Do the Gods Wear Capes? Spirituality, Fantasy and Superheroes (review)

Reviewed by: Do the Gods Wear Capes? Spirituality, Fantasy and Superheroes Valentino L. Zullo Saunders, Ben . Do the Gods Wear Capes? Spirituality, Fantasy and Superheroes. New York: Continuum, 2011. 187 + xi pp. hbk $90.00 (USD); pbk $24.95 (USD). ISBN: 978-0826441980. Saunders's book enters an ongoing discussion on superheroes and their relationship to studies in classical mythology as well as theology. In the past decade, numerous critical monographs have been published, ranging from Christopher Knowles's Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes, to Wendy Haslem's Super/Heroes From Hercules to Superman, amongst others, examining the intersection between the study of the American superhero and religion. Entering into this ongoing conversation, Saunders's book transitions away from the comparison of superheroes to mythologies and instead approaches the superhero as an embodiment of a modern version of the perennial wish of humans, which Saunders describes as "the wish that things were otherwise" (3). While exploring the relationship between theology and the American superhero, Saunders works to elevate the perception of the superhero: "I admire and value the work of philosophy to such a degree that I am actually trying to elevate the status of the superhero comic by association" (6). Saunders attempts to demonstrate that superheroes are not just "hyperbolic, violent fantasies," but rather they are "in the same conceptual territory as, say Also Sprach Zarathustra, the Baghavad Gita, and the tragedies of Shakespeare" (7). Saunders posits that the overall lesson in the superhero genre is not about violence but to "try love, period. This is not astrophysics, or brain surgery. It's not Kant or Hegel or Lacan or Derrida or Jean-Luc Marion. It's more difficult than all of them. Be kind, you say? What . . . all day? Be Kind all day?" (14). Saunders's book is divided into five parts; each part of the book is based on a different superhero, and the last section is focused on comic studies. In the first chapter, Saunders ultimately argues that Superman teaches his readers that virtue is more difficult than seeing through walls and outracing a speeding bullet. The second chapter explores early representations of Wonder Woman, which, according to Saunders's argument, can be viewed not just as fetishistic, but as demonstrating a submission to divinity. Saunders then aligns Spider-Man with the "Knight of Faith," a term which Kierkagaard uses only for Abraham. Saunders argues, "In Kierkegaard's terms, in fact, Spider-Man might even be the greatest superhero of all" (94). Finally, through Iron Man, Saunders makes an interesting case for the relationship between humanism and technology by pursing the analogous relationship between alcohol dependency and technology dependency, ultimately demonstrating that Tony Stark must "let go" and open up to love and friendship. The last chapter notes the lack of comic scholarship and calls for more academic discussion of the medium. Saunders's text, while producing an impressive study of the superhero, suffers in its analysis of Wonder Woman. Though the chapter is intended to liberate Wonder Woman, the only person freed in this chapter is Wonder Woman's original creator, William Moulton Marston. The chapter is intended to focus on deconstruction; however, Saunders reifies the hierarchical binary of male and female by focusing on Marston throughout the chapter instead of [End Page 473] discovering why "Wonder Woman gets no respect" (36). Saunders produces a reading where Wonder Woman is relegated to the background. In previous chapters, Saunders would use the character's creator as a way to historicize the character, but in this case the reader learns more about Marston than Wonder Woman. Instead of an analysis of Wonder Woman, then, Saunders produces what could be considered a biographical study or even a historiography of Marston through Wonder Woman. As a text dedicated to the exploration of the intersection between theology and superhero studies, this book demonstrates through high theory that this intersection is productive and thus explores modern theology as well as furthers the current study of the superhero. Saunders explains the theory in an excellent manner, allowing it to open up discussion without distancing those unaware of the theories he cites. The strength of Saunders's...

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