File this in the improbable Good Friday pairing department:
Tintin vs The Joker.
Consider, for example, a pair of Tintin stories:
Tintin books are the kind of thing you settle in to read after a long day at work. The Evil guys are dastardly and mean. Tintin is heroic and young. Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus and Snowy and the Detectives are all there for comic effect.
Tintin gets excited when he gets to drive a cool tank on the moon and you can feel his boyish thrill.
The mean guys show up and knock Tintin out.
(Tintin undoubtedly had a serious problem with concussions in his old age.)
Tintin is a little bit clever and a lot bit brave and saves the day with sheer determination. Over and over, book after book, the same basic story unfolds. They are wonderful. (And, they make great gifts for any kid who likes adventure stories.)
The superheroes show up, but are really the side characters in a story about the villain. Both are good and interesting reads.
They are, however, quite different in tone as befits the difference in the two villains. It is the difference between these two villains that intrigues me.
As any good Calvinist will tell you, at our heart, none of us are good. But, that’s just a euphemism. We are all totally depraved.
Yeah, I know people don’t talk like that anymore, but just a little introspection reveals that fundamentally the desires of our heart are evil. “Darkness is a harsh term, don’t you think?/ And yet it dominates the things I seek” is how Mumford and Sons put it.
There is quite a bit of variety in our Darkness, though. And that is where this pair of books comes in.
The test: Are you more the Joker or Luthor?
The Joker is Chaos and Destruction; he laughs at the world and destroys it for the Pure Joy of it.
Luthor is Arrogance and Pride; he wants to mold the world in his own image.
In neither world is there a role for Good or Love. Reading this pair of books was thus, if I am honest with myself, disturbing.
The Joker? Well he has no appeal to me; I am happy to see the Joker fail; I feel no sympathy for him. He is obviously the more popular villain though. Many people like the idea of smashing things.
But, Luthor?
Uncomfortably, I read his tale and realize part of me is just like him.
He hates Superman, hates the idea of a force more powerful than Man, a force which would come to Earth to Save us from Ourselves…Save Me from Myself…well, part of me also wants to resent that idea…it’s is so…humbling. Cue St. Matthew’s Passion.
Now combine these two pairs of comic books. Imagine if Tintin came up against the Joker? Who would win? Sadly, it doesn’t seem like much of a contest.
To beat the Joker, we need a hero much more powerful than a good, decent, heroic lad.
…and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
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