Religion in the Marvel universe. (An observation)

[gaz973]

I somehow doubt that we'll be getting direct guest appearances from god or Jesus though.

 

Check out the early-BA Ghost Rider series.

I read about that but

(Ghost Rider II#19) - After triumphing over the difficulties set before him by the Challenger, Ghost Rider confronted the being, only to discover the Challenger (who had previously appeared to be a costumed super-villain) was actually a demon. The Challenger revealed to Blaze that the Friend was nothing more than a demonic illusion used to instill in him false hope. False hope or not, Ghost Rider still managed to defeat the laughing demon.

 

Aaaagh, Ares beats me to it again.

[joe_collector]

That's just a stupid retcon, as it's quite clear what the original authors intended.

 

Using your example, we should all read the SA and BA ASM run like the GG and Gwen are banging away behind the scenes.

[gaz973]

It doesn't count as a retcon if it's in the same story arc. You're comparing Spidey stories that are decades apart to GR stories that are a few issues apart and were obviously set up from the beginning.

[joe_collector]

You must be reading different issues than I am, as it was pretty obvious that Marvel got worried about the religious implications and hastily created a retcon. He saved Blaze's life on a couple of occasions, and ensured he didn't kill a villain, both of which saved him from eternal suffering at Satan's hands.

 

And your "only a few issues" comment is spurious, since the book was bi-monthly back then, and it was actually well over a year and a half (Dec 1974 to Aug 1976) between The Friend's first appearance and the retcon.

[joe_collector]

Here's a comment from a bio page:

 

The Friend, as originally written by Tony Isabella (and suggested by Steve Gerber), was indeed supposed to be Jesus Christ. When Jim Shooter took over as editor of Ghost Rider with issue #19, he promptly re-wrote the Friend as being nothing more than a demonic illusion. This may have been done to be consistent with Marvel's unwillingness to avoid offending Christians by using religious figures, or, as Tony speculated, may have had to do with the concept offending Jim Shooter's agnosticism.

 

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/thefriend.htm

[gaz973]

Here's a comment from a bio page:

 

The Friend, as originally written by Tony Isabella (and suggested by Steve Gerber), was indeed supposed to be Jesus Christ. When Jim Shooter took over as editor of Ghost Rider with issue #19, he promptly re-wrote the Friend as being nothing more than a demonic illusion. This may have been done to be consistent with Marvel's unwillingness to avoid offending Christians by using religious figures, or, as Tony speculated, may have had to do with the concept offending Jim Shooter's agnosticism.

 

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/thefriend.htm

 

Hey thanks for sharing this JC, I didn't know that this was a change in story direction. Interesting stuff.