John W. Vest is the associate pastor for youth ministry at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago and a Ph.D student in Biblical Studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Vest wrote “When a Hero Dies,” a June 2007 essay from Sightings, the online journal maintained by The Martin Marty Center at the Divinity School […]

Nate Butler is president of Comix35, based in Albuquerque, N.M. Founded in 1996, Comix35 is a Christian ministry devoted to “training individuals and ministries around the world in the production and effective use of comics-style literature” for evangelization. Butler has an adjunct organization, Christian Comics International.

Ben Avery is a comic book author in Mishawaka, Ind., and former editor of Community Comics, a four-person Christian studio in operation until 2009 dedicated to creating “quality Christian comics.” Avery can comment on the interplay between the secular and sacred in comics and the media.

H. Michael Brewer is a pastoral theologian and author of many books on popular culture and faith, including Who Needs a Superhero? Finding Virtue, Vice and What’s Holy in the Comics.

David A. Zimmerman is an associate editor at InterVarsity Press, a Christian publishing house in Downers Grove, Ill., and the author of Comic Book Character: Unleashing the Hero in Us All.

Greg Garrett is a professor of English at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is the author of Holy Superheroes: Exploring Faith and Spirituality in Comic Books and The Gospel According to Hollywood and is co-author, with Chris Seay, of The Gospel Reloaded: Exploring Spirituality and Faith in The Matrix.

Harry Brod is a professor of philosophy and religion at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He wrote a paper titled “The People of the Comic Book: Jewish Men and the Creation of Comic Book Superheroes.”

Danny Fingeroth is a former editor and writer at Marvel Comics and author of Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society and The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels. Fingeroth has taught comics writing in New York and Italy.

Read a Jan. 22, 2006, New York Times story about “The 99”.”The 99″ are Muslim comic book superheroes and the creation of an American-educated artist, Naif al-Mutawa. Mutawa’s characters battle evil, and each character represents one of the 99 qualities that Muslims attribute to God.