Excerpt from an article I wrote for The Catholic Herald:
After watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I couldn’t get the final scene out of my mind. The final few minutes of the film were stunning and the landscape breathtaking. Watching the heroine Rey climb the ancient stone steps and walk past rocky hovels to reach Luke Skywalker has proven to be one of the most enduring scenes I have ever witnessed. However, the filming location struck something in my memory and I knew that what I saw was a real place and had a deep connection to Christianity.
When I returned home I immediately looked it up and sure enough, the Star Wars team filmed the final scene atop Skellig Michael, an ancient monastery off the coast of Ireland. I knew it looked familiar as I vaguely remembered studying early Irish architecture in college and images of the famous beehive huts always fascinated me. From that point on I set out to unravel the fascinating history of the mysterious monks who lived there. What I discovered was truly awe-inspiring.
The monks were amazing men who lived at the edge of the known world, braving harsh weather, uncomfortable living quarters, offering their lives as a sacrifice to God. They left everything they had in search of a “green martyrdom” of self-sacrifice and penance that is shocking to our modern lives of convenience. I further discovered that they saw themselves as “soldiers of Christ” waging a spiritual war against the Evil One, protecting the world with their prayers and mortifications. After delving into their lives I knew I had to write something and bring their story to the masses.
At first, I wrote a short non-fiction book that explored their lives, focusing on what inspired them and how they dedicated their lives to prayer. I answered questions such as, “What was it like 1,000 years ago?” “Why did the monks choose Skellig Michael?” “What was their spirituality like?” “Why did they leave and never return?” It proved to be a successful book, but I felt their story could be told in a different way and reach a wider audience.
Then I thought that the comic book would be a perfect way to present the story in a visual manner. As it was visuals that first captivated me with the island, so I knew it would be a perfect fit. More importantly, I knew comic books had a much wider appeal and could be picked up by people of many different ages.
–> Buy Finnian and the Seven Mountains today!
Philip Kosloski
Philip Kosloski is the founder of Voyage Comics & Publishing and the writer and creator of the comic book series, Finnian and the Seven Mountains.