Religion In The Comics - 010

Sex sells! That's why the male writers of the Bible made sure to include scenes of incest and debauchery in its pages. One of the sexiest stories in the Old Testament is that of Samson and Delilah. One look at the cover of this comic and you know you are not in for any boring sermon or wholesome goodness.



This was published by Fox Feature Syndicate in 1950, and can be read in its entirety here: http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=26897

All kidding aside, this is a pretty good comic. While the art is crude and the printing is poor, the story itself has a lot going for it. Love lost, love found, palace intrigue, betrayal, redemption, not bad for ten cents. And to spice things up, the artist took every opportunity to expose flesh.



My one complaint about the story is the secret to Samson's power. As a kid, I grew up reading superheroes in the comics, and I was exposed to all kinds of origin stories. Superman was from another planet, the Hulk was bombarded by gamma rays, Spider-Man was bitten by a radioactive spider, all rather fanciful but they still had an air of tenuous believability. So when the nuns tried to tell me that Samson's strength came from his long hair, I'm like WTF, you gotta be kidding me

The next image is a collage I made using panels that showed the most skin. While Samson's source of power is laughable, Lois Lane never dressed like this.