In a manner similar to the multi-layered approach in biblical interpretation, comic books invite an active reader to derive meaning from a composite text. On October 31, 2021, I met with de’Angelo Dia on Zoom to discuss what the medium of comic books can teach us about applying theological imagination to stories in the Bible.
Rev. de’Angelo Dia is a poet, theologian, and doctoral candidate at Union Presbyterian Seminary. Dia investigates public opinion and contemporary beliefs on cultural, social-political, and theological issues through poetry, visual art, and performance and has studied art in Athens, Greece; Guadalajara, Mexico; and Nairobi, Kenya. Dia is an alumni artist-in-residence of the McColl Center for Art + Innovation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture (Artist Roundtable), and a Cave Canem Fellow. He is also a member of the Goodyear Arts Collective based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He serves as Assistant to the Senior Pastor for Social Justice at St. Paul Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The following is based on our conversation.
Arthur Aghajanian: Many Christians believe the Bible should be read literally, but what it contains resulted from a long and complex transmission, editing and canonization process. As they circulated, the books of the Bible would be rewritten by scribes to reflect their community’s theology. Through worship, the early documents would be reinterpreted through sermons, reading, song, and prayer following the customary patterns of the synagogue. Over time, certain texts were seen as belonging together, while others were excluded from the canon. This too was an interpretive process. The Church would eventually determine an official interpretation of Scripture and lean on this to exert its authority.
Literalism is actually a modern phenomenon and is the simplest layer of meaning when we read the Bible. Historic methods such as allegorical interpretation and contemporary approaches like postcolonial theory can bring the Bible to life for more of us. As models for imaginative and transformative reading, I think comics and graphic novels can teach us new ways of approaching the Bible.
de’Angelo Dia: For me, comics show the alignment between biblical texts, sacred texts, and the essence of the Bible continuing to live in the universe. If we take the narrative of David and Goliath or of Samson, we’ve seen these same stories play out in a comic parody. We’ve seen these same tropes take place within the context of comic books.
What I think the graphic novel or comic gets us to do is to evaluate who and what has influenced our understanding of ethics, specifically in alignment with the Scriptures. When I think about Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novel and comic book, there are so many allegorical references to Scripture. Kyle Baker did this amazing book called Truth: Red, White & Black, and within the context of that book he’s making direct biblical references. There’s this great graphic novel I read this year called Judas. It’s the retelling by Jeff Loveness and Jakub Rebelka of one of the most tragic figures of the Bible, with a contemporary theological twist. So, I think what comics do is get us to reevaluate ethics and moral influence, but also, I think comics are a great invitation for theological imagination. And that’s one of the things that I often feel is missing: a contemporary context for evaluating Scripture.
It’s almost like my theological training could have easily flattened my understanding of theology. It could have made it really flat, stoic, and stale. But because of my access to and personal engagement with comic books, when I look at theology now, comic books allow that theology to live boldly in the universe.
When we take the story of Superman, for example, we have someone who comes from a foreign land to liberate the very individuals who stand in opposition to him. A Christological story has taken place there. I would say it is a constant reminder to me that the Bible is still a living text.
AA: I’m intrigued by the moral ambiguity in the comics of today. During the Golden Age of comics immediately before and after World War II, superheroes often battled with characters representing America’s real-life enemies. During the Silver Age, comics became more of a mainstream phenomenon, and with the Bronze Age stories became darker. By the modern period, beginning in the mid-1980s, we see the rise of the anti-hero, whose motivations and actions, as well as their relationships in society, were murkier.
Today, characters like the Spectre, Red Hood, Deadpool, and, of course, Batman, will often operate outside the law, applying a personal brand of justice which puts them at odds with society’s mores. Many suffer from inner conflict, as well. The Punisher is a morally wounded soldier and his vigilantism, a common characteristic of superheroes today, asks us to consider the relationship between human and divine law.
Following on this, I think of the complexities of Near Eastern influence on the Bible. We can trace a lineage from Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. Mesopotamian cultures influenced the Hebrews and Greeks, and elements of the Old Testament can be found in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the Sumerian deluge story, the Babylonian epic of creation (Enuma Elish), the myth of the fall of man (Adapa), and The Code of Hammurabi. The Egyptians composed proverbs. These were all links in a wide chain of mythology, and they’re a reminder of the layered influences found in the Bible.
Of course, the God of Israel was different from the deities of surrounding cultures. This God formed a covenant with the people, entered into through a relationship based on love and compassion. Unlike their neighbors, the Israelites became monotheistic. They reconfigured religious ideas and behaviors. Their laws originated in God himself as an expression of his will. To me, the ethical content of holiness and the humanitarian basis of Israel’s God aligns the Old Testament with the human drama at the core of modern comics.
But while comics and graphic novels share ancient archetypes, non-religious readers may overlook biblical references and instead base their understanding on what Joseph Campbell called the monomyth. This departure, initiation, and return from the mythical hero’s quest is a common archetype in comics.
DD: If someone is reading the New Testament and yet they don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, I think that person could still walk away from the text feeling like there is an application in the ministry and teachings of Jesus to their own lives.
As you were speaking, something else that comes to mind is that comics have gotten me out of the mindset of thinking of the Bible in a monolithic way, that everything has to be black and white.
AA: I also think about diversity in comics today. In the X-Men, mutant status signifies otherness. The civil rights movement would help sustain the minority allegory of the X-Men comics. The theme of discrimination also led many to interpret the series as an exploration of Jewish identity, both that of its creators and in the evolution of its character Magneto from stock villain to Holocaust survivor.
The very first team of X-Men created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby—Beast, Iceman, Angel, Cyclops, and Marvel Girl—fit the all-white heterosexual American superhero standard. Yet they still struggled with their mutant identity, encountering hostility from non-mutants. In the 1970s, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum created more diversity in the series by introducing a Russian, a German, a Native American, and a woman of African heritage.
Appropriating the Holocaust as a way of legitimizing Magneto’s thirst for vengeance is a great example of how comics shifted from the moral clarity of their pre-World War II years to moral ambiguity afterward. Magneto’s traumatic past drives his extremism. He’s intent on never again being a victim. The ethos of the character Professor X, on the other hand, echoes the Christian doctrine of forgiving one’s enemies. He’s dedicated to teaching his students a peaceful path to a just world. His faith in a better future, in which mutants and humans can live together peacefully, likens him to Christ.
In championing the mutant cause, Professor X and Magneto are on opposite sides of a seemingly unbridgeable divide. Professor X espouses the nonviolent protest of Martin Luther King Jr., while Magneto subscribes to Malcolm X’s “any means necessary” mentality.
DD: I think about the duality of the biblical Saul/Paul. Professor X and Magneto represent the same embodiment and the same progressive nature. This just represents such a dichotomy and a spectrum of how we get there as Kingdom builders. Professor X and Magneto are ambassadors of grace and mercy, but they choose how they display that grace and mercy. In the case of Magneto, we could say he’s very much in the mindset of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s: grace and mercy for my community. With Professor X, it’s progress through unity. But we can fully understand why Magneto thinks the way he does. I think there’s such beauty in this logic and understanding.
And what those stories say to me is that God accepts us wherever we may be on the spectrum—that we’re all on a journey.
AA: In comic books, the interplay between image and text encourages an active reader. Comics are composite texts, and they’re described by Scott McCloud as falling into seven categories: word-specific, picture-specific, duo-specific, additive, parallel, montage, and interdependent. The reader has to perceive and interpret signs and reconcile them to each other. These combinations of image and text create messages that can only be the result of their interdependence. Each mode offers a different experience of narrative. The combinations have had a great influence on the growth of comics as a medium because of the power in telling stories through this interplay. That’s analogous to me of the layers of meaning and the interdependence within and between each book of the Old and New Testaments.
I’ve always been curious about biblical comic books. The Action Bible attempts to pull together an overarching story. The Kingstone Bible is a comprehensive graphic novel, and the Word for Word Bible Comic is said to use every word of the Bible. These are attempts to make the Bible more accessible by appealing to popular taste. But their purpose isn’t to encourage new interpretations. The Catholic Comic Book Bible and Jonah’s Voyage to Atlantis don’t necessarily offer transformative insight, yet many non-religious comic books can provoke and challenge our beliefs.
Independent comic books and graphic novels provide an opportunity to reinterpret familiar archetypes found in biblical narrative. Among other things, Love and Rockets ushered in a new age of comic books featuring marginalized voices. Its characters were complex and had emotional resonance. They even evolved and aged with their creators, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, who are brothers. In expanding the field, comics like this reinvigorate allegory to make it applicable to our lives.
DD: I instantly think about the importance for engagement. Comic books impose an intention of engagement. When I’m reading a comic, I have to intentionally look beyond the veil. I have to look beyond the context of the words and see what is taking place visually.
I think part of the calling for comic books is to reconceptualize what we call sacred. I certainly consider the Bible to be sacred, and yet there are comic books that have been just as sacred, and for me, just as rewarding, fulfilling, spiritually uplifting, reaffirming, and challenging as any narrative that I’ve read in the Bible. And I think that is God’s hand working through the universe through those comic illustrators to provide those narratives and visuals for us.
AA: For me it comes back to meeting people where they are. A lot of people won’t step into a church or they see Christianity as a monolithic force of oppression— something that’s rule-bound and rigid. But visual culture is very porous, and when you’re working with images in relation to storytelling, there’s an interpretive layer that can be very complex and which breaks apart any straightforward reading.
And if we present the Bible’s lessons about life, being human, and our interconnectedness with others through visual storytelling, we can meet people where they are in a way that’s less threatening or exclusive.
DD: I agree with that. If I think about my youth and my access to the Bible, I’ll be honest. I felt threatened by the idea of reading the text. I read it of course, and yet that book was threatening in some way, because it’s often taught with a one-dimensional perspective. And when you’re young and you’re reading it, you feel, “if I’m not accessing it the same way others are, what’s wrong with me?”
AA: Historically, the Bible has been read in many ways. In the early centuries the emphasis was on moral instruction. Typological approaches, in which Old Testament figures, institutions, and practices are thought to be a foreshadowing of the New Testament, have had a significant impact on our understanding of Scripture as well. The spiritual interpretations of Clement of Alexandria and Origen, the monastic tradition of the Middle Ages, with its focus on contemplation and discipleship, and the historical-critical approach are all examples of the diverse hermeneutical traditions through which the Bible has been read. Comics often clearly mirror biblical themes, and this can encourage a more open approach to Scripture itself.
DD: When I think about the character Black Panther and what it means to reconcile with a father who has made a certain type of commitment to your life and your journey, I can’t help but think about the ministry and life of Jesus and about Jesus’s relationship with God the Father.
I also can’t help but think about the relationship between David and Solomon, or between Abraham and Isaac. You’re taking your son to the mountaintop to sacrifice him to God, knowing that God loves you and loves your descendants enough to bring you out of this tragic moment.
I think about Jesus on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Those words echo throughout the history of comic books.
There is another character, one of my favorites: Doctor Voodoo. He’s a Haitian American Sorcerer Supreme. What stands out with this character is he’s of the mystical arts. And when we start thinking about contemplative philosophy and metaphysics and the ideal of what Jesus was possibly doing when he was on a mountaintop fasting, praying, and meditating for forty days, we see those same narratives and tropes play out in a book like Doctor Voodoo. How does one better understand self and community through contemplation and meditation? These things aren’t alternatives. They were a part of our spiritual fabric. The early Christian Church endorsed many of these beliefs and practices.
AA: Narrative structures in the Bible vary from sprawling epics to brief proverbs. Simplicity is one of its stylistic hallmarks. Oral speech patterns are common, and its stories are affective, wide in scope, and function on three levels: the overarching, universal plan of God, aspects of God’s plan for his people, and hundreds of individual narratives that provide the content for the other two levels. Biblical narrators often describe God’s truth in visuals (think of the different elements in the Old Testament tabernacle), and often seem to prefer dialogue over straight narration. Sometimes the dialogue will repeat the narration, or the other way around.
Extracting meaning from biblical narratives requires careful attention because meaning is not explicitly articulated. This all comes back for me to the active reading we bring to comics and graphic novels, with their interplay of image and text.
Of course, there’s a lot more to the Bible than narrative. It contains history, poetry and songs, wisdom sayings and proverbs, gospels, and letters. But what are some of the narrative tropes found in the Bible that you see playing out in the comic books you’ve read?
DD: In a very beautiful and equitable way, the narrative of Wonder Woman. Her entire story of leaving home to go into the world of man to have a better understanding of the community that she will serve. To return back and liberate her own community, to become the queen of her community.
Even Batman. He leaves Gotham to get training by Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins. And then he returns back home to call in his disciples. He calls in Bat Woman, Batgirl, multiple Robins, and Nightwing. He has his own collective of disciples to liberate a community.
And I struggle with this part myself: a community intent on oppressing him and executing him, yet he’s so committed to liberating them from their own self-imposed oppression. I think that’s one of the most wonderful things about the life and ministry, and the grace and mercy of Jesus. That despite his people signing his government-sanctioned execution, he’s still on the cross saying “Father, forgive them.”
That’s one of the things in these narratives that I’m constantly seeing. What does it mean to return home when you know you don’t get any love at home?
AA: I think those are some really good examples. Just the notion of sacrifice or the giving of oneself to the larger good. What God did through Jesus was to connect and share in the suffering of humankind, like the superhero who comes from another planet with an identity made up of two parts coexisting equally: Clark Kent and Superman. And then fighting for people who don’t appreciate or understand them. They suffer persecution as a result of their difference from others.
Superheroes are also a threat to the established order, whether the government and police or the norms of society. In thinking about the life of Jesus, the superhero-as- savior is one of the most powerful examples of a parallel between the Bible and comics.
DD: I think comics have done a much better job in recent years of highlighting the dichotomy of what it means to be in the world and not of the world. I also think about Peter’s denial of Jesus. At any moment, any of us could be Peter. I think about Judas and Judas’s betrayal of Jesus. At any moment we could be Judas.
When I look at biblical narratives, the quest is for me to be more like Christ, but I also think there’s something to be said about acknowledging the Peter, Judas, and the legion of demons in me. That acknowledgment should also be highlighted as part of spiritual formation and the Christian journey.
AA: For Origen, meaning in the Bible was revealed when the reader put on the mind of Christ. For Gregory of Nyssa, the Bible could lead to spiritual self-transformation when the reader was touched by the spiritual essence of the text. An allegorical interpretation of Scripture that’s also engaged with contemporary culture can be transformative. It doesn’t change what the Bible says. It helps one find a new way of applying its wisdom.
More sophisticated comic books and graphic novels get into the complexity of the human condition in a way that’s meaningful for the reader, but in a package that’s entertaining and enjoyable. They allow for an imaginative projection where we recognize ourselves in the thoughts and actions of a character.
And of course, there’s the aesthetic pleasure. I love the work of Chris Ware. His complex graphic novels of people in suburban midwestern neighborhoods are the basis on which he creates complex compositions and plays with time and space. His work includes pages entirely absent of words, employing radical shifts in scale. He invites active interpretation and pushes the boundaries of the medium, where characters, locations, and events are seen from multiple points of view.
Another great artist is Charles Burns, whose black comedy and otherworldly horror are expressed through highly stylized line work and dark, disturbing imagery. His graphic novels explore deep psychological themes. There are a lot of avenues into the human condition through the accessibility and pleasure of these artists’ images.
DD: I think of two other characters we can compare. A biblical one, Joseph, in this quest of constantly proving himself and validating himself as one of the youngest brothers in the family. And then, what does it mean to be an outcast? What does it mean to be placed under the sentence of oppression, and yet rise above it?
And then we look at a character like Loki in comics and we have this character that is given away or given up at birth and he’s on this constant journey of validating himself. He’s the trickster god and yet he’s figuring out ways to learn: What does it mean for me to be a loyal son, and what does it mean to be a loyal brother, knowing I will never have the throne?
AA: Comics are built on archetypal stories, whether it be the hero’s journey (quest or initiation), the fall from innocence, crime and punishment, or earthly paradise versus the wasteland. The most gifted comic book artists can infuse these archetypes with new life, inspiring us to reconsider how they appear in the Bible. In addition, comics serve to democratize and pluralize age-old myths and allegories.
DD: For me, a lot of these things are about representation and examples. There’s a Marvel comic called Ms. Marvel, where the main character’s name is Kamala Khan. She is Marvel’s first Muslim character to headline her own comic book. Kamala is a teenage Pakistani American from Jersey City, New Jersey, with shapeshifting abilities. The beauty of that representation is profound. There’s a comic character called Riri Williams, a.k.a. Ironheart, a female African American tech genius who lives in Chicago. Northstar, of the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight, who was the first openly gay mainstream character by Marvel Comics, was created in 1979 by John Byrne, an openly gay creative. Not as well known is the transgender mutant, Jacob Williams. And we have the polyamorous relationship between the X-Men’s Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Wolverine.
These creative teams are using representation and cultural embodiment to analyze our daily experiences through the medium of comics. Whether it’s political upheaval, abuse of power and authority from law enforcement, the Black Lives Matter movement, Black Girl Joy, or LGBTQIA equity, the comic industry is finding ways of infusing the comic book medium with the values of these social movements.
So, when I go back to Scripture and look at that representation, it would make me look at characters like Eve, Mary, Jezebel, Ruth, Bathsheba, and other biblical characters differently. Any representation that I may have overlooked in my initial reading of Scripture stands out in a more profound way because of the work that’s taken place in comic books.
I believe we have industries that are willing to hire people with more diverse representation across the board. And in a broad sense, seminaries are providing education to a greater variety of people now. When I first decided to enroll in seminary, the institution was mostly filled with cisgender, heterosexual males. And now when I go in, it’s a rainbow coalition of ideologies, philosophies, and personalities. If others stand in opposition to my own theology, it helps to enhance what I believe when it comes to community building—when it comes to Kingdom building. It helps to be challenged, whether it is through Scripture or comics. It’s one of the greatest gifts that we can offer each other. I think that is the best gift. It is a display of love. To challenge each other through affirmation and love is one of the greatest displays of compassion.
AA: With an increase in alternative ways to publish comics, there’s more opportunity to re-imagine archetypes because ambiguity is valued. Often, smaller comic book companies are more courageous in how they present human struggle.
DD: I think comics will generate a new theological language. It is my hope and prayer that comics will enhance our universal understanding of the many ways that you can interpret Scripture. And yet we don’t have to be divisive just because we don’t agree on those interpretations. Even with this conversation we’re having here, we’re cultivating a language in a kind of vocabulary that is nuanced.
Arthur Aghajanian is a Christian contemplative, essayist, and educator. His work explores visual culture through a spiritual lens. His essays have appeared in a variety of publications, including Ekstasis, Tiferet Journal, Saint Austin Review, The Curator, and many others. He holds an M.F.A. from Otis College of Art and Design. Visit him at https://www.imageandfaith.com