Presence (DC Comics)

The Presence
The Presence in human form, from Lucifer #68 (January 2006). Art by Peter Gross.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	More Fun Comics #52 (February 1940)
Created by	Jerry Siegel (writer) Bernard Baily (artist)
In-story information
Place of origin	Silver City,
Notable aliases	Yahweh Jehovah God Elohim
Abilities	Immortality Reality warping Omnipresence Omniscience

The Presence is a fictional representation of God, and is a character in comic books published by DC Comics. The character debuted in More Fun Comics #52 (February 1940), and was created by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily.

The presence first appears in More Fun Comics #52 as The Voice, the disembodied "Voice of the Presence" who empowers Jim Corrigan as the Spectre. It was created in this story by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily.

The religious cosmology of the DC Universe is complex with many pantheons of deities co-existing alongside each other. It involves elements from multiple religions, mythologies, and modern created concepts such as the Endless. It is not always clear how the Abrahamic God fits into this — for example, one particular Wonder Woman storyline by Eric Luke featured the Greek Titans fighting Judeo-Christian angels and Hindu Gods. According to writer Greg Rucka in an interview about his Final Crisis: Revelations miniseries, "The sort of unspoken rule in the DCU is that God sits above all others."

DC's superhero comics have always drawn upon Judeo-Christian beliefs for plot elements — the first appearance of "The Voice" was in the 1940 origin of the Spectre — but they have traditionally used surrogate concepts and names rather than refer to the Judeo-Christian deity directly. The comics are published under the Comics Code, a set of ethical guidelines drawn up in the 1950s in reaction to anti-comic book hysteria. The Code does not explicitly refer to God, but does say that "ridicule or attack on any religious or racial group is never permissible." Later revisions of the Code are phrased in terms of respecting religious beliefs and religious institutions, which may account for the comics' hesitancy when dealing with God.