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"The Christian Soldiers" by Joe Ives

This is a fanciful tale about Angels and Aliens told in a Cartoony style that I found very enjoyable. Chris, a slightly conceited angelic warrior and his angelic dog warrior Halo come to earth to assist a young girl Becky. When aliens attack, the seraphic duo repel them through the power of God. I did enjoy this book, with one reservation. I am a little apprehensive about depictions of the Lord Jesus in settings or in the company of characters that seem too unreal. In other words, I worry that the unreality of bug eyed aliens with ray guns will reflect on the Lord Jesus' reality in the eyes of readers. However, the Lord's character was treated respectfully, and I freely admit we all have different acceptance levels of His starring in fiction and under what circumstances we are comfortable with it. I hope to see more from Mr. Ives, his style is very fun, and I could get to like these characters:)

"Sword" by Dremond Boswell

Quite different from the above mentioned comic, "Sword" is full of black and white, light and darkness, good and evil, and is well illustrated in bold gestural inks. I've heard it said there are too many books about Angels and Demons and spiritual warfare out. I have often thought of that, and decided that while I agree there is a certain amount of overlap in the concepts of some of the titles, each artist and author brings their own approach to the table. Some of Dremond's very interesting ideas is that the title character "Sword" seems to be a manifestation of the 'Word of God', especially as the Gospel 'sword' of Lord Jesus. Also appearing are some intriguing 'Hounds of Heaven' characters. There is non-stop action in the spiritual realm, and human drama on earth with the two occuring simultaneously. I am very eager to see what the second issue will reveal. This first one is an origin of a new believer. Will we follow him and his Heavenly guardians or will 'Sword' move on to other missions? I'm ready to find out:)

Before I go, I want to mention I read the opening of Melchizidek Todd's "Allegories of the Way" and found it very inspirational, well presented, and rather innovative artistically. These Angels aren't the feathery winged robed humans history has painted, but are all unique, beautiful yet inhuman entities. At first I found this a little disconcerting, but the personalities of the angels are well presented and very different from one another, and soon you come to associate the faces with the spirits they belong to. This looks very well written, and could become a favorite, and it's on my list of books to keep reading over the holidays for sure!

My closing thoughts are: Some ideas in Christian comics may be very popular with creators, such as spiritual warfare with angels and demons. But I think that the average reader is not likely to have access to as many of them as we long time fans do. They may, perhaps, only come across one Christian comic their entire life, so perhaps it's actually a good thing that certain important themes are repeated by authors? Some older titles are gone now, it's good that new ones are appearing to take their place! At least, that is what I think:)

P.S. Did you know that 'Captain Salvation' was the first Christian comic I picked up years ago? It was by Bruce Yeo and had nothing to do with present book 'Captain Salvation' that I can tell. And it's all right. There was a time for Bruce's book, when I needed it, just as it is time for the current 'Captain Salvation' to shine. In the end these are all God's stories anyway:)