G.K. Chesterton, a Jedi and the Phantom Phoenix

This week, in a special edition of The Captain’s Log, I wanted to share some behind-the-scenes insights into the creation of The Phantom Phoenix, our newest superhero at Voyage Comics.

Creating a “new” superhero is rather difficult when Marvel and DC Comics boast thousands of superheroes. This doesn’t even get into the numerous independent publishers that have added their creativity to the mix in recent years.

For this reason, I was reluctant to break into the superhero scene. I simply didn’t think it was possible to create an interesting superhero that wouldn’t simply be a copy-cat.

Then one day I had a revelation.

I was thinking about various Catholic literary giants, especially those who wrote fiction. I remembered G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown Series and how he masterfully wrote a series that is beloved by many. It is a series that has regain popularity with the recent BBC adaptation that is on Netflix.

For those who are not familiar, the Father Brown Series centers on a witty detective-priest, who is able to deduce the exact details of various crimes and murders. In many ways he is a Catholic “Sherlock Holmes,” using his intuition and reasoning skills to find the right clues.

Interestingly, it was while filming a Father Brown film that actor Alec Guinness, famous for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi, began his road to Catholicism.

According to an article by Rita Reichardt, Guinness was deeply affected by how people approached his character outside of filming, as he walked down a street still dressed as a priest. This opened the door, but what really impacted him was how God responded to his prayers during filming.

“Shortly thereafter, Guinness’s son Matthew, age eleven, was stricken with polio and paralyzed from the waist down. The future for the boy was doubtful, and at the end of each day’s work on the film, Guinness began dropping in at a little Catholic church on his route home. He decided to strike a bargain with God: If God would let Matthew recover, Guinness would not stand in the way if the boy wished to become Catholic.”

His son was miraculously cured, and so began his road to the Catholic Church.

Furthermore, when I was considering the creation of a comic book series inspired by the Father Brown Series, I realized that initially, characters such as Batman were “detectives.” In this way, I could go back to the “origin” of superheroes and create a new superhero that harkened back to the “Golden Age” of comics.

At this point I knew I wanted to create a superhero from Chesterton’s series, but who should it be? Should I make a new character, or adapt one from the story?

Next week I will continue my thought process and how I arrived at creating “Martin Claver.”

–> Pre-order The Phantom Phoenix – Issue #1