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.

Read a Dallas Morning News story from 2002, posted at Beliefnet.com, about a character from the Fantastic Four announcing he is Jewish.

Read a July 1, 2005, story in Episcopal Life about religious themes in the comics.

Read this July 10, 2006, article in Books & Culture about the movie Superman Returns.

Read a June 26, 2006, interview with Bryan Singer, director of Superman Returns, in Christianity Today.

Susan J. Ellis is the editor-in-chief of E-Volunteerism, a quarterly online journal that focuses on effective volunteer management. Contact Ellis in Philadelphia, Pa.

Nancy Macduff is a volunteer trainer, manager and author who publishes the online newsletter Volunteer Today.  She’s based in Walla Walla, Wash.