Warrior Nun Areala

The creation of Areala was inspired by the martial arts pursuits of the nuns of Fraternité Notre-Dame, or the Fraternity of Our Lady, a traditionalist Catholic organization. In 1991, a chapter was established in New York City's East Harlem to found a soup kitchen. It was in New York that Sister Marie Chantel, who had been a black belt in judo, learned taekwondo under a Hell's Kitchen martial arts master. Her fellow nuns, including the mother superior, also learned self-defense, hearing that the neighborhoods were dangerous, though they insist that their martial arts training is mostly for sport and that they have had no problems with the surrounding neighborhoods. Their story was picked up and reported by The New York Times.[2]

Ben Dunn, who attended Catholic schools, was inspired by The New York Times article. In an interview, he said: "Other superheroes, you never know what their faith is. Batman or Spider-Man or Superman, they do all these great things, but what do they believe in?"[3] His interest in understanding the impacts of religious affiliations on fictional superhero characters led him to write Warrior Nun Areala from this unique perspective. However, Ben Dunn does not consider the story a Christian comic book, as it avoids directly calling readers to repentance or propagating the faith. Rather, the series makes use of Christian imagery and Christian-based speculative fiction.

Part of this was due to the power Ben Dunn sees the Vatican as possessing. At one point, he wrote that it may not speak of itself as being a world power, but it is. That is because, despite being the smallest country on Earth, the Vatican's influence on world affairs is disproportionately large by its moral and spiritual authority as the headquarters of Earth's largest religion. With over a billion adherents, a headquarters that is a sovereign nation, a leader that is a world leader, it is a force in the world. Thus, it was only a small step to grant the (fictionalized) church a military force that would serve as Heaven's proxy if demons were to attack. In further explaining the concept, he added: "If Hell were an actual physical place with physical manifestations, then they would be subject to some of the physical laws of nature would they not? Of course, that would mean Heaven too would be a physical place. While this may not be so in our world it certainly is so in WNA's world. Therefore, things would progress differently. To the Vatican in WNA's world, 'thou shalt kick Satan's ass!'".[4] However, in creating the character, Dunn sought to distinguish Areala from scantily clad bad girl antiheroines with which she might be confused. He was also desirous of creating a true hero, not an anti-hero: "I made it a very strong point that she doesn't kill people, only demons... She believes everybody – no matter how bad they've been – can be saved".[5]

The first appearance of the character Sister Shannon Masters was in Warrior Nun Areala Vol. 1, #1. Beginning in December 1994 and ending in April 1995, a three-issue limited series established the fictional world of Areala, several key characters, and her origin story. She was shown having just completed her training in a time when there had been no demonic activity for years and the Warrior Nuns were in danger of being disbanded. Despite her lack of experience, she was assigned to fulfill a mission in New York City where Satan's minions of Earth were planning an assault on Heaven. She successfully foiled their plans.

This was then followed by other Warrior Nun Areala mini-series, some written by Ben Dunn and some not, such as Rituals (1995–1996), Scorpio Rose (1996–1997), and Warrior Nun Areala Vol. 2. Published every two months, they expanded the world and provided more information and depth concerning the characters. There were also one-shots such as crossovers with heroines of other companies such as Glory and Avengelyne. At the time there were other mini-series set in the Warrior Nun Areala universe that were not directly related to Sister Shannon Masters but instead widened the scope of the fictional world. Focusing on other Nuns of her order from the past, present, and future; they include but are not limited to Crimson Nun (1997), Warrior Nun Frenzy (1998), and Warrior Nun Dei (1997–1999), respectively. There was also an ongoing anthology series, Warrior Nun Black and White that focused on the whole of the Warrior Nun universe.

It was not until 1999 that Sister Shannon gained her own series. The miniseries Areala: Angel of War which detailed the original Areala and Warrior Nun Areala: Resurrection led up to it. Running from 1999 to 2001, it was simply titled Warrior Nun Areala Vol. 3. It concerned an ongoing threat by Areala's most persistent foe, Helga, as she tried to destroy the Vatican itself in a battle that put to the test the promise that the gates of Hell would not prevail. Though the series ended with the death of Sister Shannon, she later returned and appeared in another series, Warrior Nun Areala Vol. 4. This was written mostly by Craig Babiar.

The current series is Warrior Nun Lazarus.

Sister Shannon will be appearing in an upcoming War of the Independents tie-in issue, centering on her and Sean Koury's Bounty Hunter character, as well as appearing in War of the Independents itself. She can be seen on the cover of issue one, as well as in the group shot at the end of the issue.

Ben Dunn sold the rights to Areala during the 2000s in order to fund his wife's operation. The media rights were picked up by Perfect Circle Productions, which then later sold them to Netflix. The comic book rights were picked up by another company and it is currently published by Avatar Press. Dunn stated that he does not regret the rights being sold, is glad that the character still appears in comics and appreciates that his name is in the credits of the latest movies and shows.[6]

Areala shows a "cold war" has been fought between Heaven and Hell, with human souls at stake. At the moment, Heaven is content to leave Hell alone as long as it does not transgress its boundaries or harm the innocent. When that does happen, the Church's Catholic Corps is the means by which Heaven fights a proxy war. While preceded by earlier miracle workers and martial saints, the Corps has its roots in 1066 with the creation of the first Areala and later in 1212 when Pope Gregory VII authorized a new order to train those blessed by God with power to either use them as miracle workers or as warriors.

Such sentiments also extend to members of the real Roman Catholic Church.[11] Real priests and nuns sent their letters, alternately praising and condemning the series. In July–August 1997, the US Catholic League stated that "it does object to the comic strip characters that appear in the Warrior Nuns comic strip, a product of Antarctic Press".[12] In another example Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a speaker for Washington, D.C.'s United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that Areala's costume is "offensive. The habit is something sacred".[5] That is seen in early issues with how the upper half of the muscled, buxom Sister Shannon's ultra-low cut battle habit would show cleavage and/or show perpetually erect nipples through the cloth while the lower half consists of a loincloth, if that much in other Warrior Nuns. It was a seeming contradiction in terms with how a nun's habit is meant to hide the body in order to discourage lust. In fact, Ben Dunn wrote that the reason he did that was that "nipples sell". Regardless, Dunn stated the loincloth is "for mobility" and that is the official in-continuity explanation that the modest Sister Shannon herself unapologetically espoused when confronted on her seeming lack of modesty.[1] This was resolved by having Sister Shannon's superior assign the Warrior Nuns new more modest battle habits that covered their breasts in the second series to replace the previous ones that she felt were "a bit too revealing!"[13] Dunn himself ultimately did say that perhaps, "I think I did go a little overboard" in the earlier issues.[14]

When Areala was accused of being a "bad girl" comic, Lyga countered that the second issue of his Areala series "had not a single punch thrown. When was the last time anyone saw a so-called 'bad girl' comic without a fight scene?"[10] In fact, the same Sister Mary Ann Walsh, despite disliking Sister Shannon's battle habit, adds that the creation of Areala comes from someone with "a positive feeling toward sisters".

Two CD singles were made, one by Pink Filth and Bad Habit's Monkeys on the Throne.[15][16] Songs for Monkeys include,

• "Man Is a Threat (Beelze-Bug Theme)"
• "Lillith"
• "I'm Connected"
• "Satans Jester"
• "Eyes of the Innocent"
• "Incantation"
• "Warrior Nun"
• "Faith"

Warrior Nun Areala was being adapted into a feature film to be directed by A. J. Annila. The film was to take all the main characters and mythology that author Ben Dunn provided and re-imagine it in a modern setting. Ben Dunn's involvement included doing storyboards for the film as well as designing the opening sequence which was to blend animation and live-action. Perfect Circle Productions[17] has been developing the film and the official website can be found at WarriorNun.com.

In October 2015, there were talks of a live-action Warrior Nun movie from Perfect Circle Productions, intended to be the first of a trilogy. The film was put on hiatus in 2018 when Netflix acquired the television rights.

Like other Antarctic Press characters, action figures of most of the chief characters were made. In addition to the standard look, there was also an anime look based on a failed attempt by Ben Dunn and Antarctic Press to make a Warrior Nun Areala American anime in 1994. The anime would have been partially fan-funded, with contributors donating $125 in exchange for their names in the credits. However, this did not materialize, as Sunrise, the hoped-for animation studio, needed about $200,000 to make the series. In 2001, Darkain Arts made another attempt, though that too failed. The anime was never completed and only the opening credits are known to exist; they were created by the animators of the X-Men: The Animated Series.[18] The opening credits can be seen on YouTube.[19]

Netflix approved a television adaptation of the comic book series, with a series order for a first season.[20][11] The series was created by Simon Barry, who is credited as an executive producer alongside Stephen Hegyes and Dean English.[20]

It stars Alba Baptista as Ava Silva, a new character invented for the series. The series also features re-imagined versions of the characters from the comic book—Shotgun Mary (Toya Turner), Lilith (Lorena Andrea), Mother Superion (Sylvia De Fanti), Areala (Guiomar Alonso) and Sister Shannon Masters (Melina Matthews). The main antagonist of the first season is Jillian Salvius (Thekla Reuten), a female version of the character Julian Salvius from the comic book.[21]

The series debuted on July 2, 2020.[22] A second series was released in November 2022.[23]