Man of the Pyramids in Ancient Egypt…” Flash’s chest logo—a pyramid with three lightning bolts bursting from it—signaled readers to his occult origin…
In Flash Comics #1, January 1940, p. 50, the “Original creator Gardner Fox called Flash ‘a reincarnation of the winged Mercury’”…
Captain America…acquires a costume that is a pastiche of mythic elements: Musketeer boots and gauntlets, head gear decorated with Mercury’s wings, King Arthur’s chain mail, Superman’s jockey shorts, and a Praetorian shield…Captain America spent most of his time struggling against a whole host of nefarious secret societies like HYDRA and AIM that set mutated telepaths and artificial intelligences against him. His old nemesis, Red Skull, now wielded a kind of Philosopher’s Stone that transformed his thoughts into reality…
[My note: although the original shield was different, the current one consists of a pentacle: an encircled pentagram]
Using Marvel’s version of the alchemical Philosopher’s Stone (called “the Cosmic Cube”), Red Skull magically transforms [Sam] Wilson into a superhero…
OMAC (One Man Army Corps), formerly a factory worker named Buddy Blank…is created using the omnipotent power of GPS’s sentient satellite, Brother Eye, who is exactly what he sounds like, a giant mechanical eyeball orbiting the planet keeping everyone under constant surveillance…
[My note: this seems to be the inspiration for the band Judas Priest’s song Helion, see video here]
Hawkman is the alter ego of archeologist Carter Hall…who discovers he is the reincarnation of the Egyptian prince Khufu. Khufu has a running battle with a high priest named Hath-Set, who, in the comic strip, reappears as a mad scientist named Anton Hastor…a shameless knockoff named Birdman (Birdman and the Galaxy Trio), who picks up on the Horus symbolism with powers granted by Egyptian solar deity, Ra…
The Falcon’s origin is more precise than his predecessor’s, since Horus is symbolized by a peregrine falcon, not just an ordinary hawk…
In 1959, a sci-fi oriented Green Lantern (Showcase #22) made his appearance, resurrected, not as a hero who gets his powers from a magic lantern, but as a test pilot maned Hal Jordan who is initiated into the galactic Green Lantern Corps by a dying alien.
[Footnote: “The galactic fraternity, with its ring and lantern imagery, has a distinctly Masonic whiff to it.”]
Silver Spider was a young orphan who finds a magic ring that turns him into a Marvel-esque superhero.
Galactus, an enormous alien who travels from galaxy to galaxy feeding off the energy of entire planets…[In turn, Silver Surfer heralded his arrival, a forerunner] who cruises the universe in search of planets for Galactus to devour…Kirby later said that Galactus was his vision of God, which tells you a lot about how Jack Kirby perceived the world…
[My note: It also seems that to Kirby, the Surfer was a fallen Angel]
Robin, Batman’s boy sidekick, who is sworn into the crimefighting fraternity in a candlelight ceremony in Detective Comics #38…
[Frank] Miller explained that Batman “has to be a force that in certain ways is beyond good and evil,” a moral force this is “plainly bigger and greater than normal men and perfectly willing to pass judgment and administer punishment.” Nietszche himself couldn’t have said it better…Miller explicitly refers to his Batman as a “god of vengeance” and intentionally re-mythologizes him…
[Reference is made to Kim Thompson, “Frank Miller: Return of the Dark Knight,” The Comics Journal #101, August 1985, pp. 59-61]
The Spectre is the shade of Jim Corrigan, a murdered cop who returns from the dead with godlike powers. Daniels notes that “with the Spectre, Siegel went all out to create a protagonist who was not merely super but absolutely omnipotent.” The Spectre is, as Maurice horn wrote, “as close to God as the comic books got.” The Spectre’s powers are given to him by “The Voice,” an omnipotent, discorporeal being many interpret to be God. The Spectre can change form and size at will, practices astral projection, and fights against inter-dimensional entities…
[Daniels, DC Comics, p. 44 and Maurice Horn, ed., World Encyclopedia of Comics, p. 629]
Spawn was once Al Simmons, a government hitman who finds himself in Hell after being murdered. He makes a deal with Satan to do his bidding and returns to earth to round up renegade demons…
…in 1943, even Lois Lane got her shot at superstardom when she dreamt that she gained powers after a transfusion of blood from Superman (Action Comics #60)…
In a 1976 X-Men storyline, Marvel Girl becomes Phoenix when she embodies the cosmic Phoenix Force (Uncanny X-Men #10). She is later driven mad by this power and becomes the murderous Dark Phoenix. She is then killed and resurrects as plain old Jean Grey….The Uncanny X-Men became a cosmic title and climaxed with “The Dark Phoenix Saga” (X-Men #129-138), in which Phoenix (formerly Marvel Girl) is possessed by a cosmo-demonic spirt and destroys an entire solar system. Later, she is put on trial by aliens and commits suicide…
Elektra is not only a ninja, but is possessed of supernatural powers. Her foe…is the Antichrist…
The Defenders first assembled in 1971 in Marvel Feature #1 to battle an alien sorcerer…their stories featured occult-themed characters like Son of Satan, Valkyrie, the sorceress Clea, and the telepathic Moondragon [another S&M model and lesbian]…
Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts…whose career is ruined in a car accident…roams the world searching for a cure. His search brings him to the Ancient One, a fabled magician who lives in the high Himalayas [who]…initiates Strange into the mystic arts…wielding the All-Seeing Eye of Agamotto…
…modern sorcerers like Lex Luthor, Doctor Sivana, Doctor Doom, and the Joker…unfathomable mysteries of science, however, make it the modern equivalent of trafficking with demons and evil spirits…An early Luthor prototype called Ultra-Humanite appeared in Action Comics #14 in 1939, and was, like X-Men’s Professor X, bald, confined to a wheelchair, and endowed with telepathic powers… Luthor evolved visually to become a dead ringer for Aleister Crowley [this is quite the overstatement, see image below. However, an older Crowley fits the bill]. His first name is a pet version of Alexander (Crowley’s Christian name)…The connection to Crowley is not nearly as tenuous as some may think, given the parallels between the mad-scientist and sorcerer archetypes, as well as [Jerry] Siegel’s own interest in the occult.
In Adventure #270, Siegel refers to Luthor as a “magician” and depicts him dabbling in sorcery. In an attempt to find “the very secret of life itself,” Luthor creates a Homunculus, but the creature destroys his laboratory. One particularly interesting Superman cover (#74) pictures Luthor looking exactly like Crowley in his prime…There is an inexplicable checkerboard floor that recalls a Masonic (or perhaps OTO) lodge…Doom’s greatest mission in life is to synthesize the occult arts with cutting edge science…Hideously maimed in an occult experiment, Doom travels to the Himalayas (where else?)…
The Fantastic Four encountered a planet-eating god, alien sentries, hidden super-races, and other universes.
Jack Kirby’s Spirit World was “an anthology that dealt with occult phenomena like the prophecies of Nostradamus, astrology, and ESP.
Darkside is more a spiritual version of Darth Vader, but his henchman, DeSaad, is the absolute spitting image of Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi.
The Demon, an occult-themed title featuring Merlin’s pet demon, Etrigan [who]…also has a human alter ego, occult detective Jason Blood.
Jack Kirby “returned to the Vril-ya [referring to Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1871 AD book The Coming Race] for his 1976 Marvel series, The Eternals. His main focus here was to explore the themes of ancient alien visitation lain out in Erich Von Daniken’s 1971 blockbuster Chariot of the Gods. Like Von Daniken, Kirby proposed that the ancient gods of mythology were actually extraterrestrial visitors. The first three issues of The Eternals presented wild theories of alien genetic engineering and races created by the gods: humankind, the demonic Deviants who lived in the undersea ruins of Atlantis, and the aloof, superhuman Eternals who live on Mount Olympus. Kirby himself describes The Eternals as “the place where I started being mystic, dealing with what I sincerely think is moving in the root cores of all of us”…the series revealed Kirby’s obsession with the Star Child [from 2001: A Space Odyssey] transformation theme. Kirby claimed in his introduction to the series that “the Monolith is a fictional element in a very real process,” i.e., the extraterrestrial transformation of the human species, which Kirby felt the aliens “were doing for purposes beyond our understanding.”
The book soon became a vehicle for a new character called Machine Man [Mister Machine], signaling Kirby’s conclusion that cybernetics [aka Transhumanism] was the ultimate destiny of the species. “We’re not Star Children,” Kirby said, “we are headed towards the age in which machines will do all the things for us. That’s why HAL is perfectly correct in killing these guys (the crew in the 2001 film) because he can do the job better.”[Reference is made to James Van Hise, “Superheroes: A Talk with Jack Kirby,” Comics Feature, December 1984, Erich Von Daniken Ancient Aliens and Jack Kirby, editorial in 2001: A Space Odyssey #1, December 1976 AD. Also see my articles on Erich Von Daniken and Ancient Aliens]
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