Eleggua, Superhero?
Wednesday May 23, 2007
I don't know how I feel about this...my first impression is, what were they thinking? Marvel's got a new addition to its superhero comic lineup, and their first Latino heroes. The hero is Nestor Rodriguez, aka Eleggua, and his team are the "Santerians," which seems to tread a fine line. I've seen (and enjoyed) a few characters and storylines in comics that were based on religious figures, but somehow I don't think the members of the religions necessarily would have, and i feel the same way here. It seems that in an attempt to offer something ethnic or exotic, they're risking offense to the religion portrayed- somehow, I just can't see "Moses and the Israelites" as comic book fodder.
About the Orisha Eleggua
Comments
I am also shaking my head in disgust at this blatant blasphemy. This will NOT go over well in the Santeria community, I can promise you that. How very disrespectful this is. Would they make a cartoon of Jesus on the cross, or of Allah? I think not. It is high time that people realize that there are other belief systems then theirs in this world. The times when the tyrranical Christian regime was still in power over the hearts and minds of people is over. People cannot live up to their unnatural laws, and just look at the outcome, priests raping children, etc. Only in America….
I can see any belief system based on superstition and the supernatural as comic book fodder.
I suppose you have the right to believe what you will, but you can’t expect your superstitions to be irrelevant to the evolution of the funnybone.
Blasphamy is a ridiculous concept and a gross restriction on the concept of free speech. Were gods and religion all they were made out to be, the very idea of blashamy would be unnecessary. Real gods wouldn’t require human aid in their defense via blasphamy laws. Man made gods are apparently incapable of self defense.
Look people, there are comics where Jesus is the main character and it enraged the Greeks, but I didn’t see you there protesting that and you didn’t know about it because of your beliefs towards Christianity. In this life, one musty have a sense of humor and not only that, we are not Nazi’s, we don’t live in a dictatorship or a capitalist society, and we do have the freedom of speech. But that is not my point, my point is that no matter what you do in life, it will eventually upset someone and someone’s feelings are going to be hurt. So does that mean we should not allow it? Does that mean we should burn books because they offend us? Does that mean we should control what people read and control their thoughts? As a wiccan I am sure and I know I upset people, but that doesn’t mean they should shun me out of society. We must have a sense of humor, we must think for ourselves, if we are offended by something, then it is our right not to read or purchase that product and to partake in it, but for us to say that it shoudl be outlawed will contradict what many of us stand for and what many of us have said that we are sick of, for many years. So where do we draw the line? I don’t know. All I do know is that a Santeria super hero does not warrant for us to lose and give up our power and right to be happy, just to give the comic un-needed publicity. Think about it, gettin gupset is fueling the fire and filling the comic artists pocket. We are human and we can all be offended and offend someone else, get used to it or we will all be robots eating, drinking, reading and thinking the same steryl thing.
I don’t think anyone is advocating censorship or even a big hue and cry about it - but it does seem a little insensitive to take a figure from a current, active religion and turn him into a pop-culture character.
Actually, I think I’m findin calling the team the “Santerians” to be a little more insulting - I’m assuming that the character is just CALLING himself Eleggua, and that no one within the comic is suggesting that he actually is the Orisha?