Comic Book Heroes

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12:48, NIV).

"With great power comes great responsibility" (Uncle Ben to Peter Parker, the amazing Spider-Man).

I'll admit that I'm a nerd. I love comic books and comics strips. I always have. I always will. From my childhood, I remember Mom and Dad reading the Sunday comics and comic books to me before I could read myself.

I loved the X-Men. (The first two movies captured the essence of the comic books that I read in the late 1970s and early 1980s). The New Teen Titans were great in the early 1980s (but the cartoon series of a few years ago was a disaster for those of us who enjoyed the comic books). I developed a sense of social justice from reading Green Lantern/Green Arrow. I read and enjoyed all kinds of comic books until sometime in the early-to-mid 1980s, when I found other interests to occupy my time. But I still have fond memories of spending hours reading the great morality plays of my childhood.

I started thinking about comic books today, because Spider-Man 3 opened in theaters this morning. Spider-Man was a superhero that all people could love, because he was so normal in so many ways. He had acne. He was misunderstood. He disappointed the people he loved. He succeeded in some areas and failed in others. However, he was driven by an inner sense of responsibility to do good in his life. He was a good role model (as were many other superheroes in those days) for children wrestling with questions of right and wrong. I am thankful that my parents read such material to me, and that they encouraged me to continue reading such material on my own.

I have not seen Spider-Man 3 yet, but here are some links to movie reviews and articles about the movie from Christianity Today:
www.christianitytoday.com/dispatch.html?code=headline&url=/movies/reviews/2007/spiderman3.html

www.christianitytoday.com/dispatch.html?code=headline&url=/movies/interviews/samraimy.html

www.christianitytoday.com/dispatch.html?code=headline&url=/movies/commentaries/passionpeterparker.html