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The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Character
John Corbeau
King Peacock
Detective John Corbeau, who is commonly known by his super-heroic name "King Peacock," can be classified as a "super-hero" by virtue of the fact that he has super powers, wears a colorful costume, and is a resident of Neopolis, a city in which virtually all of the residents are comic book-style super-characters. More importantly, however, King Peacock is a police officer who works out of Neopolis Tenth Precinct, known by the nickname "Top 10."
King Peacock is a devoutly religious character. In fact, he is the most devoutly religious major character in the Top 10 comics. He belongs to the ancient and relatively obscure pre-Islamic Yazidi (or "Yezidi") religion. There is considerable confusion and ignorance among King Peacock's fellow police officers about King Peacock's religion. A number of them routinely refer to him as a "devil worshipper." He may contribute to that impression somewhat through his own incomplete or inaccurate references to his religion.
King Peacock was one of the stars of an ensemble cast of Neopolis police officers whose stories were chronicled in the colorful and critically-acclaimed Top 10 comics written by Alan Moore and published by America's Best Comics. The original stories were illustrated by Gene Ha and Zander Cannon. The original Top 10 series ran for 12 issues, and has since been followed up by two additional 5-issue limited series, a graphic novel and a few other stories set in the same universe.
Regardless of what King Peacock or his fellow police officers in the Neopolis Police Department's Tenth Precinct say about Yazidi religious beliefs, either because they are unknowledgeable, joking, intentionally disingenuous, or because author Alan Moore does not know any better, real-world Yazidis are not Satanists or devil worshippers.
King Peacock, as is typical of real-world Yazidis, is a sincerely religious and remarkably ethical, morally-upstanding person.
King Peacock also happens to be one of the most respected and most effective police officers in the 10th Precinct.
In addition to being a devout practitioner of his own faith, King Peacock also demonstrated a remarkable knowledge about other religions. This was evident when he explained to other police officers the nature of the ancient gods that they met during a homicide investigation. King Peacock was the only officer who knew that the "murder" of the Teutonic god Baldur at the hands of Lokk (Loki) was not something they really needed to worry about, because it is a symbolic story that the Teutonic gods repeat every day, with Baldur always coming back to life without permanent harm.
Discussion
From: archive of "Should Hal Jordan be a Christian" message board, started 15 April 2005 on Comic Book Resources website (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/archive/index.php/t-53171.html; viewed 22 May 2006):
Bat-Mite
04-16-2005, 09:48 AM
Sometimes a character having a religion can add to the story. Like King Peacock, everybody's favorite Satanist superhero from Top Ten.
Webpage created 30 March 2006. Last modified 22 May 2006.
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