Sometimes the internet does the heavy lifting for you. I was going to write an in-depth review of Marvel’s 1982 comic on the life of Pope John Paul II, but 4thletter! beat me to the punch, with such gusto that re-doing it seems moot. All I can contribute is how I even know a Pope John Paul II comic existed in the first place.
As a wee tot, my Nana kept a box of toys in the corner of her apartment for when the grandkids came over; mostly Fisher-Price, with several books and boardgames. Digging through in hopes of finding the cowboy pegman, I came across the story of the Pope’s life, as told by an unusually high-strung reporter.
Two moments from the story stuck with me all this time- the future Pope volunteering to clean a toilet used and not repaired at any point during the 2-year occupation of Nazis (ew), and the aforementioned reporter hearing the Pope has been shot, rushing out into the streets to the nearest Catholic church, and finding the only other person in the whole city full of godless jerks who immediately understands. They pray together, and the Pope miraculously survives. I don’t mean to imply causality there, I’m fairly sure the point-blank shot fired directly at John Paul II’s vital bits without causing any serious damage was in no way mitigated by the prayers of a fictional reporter.
