The Lives of Superman and Jesus as Science Fiction Parables
The consideration is blasphemous for some. But does that mean any honest exploration of the matter is innately anti-religious?
It’s an old comparison that has been around for years. Some say Superman is the Moses story retold. Others say Superman is nothing less than Jesus Christ in comic book form.
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, children of Jewish immigrants, created Superman in 1933. The earliest version of the venerable character, however, bore no resemblance to the hero as introduced in Action Comics #1 and remains a multimedia force to this date.
Siegel and Shuster leaned heavily on their Jewish identity in the recognized iteration of the enduring character as introduced to the world in 1938:
- Superman’s Kryptonian name, Kal-El, is written in Hebrew as…