Religion: alien religion 
Name: unnamed aliens
Classification:
supporting characters
group
Publisher(s): 
First Appearance: Action Comics (vol. 1) #847 (Apr. 2007): "Intermezzo"
Creators: Dwayne McDuffie, Renato Guedes
Number of Appearances: 1
Enemy of: Sun-Eaters
Defended or Helped by: Superman
Type of Organization/Group: alien race
Note: Supeman saved them from a Sun-Eater
An alien race was featured in Action Comics #847. Superman was taking his father, Jonathan Kent, on an outer space expedition to see the Kepler Supernova. While on his excursion, Superman heard distress calls from nearby space-dwellers. Superman saved these aliens from a Sun-Eater, an immense artificial monster of stellar proportions which would have destroyed their entire star system.
The aliens Superman saved in this story remained unnamed and, as far as we know, were heretofore unseen
The aliens are humanoid and quiet tall - nearly twice the height of an average man. They appear to have squid-like features. For example, the shape of their head seems squid-like and their fleshy appendages (which hang from their heads as a human's long hair might hang) seem based on the tentacles of a squid.
The unnamed squid-inspired aliens seem to be peaceful and very civilized. Hints of non-biologically-mandated religious culture can be seen in the few scenes in which they are portrayed.
For example, the first "glimpse" we get of these aliens is when Superman has the spaceship he and his father are traveling in capture and translate nearby communications chatter. One space traveler, presumably a member of the locally predominant squid-inspired race, is overheard saying, "...running about two weeks behind schedule, so I'm going to miss our daughter's [untranslatable], sorry..." This dialogue is heard in panel 4 on page 12 in Action Comics #847 (page 17 in the Superman: The Third Kryptonian trade paperback). This snippet of conversation reveals that the aliens associate in family groups. The event that this parent's daughter will be taking part in is evidently something unique to this specific culture. The event that could not be translated by Superman's star cruiser was a non-biologically-mandated cultural construct, i.e., a religious ritual. Otherwise, if it had been something common to essentially all sentient species, such as "birth" or "death" or even something like "graduation," etc., the word would have been translatable. But an event unique to this alien's culture and belief system may would be something that the computer translation device aboard Superman's craft would not be able to translate. Imagine, for example, how difficult it would be to translate Earth words such as "baptism" or "christening" or "quinceanera," or even "Senior Prom," into the language of an alien race which has absolutely no experience with these concepts. An alien race would look at many Earth events, such as "Senior Proms," as incomprehensible rituals of "Earth religion" - events unique to Earth culture (or, more specifically, unique to a subset of Earth culture), and which have no apparent biologically mandated, scientifically replicable purpose.
Glimpses of the squid-inspired alien race's religion and culture can be seen in panel 2 on page 20 (or on page 125 in the trade paperback). This panel takes place soon after Superman has saved the alien race (who number in the "trillions") from the Sun-Eater. In panel 2, we see the aliens conducting a ceremony in which they show gratitude to Superman for saving their star system. The outfits the aliens wear appear to be ceremonial in nature. The decor and architecture of the setting in their world is probably inspired by their religion, cultures, and values, as this is an immensely important event. The aliens bestow a glowing blue medallion or necklace on Superman, an artifact which no doubt has great significance and value in their beliefs. The very act of showing gratitude encapsulated in this panel and the honorific attitude the aliens manifest are all evidence of a religious culture with significant sophistication, complexity and development, far beyond mere biologically-mandated or mathematically-replicable behavior.
Action Comics (vol. 1) #847 (Apr. 2007): "Intermezzo"
Suggested links for further research about this character and the character's religious affiliation:
- https://www.comics.org/issue/301489/
- http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=89127