Geeks, superheroes, supervillains, and the law

Are you so geek that you wonder about the legal implications of superheroes, supervillains, and–yes–zombies? Well, Father Orthoduck found the following interesting article which had among its comments:

Turning into a zombie isn’t exactly fun, but there could be one advantage: You may not be legally responsible for whoever you kill and eat while in the state. That’s the verdict from Ryan Davidson, a lawyer who focuses on the hypothetical legal ramifications of comic book tropes, characters, and powers … “It depends on how the disease works,” he told The Huffington Post. “If zombies are effectively unconscious, then they would be incapable of performing voluntary actions and thus immune to criminal liability (or civil liability, for that matter). The zombies in the most recent ‘I Am Legend’ movie appear to be fully conscious, if perhaps a bit aggressive, so they could potentially be found liable. But in most others, probably not.”

Should you wish to read more about USA law as regards to the actions of various comic book characters, you need only go to the blog, “Law and the Multiverse.” But, there is a reason why Father Orthoduck brings this up. He wishes to publicize that the Orthodox are sponsoring the first convention regarding this whole world. It is called, “Doxacon – Where Faith & Truth meet Science Fiction & Fantasy.” If you want more information, you can go here or here. Metropolitan Savas of Pittsburgh will be there. It is being coordinated by an Orthodox parish near Washington D.C. and Sunday liturgy at the parish will be the culmination of the convention. Please note that the first night of the convention, the attenders can even engage in cosplay. There is even a “Fellowship of the Geeks” dinner party on Saturday night.

Father Orthoduck is hoping to be able to attend. But, he also brings this convention up to say that there are those among the Orthodox who reflect some rather fundamentalist ideas that fantasy, science fiction, etc., must somehow not be of God, but of Satan. Please remember that we are not fundamentalists. In fact, we side more with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien than we do with those who would demonize imagination and creativity. This is why we honor writers such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Note that Father Orthoduck would agree that not all imagination and creativity is used correctly. Many times it is used most sinfully. But, to claim that any fictional imaginative literature that is not overtly and obviously Christian is inappropriate is certainly not an Orthodox idea. And to claim that imaginative play is the same as entering the Enemy’s world or engaging in witchcraft or spiritism is most certainly not supported within the Orthodox world as a whole. That is why Metropolitan Savas will be one of the main speakers at that conference.

Father Orthoduck encourages those Orthodox who doubt this to attend the conference and learn from one of our hierarchs.