NEWS FEATURE: Warrior Nun comic series stirs debate

c. 1997 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Dark figures threaten her from behind desert rocks. Blam Blam. Tweeeeeng. She shoots, and bullets ricochet over the goons’ heads as they flee. Corrupt bureaucrats have engineered the death of her leader. She draws her sword _ woosh _ and a severed head rolls on the tile floor. […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Dark figures threaten her from behind desert rocks. Blam Blam. Tweeeeeng. She shoots, and bullets ricochet over the goons’ heads as they flee. Corrupt bureaucrats have engineered the death of her leader. She draws her sword _ woosh _ and a severed head rolls on the tile floor. Hired gunmen hold a friend of hers hostage until _ hayyyiiiiah _ her flying kick scatters the mobsters like bowling pins.

Whenever Areala encounters an enemy or is threatened by sinister forces, she whips out a gun _ or her rosary. She’s the Warrior Nun, a comic book heroine her creator says is based on a group of New York City nuns who learned martial arts to defend themselves against violence.


The Warrior Nun series bristles with violence and sexual imagery. Creator Ben Dunn said the comics are designed to illustrate a”strong woman passionate about her faith.” But some Catholics find the imagery offensive and an insult to the men and women who have devoted their lives to serving the church.

The collection is produced by Dunn’s Antarctic Press, and it competes in a growing comic book industry that has trended away from Donald Duck and the Archies. Today’s comics are violent, often sadistic and sexually explicit, and bear names such as Vampirella and Spawn.

Part of this trend toward violent comic books includes a subgenre in which artists thrust religious figures and symbols into settings rife with criminals and demonic forces _ and sometimes they’re in league with the bad guys.

Preacher, for example, is a series about Jesse Custer, a small-town pastor possessed by an entity called Genesis, the offspring of an angel and a demon. Preacher’s job is to find and confront God, who has renounced his sovereignty and left the helm of creation. Preacher is clearly an evil character.

But the Warrior Nun, said Dunn, was created as an antidote to negative religious comic characters.”I’m trying to portray a world in which nuns have had to become soldiers in defense of their faith,”said Dunn in a telephone interview from his San Antonio, Texas, studio. The books and their related action figures are for sale in specialty stores.

The concept of a pistol-packing nun may at first seem humorous and perhaps even awe-inspiring _ a strong woman willing to fight for her faith. But some Catholics are disturbed by Dunn’s imagery.

Some of Dunn’s nuns sport more traditional religious garb: floor-sweeping black or white gowns with matching veils, used by such orders as the Carmelites.


But there’s also a considerable amount of decolletage and body-hugging leather, and the skirts are frequently split up to the waist, revealing leather boots and red underwear.”Well, it’s certainly not what nuns in my experience have worn. It’s tasteless,”said Sister Mary Louise Yeend, a Daughter of Charity and head of pastoral care at a Mobile, Ala., hospital.”It’s part of what’s called `adult entertainment,’ but I question the character of an adult that would seek this out.” Robert Holloway, a 35-year-old Catholic from Mobile, said he enjoys the Warrior Nun series and has bought several of the 16 issues released since January:”When you get older, you like different stuff. I like it because it doesn’t degrade a person’s intellect. She’s fighting demons who are trying to take over the world.” Holloway said the concern over the character is unwarranted:”She’s sexy, but she’s a fictional character.” Whether the character is fictional or not, Sister Yeend said she’s disturbed by the look of hatred on the faces of the characters.”It’s a determined look, but there’s a lot of anger there.” Kathleen Riley, a religion teacher at a Mobile Catholic high school, said she’s concerned about the image of nuns projected by the comic series, especially when fewer young women are choosing religious vocations.”When you think about women like Mother Teresa that dedicate their whole life to the church, and you see this … it’s sad for those women … to be portrayed that way,”said Riley.

Dunn, the Warrior Nun’s creator, attended Catholic schools through college and said he’s disappointed that other Catholics find his work offensive. His aim, he said, was to portray the nuns he admired in school in a positive light:”They are powerful and beautiful, and dedicated to their cause, just like anybody else in life.” But Sister Yeend wonders about the spiritual state of the man who created the series:”We really have to pray for this guy.”

MJP END LONG

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