Buckling under pressure from enraged Christians, DC Comics has announced that it’s pulled the plug on a planned series called Second Coming, in which Jesus returns as a superhero.

More than 233,000 people signed a petition that says:

Can you imagine the media and political uproar if DC Comics was altering and poking fun at the story of Muhammad … or Buddha? This blasphemous content should not be tolerated. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. His story should not be ridiculed for the sake of selling comic books.

There will, no doubt, be another petition because the series writer, Mark Russell, has indicated that another publisher is ready to take on Second Coming.

He said of DC Comics:

I asked for the rights back and they gracefully agreed. They’ve been a pleasure to work with and it will still be released, albeit with a different publisher.

Second Coming tells of Jesus coming back to Earth to fight evil alongside Sun-Man. The series plot described Christ as having limitations in knowledge and power.

The plot summary for the first issue, due out in March, said:

Witness the return of Jesus Christ, as He is sent on a most holy mission by God to learn what it takes to be the true messiah of mankind by becoming roommates with the world’s favorite savior: the all-powerful superhero Sun-Man, the Last Son of Krispex!. But when Christ returns to Earth, he’s shocked to discover what has become of his gospel – and now, he aims to set the record straight.

Prior to the cancellation, Russell had given more details about the plot: Jesus doesn’t know everything that is taking place on Earth until He arrives.