The priest intrigues me

[blackruzsa]

Some spoilers for the Osborn series in which awesomeness prevails.

Starring, Father (nofirstnamementionedyet) Coulmier!!!

You know, this guy:



Fivescans from Osborn #2: in which we have a Normie fanboy







So to quickly recap: When Coulmier first appeared, he came off as a pretty nice guy, but not a pushover, though his patience was long and he talked to four psychopath, mostly inhuman inmates without showing any fear. From the facial expressions, he was nice.

And then near the end of the first Osborn comic, we find out he's got a Green Goblin tattoo right beneath the nape of his neck.

From this, we in the comm that talks of these things settled on one conclusion: He worships Norman Osborn.

Perhaps jumping the gun a little, but by the second issue, none of our guesses have yet been proven wrong.










Okay, so what really struck me here is how very convincing (though not long-lasting) his poker face is. From his behavior towards Norman, we once again concluded two things, both of which are very possible.

One, he is well-studied in psychology, so his all his actions and reactions are well-gauged to fit the situation to his advantage.
Two, he is well-studied in Norman Osborn.

Yup. This may be as bad as Coat from the Young Masters of Evil, but with less fan girl squeeing.

And it helps absolutely nothing that the first time I saw his worried face on the same page as the reveal of the Goblin tattoo, my first thought--without thinking of that particular word in a year now-- was "OH MY GOD HE'S AN UKE!"

I was.... an anime fangirl... and some of the faces in this art style (which is wonderful by the way--so expressive and charming and rough and absolutely gorgeous in the chaos pages) looked like those of anime that went by the name Haru Wo Daiteita.

Or maybe it was some other anime that I got mixed up with-- you know, never mind, we've strayed from the point.

MY POINT IS, I'd really like to see what DeConnick is planning with these characters. She's so good at writing every one, and of course, it's the somewhat good looking, subservient but not pathetic, all too human priest who catches my attention.


And just for the record, I totally had nothing to do with that priest kink meme prompt on marvelkinkv2. Nothing at all.

Comments

[icon_uk]

Sigh, so this chap is a suffuiciently well vetted priest to be allowed apparently unfettered access to Norman Osborne, but apparently isn't a Catholic?

Who the hell runs the security checks in that place? Did this guy murder an actual priest and take his place?

Or were his seven years in seminary and other years in pastoral training before final ordination evidence of someone playing an absurdly long game? (Or maybe he went to same "Done in 6 months part time" seminary course that Kurt Wagner believed he been to was enough to qualify him as a priest.)

Did he presume that access to public enemy number one might not extend to a strip search? (Which might highlight the tattoo)

I like the notion, but the execution does not appear to be particularly well thought out.

[karunya]

Easy answer: he's a high-church Episcopalian/Anglican. The kind of guy who's a Catholic wannabee, but too theologically/socially liberal. Does the whole shtick except for the Pope and the celibacy. And since I dated such a priest in my misspent university/seminary years, I can assure you that I'm telling the truth about no celibacy! So squee on, fangirls!

[icon_uk]

Fair point.. :)

[karunya]

The two things which confuse me, though, are the fact that he's wearing a tabbed collar (which is such a Roman Catholic thing, while Anglican/Episcopal priests and my fellow Methodist ministers prefer a full collar), and a full length Lent/Advent stole with street clericals. It's been my experience that (just like us women clergy in the mainline denominations), your average Episcopal priest really loves the tiny details of "smells and bells" and "ecclesiastical tat", and would never wear the wrong items! The stole really makes me cringe. My own attire for private Communion (for instance, in a hospital room) is street clericals (black clerical blouse and skirt set) with a little green-and-white dotted mini-stole. And I'm a base-of-the-candle pentecostal Methodist from the least liturgical of the historically black Methodist denominations. Some things ya Just Don't Do.

Okay, there's my TMI for the day, folks. Just don't get me started on the treatment of Christianity in comics ... especially the rites and the attire! (Which shows how shallow I am. I cheerfully tolerate the Spectre, but not a priest in the wrong stole....)

[icon_uk]

I confess I'm unfamiliar with Episcopalian garb, but as a Roman Catholic I did think it looked familiar.

[blackruzsa]

Maybe he WAS ordained as a Roman Catholic priest, and the Osborn thing came later and he changed beliefs?

[blackruzsa]

Eheheheh XDDDD CELIBACY?
WE USED OSBORN AS AN EXCUSE FOR THAT.

Or my other theory is that he is technically a Catholic priest, but he's in a cult he chose to be in :/ Like he doesn't identify himself Catholic anymore. Like when a person born a Catholic identifies as an atheist, or something.

[karunya]

He's certainly pretty enough to be a Catholic priest. Or like we ladies used to say at the seminary, "There goes Father What-A-Waste!"

[icon_uk]

An old priest of mine once listed the elements that he'd put together over the years as to what a congregation look for in their respective priests

"Handsome... but not TOO handsome", was high on the list.

I did once receive the gift of a Catholic Priests pin-up calendar from a friend in Italy with a suitably warped sense of humour, though it does appear to be genuine, and fairly sincere, item.

[karunya]

There's a Mormon missionaries pin-up calendar too, which is quite lovely in a white-bread sort of way.

[turtlefu]

Are you seriously saying that only Roman Catholic priests are worthy of going to see Norman Osborn, who isn't even Catholic?
I may be interpreting wrong, but that's what I THINK you're saying.

[icon_uk]

Of course I'm not saying that.

I'm basing my comments on the fact(s) that

1) Norman identifies his religious advisor as being Catholic (or at least "a member of the priesthood" which usually indicates either Catholicism or Protestantism), and is then corrected by the advisor who states he's not Catholic (which is presumably the guise he has been perpetrating)

2) Said advisor is dressed in the attire of a Catholic priest (The chip collar, the long stole) and is offering the sacrament of private confession/reconciliation (I can't think of any faith that refers to it as the "Rite of Penance" (Penance being the outcome, not the sacrament), but my knowledge of such things outside Catholicism is fairly limited)

Karunya posited he was Episcopalian, but wearing the wrong outfit, which would be very un-Episcopalian, but possible.

[salinea]

Are you seriously saying that only Roman Catholic priests are worthy of going to see Norman Osborn, who isn't even Catholic?

Though judging by the "Pity.", he has a fetish for them :3

[blackruzsa]

.... THIS.
YOU.
*shakes your hand solemnly*

[salinea]

Hi! Nice to meet you too! I'm new around, errr, I'm at gayreign as etrangere sometimes, when I have something to say...

[icon_uk]

Based on your posts so far, you're going to fit RIGHT in dahling! ;)

[blackruzsa]

We have the rite of Penance here, and our country's Roman Catholic.

Everything he's done points to Roman Catholic, maybe traditional like they do in Spanish or Spanish-colonized countries. Maybe he said he's not Catholic to open up his next statement about the Osborn cult.

[icon_uk]

Is it referred to as the "Rite of Penance" though (Genuinely curious)?

As far as I know, the Sacrament has always been called "Confession" (in my youth), or "Reconciliation" (currently). There's such a thing as a Penitential Mass, but that's a Mass that's a precursor to a sort of multiple Sacrament of Reconciliation, with multiple priests being present at the same time.

And it's true that he might be a convert to ... Osbornism? But I thought he might have said "I'm NO LONGER Catholic" to explain that succinctly.

[blackruzsa]

No, he/she's saying a priest who is supposed to be Catholic and isn't actually Catholic is an odd thing if they're supposed to be so secure.

[karunya]

Exactly. I've been through the process of being certified to enter a penitentiary to meet privately with inmates for religious purposes. It isn't trivial. There's a thorough criminal background investigation, one's church denomination is required to provide proof that one is a clergy member in good standing (which makes it very hard for urban storefront church pastors to visit their flocks, by the way, an issue which annoys me even though I can trace my apostolic succession back through Peter Spencer and the Wesley brothers and Cranmer and all the way back to Saint Peter, thank you very much), and there's a probationary period before one is allowed to bypass those annoying pat-down searches...unless you're traveling there by airplane, of course!

Now there's no such thing as an infallible security process, of course, but you're right...somebody had to do some serious work to get this dude past the checkpoints and into a private room with Osborn. He must had had a genuine-looking ordination certificate and license, at the very least. And probably needed some inside help at the prison itself.

[skalja]

We're not given specifics as to how he got in, but it's very, very clear in context that the prison is corrupt, even beyond it being an illegal secret holding pen for prisoners being held indefinitely without trial.

[blackruzsa]

Well, they also seem to have a very incompetent guard looking after four of the 'worst murderers' they have locked up, so yeah, I question the wisdom.

BUT take into account something we learned about authorities when applied outside the mainland:
When it's off the mainland and a particularly grizzly job, the authorities don't want to dirty their hands, so they send people who are either willing or underpaid enough to go down there. Coulmier=willing, plus with the operation they've got going, someone would have pulled strings so he wasn't thoroughly searched or they used Xrays (I'm not sure, but tattoos don't come up then, right?). And the guard... well he just kinda sucks.

[icon_uk]

Except, based on the priests comments, this is on the mainland no?

[blackruzsa]

Just a little off it, on the border, according to the priest.

[bradhanon]

Who the hell runs the security checks in that place?

He mentioned it's privately run, so the answer to your question is "An exceptionally shoddy subcontractor with a good sales team and what they call 'an eye on the bottom line', meaning they won't do a competent job when a shitty one would be cheaper for them."

Privatization of certain functions doesn't actually work, as America's been learning for the past 30 years.