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Anthropomorphic animals have long been used by amatuer and pro creators to express intangable truths and values.There's not a whole lot of crossover comics between True-story, Manga, Superhero, Graffiti-style and Anthro comics; each genre having been skillfully developed for a specific fan-base. As an Anthro web-comic artist, I occaisionally wonder if I've chosen the best vehicle for expressing Spiritual truth.

Anthro comics have a huge "fun factor" and permit a lot more freedom of direction in characters, expressions and plot directions. And like with spandex and sculpted superheroes, both fan and creator soon get past what the character is and get into their motives and values.

I just wrapped up a year-long story, AbalonofCalifornia, on Deviant Art gallery and decided to let my readers ask questions of the characters: https://www.deviantart.com/bscruffy/art/Ask-Character-a-Question-895960855  .        The questions have been fun, and I tried to keep the answers fun as well.  One of the main characters, Patron, is clearly a 'Christ-figure' in the story, and a reader asked Patron "Are you the patron saint of anything other than Abalon?"    CSLewis (Author of the Narnian Chronicles) had one of the principle characters pose this question to Aslan, the Christ-like Lion of Narnia: "Are you just the King of Narnia or are you in all worlds"?     Whew; loaded question!

As I considered how my character, Patron, would answer...and how Christ might answer...and I looked to the Gospel of John, chapter 10, where CHrist goes deep into his identitiy; I considered what a powerful vehicle "funny animals" can be.

I get email announcements about the current series of (fall2021) livestream interviews being moderated by Geoff Strout, Thursdays at 6pm pacific time. I've missed every livestream so far, for too many excuses to bore you with, but since the interviews (usually about an hour+ long) are saved on the CCAS facebook site ( https://www.facebook.com/christiancomicarts/videos ) its completely easy to go back and listen to them later. Full of great insights, advice, and connection; these interviews are really worth hunting up and listen too.

Introducing a new ministry that may be of interest to fellow comics creators and fans. Would love it if you would check it out and share with any cartoonists or manga fans in your life. 

“Waypoints” is a manga anthology series produced in Japan, featuring stories taken from the Gospels, with each tale told from the point of view of someone whose life was changed by encountering Jesus, each story illustrated by a different artist in his or her own style.

Waypoints is brought to you by Drawbridge Creations — a web-based manga outreach with the three-fold purpose of reaching the unchurched, resourcing the Church, and empowering Christian artists, in order to bridge the gap between Church and culture; between Jesus and Japan.

We truly hope Waypoints will become a useful and effective tool for missionaries in Japan and others who are looking for creative ways to build spiritual bridges with Japanese people (or English-speaking fans of manga). Please check out this series at waypoints.jp (Japanese) or waypoints.jp/english. Or find out more about our ministry at drawbridgecreations.com.

I feel like I'm off to such a late start. I never went to art school or even really intended to pursue something like this. I majored in Asian Studies and am now teaching English in Japan. I always thought that I'd never make it. I guess it's likely that I still might not, but I'm taking every day one step at a time trying to give glory to God. None of my writing or stories are intended to convert non-believers or explain the faith, but there are a number of parallels to my own life and walk with Christ. I keep praying every day and every day, God lets me move forward. Sometimes, it's a few steps or a great leap. Other times it's so small that it's barely visible. Sometimes, it's so hard that I just want to give up. But this desire to tell a story just won't go away. So, I'll just keep drawing. I probably won't stop until the day he calls me home.

I'm so excited to announce that my graphic novel The Spirit Seeds Book 1 has gotten a professional review from OnlineBookClub!!! Big thank you to the reviewer, Trina High.

"The trailer for this tale says that readers will suffer a side effect of "obsessing over the story," and I can certainly testify to that! By page three, I was deeply engrossed in the telling, and I didn't stop reading until I'd completed the book. And then I read it a second time the next day. Then I reread my favorite parts a few days later. ..." 

You can read her full review here: https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewtopic.php?p=1743142&sid=4ebd8d4d3c08bacbfab54b014ae60927#p1743142

Hope you enjoy!! 😄 

Diamond Comic Distributors has solicited THE SWORD OF EDEN graphic novel (SEP211637) in their September issue of PREVIEWS. The graphic novel will arrive to finer comic book stores in November.

The PREVIEWS catalogue goes to all comic book stores. Let your local comic book store know about THE SWORD OF EDEN:

https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/SEP211637

My interview with the Christian Comic Arts Society has been posted on YouTube...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJJ0eHsihiE