Ask an Atheist with Sam Mulvey

Have You Ever Wanted to See Jesus Beat up the Greek Gods with Kung Fu? No? Well, Here it is, Anyway!

Mike here. Anyone who knows me knows that I love comic books.

So when I find one that ham-handedly tackles religion, it’s like someone got chocolate in my peanut butter. And when you toss in the spectacular awfulness that was the 1990’s era of comics, I’m sold!

For the uninitiated, Rob Liefeld, is something of a joke among comic book fans and one that typifies the 90’s era of comics. Yeah, we all bought his comics when we were twelve years old, but we look back on it with some embarrassment, like parachute pants or shaving a lightning bolt into your hair. He typified an era that was dominated by the  overwhelming popularity of bad anatomy, bad dialogue and juvenile writing.

His dialogue was the worst. His sense of anatomy and proportion were laughable. And he gave us one of the most unintentionally hilarious pictures of Captain America ever put on paper.

His work was remarkably lazy and he tried to cover up his artistic weaknesses by covering his line and figure work with giant shoulder pads, a plethora of pouches and oddly, random cylindrical shapes just popping out of a character’s back. (I think they’re supposed to be guns.)

So, when his comic studio commissions a comic book where the Christian and Greek mythologies go to war, how would you expect that to turn out?

FUCKING. HILARIOUS. That’s what!

The book, Glory/Avengelyne II: The Godyssey #1, which was released in 1996, features a crucified Jesus Christ being laughed at by Zeus, Apollo and the Greek Gods of Olympus. Jesus, remembering that he’s been turned into a mid-90s comic book character published by Rob Liefeld, literally rips himself off the cross and engages them in a kung fu battle!

It’s a sequence that must be seen at full size to be appreciated. Props to the folks over at Comic Book Resources for posting about this.  I love how theology, at its heart, can be boiled down to a simple “My God can beat up yours!” argument.

About the Author: Mike Gillis

Mike Gillis is co-creator, and co-host of Ask an Atheist. He hosts the Radio vs. the Martians! and Mike and Pól Save the Universe! podcasts. He also enjoys comic books, the Planet of the Apes, and the band Queen.

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libbie

Okay, wow. You weren’t kidding, Mike. This is awesome.

Eric

JC channeling Neo: “I know kung fu…”

Morpheus/Zeus “show me”

Cafeeine

I had almost forgotten that image of Cap’n America. Why did you remind me of it?? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY…. *dramatic pose*

I still have a hard time understanding how any editor allowed that cover to ever see a printer’s press.

Sam Mulvey

I think part of the reason superhero comics are so poisoned to me is because everyone was telling me how hot Liefeld was in the 90s. He sort of highlighted everything I hate about superheroes.

I love the medium, not a big fan of the popular stories.

Anon

Liefeld gave us Deadpool, so he’s cool by me. Everything else he’s done is pretty much full of fail. :

B1-66ER

Amazing! A picture of a human figure done by Rob “I helped destroy the great things about comics and made crap loads of money doing it” Liefeld and it actually shows his feet! Incredible! But I’m probably the wrong person to ask, as I’ve never been a fan of the big two other then their creator controlled/mature readers lines.

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