This guest post is by Dan Lawlis, professional illustrator and author of Orange Peel 3, a Christ-centered online comic.
Consider your average kid is reading your average comic book, let’s say its Batman. You know the story, the Joker is threatening the city, and in comes Batman, he throws his Batwing, it hits the switch that turns off the death ray, and saves the city in the nick of time.
The problem is, he always wins. Batman never faces death, so he doesn’t have to confront life. When the kids try to mimic their heroes in the real world and lose, they aren’t prepared for that, and they fall apart. In the real world Batman misses with his batwing and innocent people die.
Over the years comic book story lines have grown up in subject matter, but they haven’t grown up spiritually. What’s the result of this? The characters become bitter, grim, mean, brooding types, more evil looking, grey and colorless.
Dan Lawlis
In the absence of the power of God, these characters go to the other guy. He’s the one that seemingly comes to the rescue, selling his lies that if you just get mean and angry enough, you can force your will on the world. Talk about a setup for failure.
There’s only one realistic antidote to this situation. As writers and artists, we have to go into that fantasy world, and deliver a Christian message that will teach them the way out. The Christian message says go out and fight for what’s right, but you can’t lose, because there is always hope in this life, and the next. The bad guys may win the battle, but we have faith that we will win the war. The truth is that we know we can never lose, ever.
This is why we need more Christian characters.
A lot more.
What do YOU say about this? Post a comment.
Visit Dan’s online comic at: www.orangePeel3.com
to be honest, i think this is the problem: “the retail Christian world of books and art.” the ghetto-ization of ‘christian culture’ (which is a specious term at best) is a huge issue and something we need to interrogate more critically.
that said, there is a lot of great stuff being produced by christians in the lterary, musical and visual fields – it just may not be as overt as some might like. if, by “more christian characters”, we mean that there should be some superheroes who espouse christian faith and values in comics, i would agree. in light of cultural demands for appropriate representation of the our populations, there is a distinct lack of depiction of faith-based characters in comics (at one point, i believe both rogue and nightcrawler were represented having faith as part of their story). moreover, a positive or consistent representation of said faith is even rarer.
and yet, what purpose would a more overt message serve? or rather, WHO would it serve? do we actually think that a better drawn, simplified christian story/ character in spandex will impact people? is this simply a more accessible chick tract?
i still think we need to tell it “slant” (a la flannery o’connor).
But how can this be done in well in a way that is pleasing visually and in reading content? I’ve been complaining for years about the lack of quality in the retail Christian world of books and art. Things that are hailed as good/great are so sub par to what it going on in the secular market. I mean look at Bible Man! So cheesy and embarrassing! And people were gushing over it because honestly there wasn’t much else like in being sold. Like the time I read of a Christian rock band, I think it was Kutless, being compared to Led Zepplin in the promo mailers. Seriously?! Noone in CCM in the early 2000′s sounded like Led Zepplin ( and no one sounds like or is as good as Led Zepplin except Led Zepplin) . Or the sound of Rebecca St. James’ cd, Transformed, being compared to Madonna (as I read in the promo pack). *sigh*
So,yes, we need Christian comic books with a Christian message but the quality needs to be good and done in such as way that it can easily cross over into the secular market. People’s tastes are getting more refined due to the internet, so many more options. The sub par, that Christians accept, doesn’t cut it anymore.
Well said. We need more of this “reality” than whats being pushed by the secular world. We win – ultimately – because of Christ in us. Christ is the true hope of the world!!!
Everytime I see my teen daughter curled up with the action bible (we bought for her brother) I praise
Bible language can be intimidating to kids- even the smart ones who love Dr Who and Latin! She loves comics though- good to know about Orange Peel! Def will check it out. Meant to comment on your post regarding sexy characters-I will see if I can form my feelings on that correctly, as a visual artist the words can intimadate me too 