We have heard it said, “If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.” Life experience has taught me the truth of the saying. When I was young, the back pages of comic books were slathered with ads for all sorts of amazing things like x-ray glasses and sea monkeys. In reality, the […]
How Amazon’s superhero series ‘The Boys’ twists reality and lifts up a corrupted world Read More »
Recently I was able to ask Marvel Comics veteran Jim Fern a range of questions about his comic book career as well as his deep Catholic Faith. Before getting into the questions, here is a short introduction. Most recently, Jim Fern was the Continuity Art Director for Issue 1 of Finnian and the Seven Mountains
The Internet has been buzzing about a recent interview with comedian Stephen Colbert and CNN’s Anderson Cooper. In it, Cooper asks Colbert, “You went on to say, ‘What punishments of God are not gifts?’ Do you really believe that?” Colbert responds by saying, “It’s a gift to exist and with existence comes suffering. There’s no
Why Death is a Gift: Stephen Colbert’s Tolkien reference explained Read More »
I had the opportunity to interview award winning actor John Rhys-Davies (Gimli in The Lord of the Rings) about a recent audio drama he participated in called, The Trials of Saint Patrick. It was a delightful conversation, one where he related to me much about his thoughts about St. Patrick’s role in Ireland and the preservation
While the fight for truth and justice always has spiritual implications, many stories from the DC and Marvel universes do not depict specifically religious practices. We rarely know whether a superhero attends any religious service or has any particular devotional life. However, when Christian faith is depicted, it is usually shown in a surprisingly liturgical
Why comic book artists rely on Catholic symbols to portray religion Read More »
In the 1990s, Marvel produced X-Men: The Animated Series and it was a ground-breaking series on a number of levels. For example, in season 3, episode 18, a Catholic mutant known as Nightcrawler encounters a small group of the X-Men, including Wolverine. The X-Men find refuge in the monastery where Nightcrawler is living and what happens
Watch Nightcrawler help Wolverine reconcile with God in “X-Men: The Animated Series” Read More »
Marvel’s Nightcrawler provides readers a character possessing an amazing ability to jump across the space-continuum. Born as Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler is a mutant with an interesting lineage. His mother is the villain Mystique and his father Azazel is a demon general. Despite his family, Nightcrawler ends up being a devout Catholic. My favorite Nightcrawler scene
3 Lessons Nightcrawler’s mutant powers can teach us about faith Read More »
To celebrate the upcoming production of Finnian and the Seven Mountains Issue #3, I will be giving away a “starter package,” featuring Issue #1, Issue #2 and The Last Monks of Skellig Michael. All three can be ordered through our online store. All copies of the giveaway will be signed by the author. There will be 2
Win a FREE “Finnian and the Seven Mountains” starter package! Read More »
After receiving a great deal of feedback about which comic book idea to run with next, we have decided to begin preparations for Finnian and the Seven Mountains #3! The script is already nearly done and will go through a few rounds of editing before the artists start sketching out the pages. Below is a sneak
Announcing ‘Finnian and the Seven Mountains’ – Issue 3!! Read More »
“[Hobbits] love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt. They do not and did not understand or like machines more complicated than a forge-bellows, a water-mill, or a hand-loom, though they were skilful with tools” (Prologue to the Fellowship of the Ring, 1). Hobbits are well-known
Lessons from the Shire: How to live a simple life according to Tolkien’s Middle-Earth Read More »
