Why do I want to write, draw and publish a graphic novel?
Back in the 1950’s a clergyman, Marcus Morris decided that he wanted to create a comic based on Christian values, and went on to create the hugely successful Eagle comic.
Had he a few things in his favour
1) He was born in Preston, Lancashire, only a stones throw from where I have lived for the past 15 years. I was born in Lancashire and so on and so forth…
2) He was vicar of St James in Southport, Lancashire, Southport I spent much time in as a lad…
3) Clergyman
4) Got frustrated with how out of touch the church was in communicating the incredible news that God actually loves his people, and Jesus is his son, and the Holy Spirit is the help we all need!
In other words, sounds to me like he was a pioneer minister of his generation. In the end he had to leave the church employment behind to develop the comic. What he wanted to do was talk the language people were using.
A couple of years back a young man came to me, knowing a little bit about my years of writing on the side, and illustrating, and my desire to write books, just being a bit rubbish about it. I can’t get the motivation beyond the first couple of chapters…the ideas are there, I just get bored with the writing, I’d rather draw. But he said to me that one day I would be writing books, and illustrating them.
I don’t want to jump the gun with God, but recently, in the last couple of months, I’ve become more and more motivated to try and get something down on paper. My thing is that I, like Marcus, see that the gospel message of Jesus doesn’t always get into the hands of the people who really need it. And I don’t just mean the obvious stuff. There have been plenty of great retellings of the bible, not least of which (and the greatest IMHO) is Manga bible by Siku, who completed it as part of his masters in theology (so I am led to believe).
But there is a whole lot more out there to tell, and I want to tell it.
More recently there have been some very interesting developments in the world of media.
1) Graphic novels have become ever more popular with the impact of the super hero films
2) Publishing on the internet has become a reality, with many different places making it easier than ever
3) Ipads, kindles and so on…perhaps for me this is the greatest advancement, because at last a digitised graphic novel can be once more hand held. Make a novel that can be read on any portable device and I think we have a winner.
Of course, it would make sense to make this a commercial venture, but I don’t want to do that. Part of me would love to make money, of course I would, it pays for equipment! However, the beauty of being employed by the church of England is that I am not allowed to do anything that would profit me. I receive a stipend which frees me up to pursue avenues of ministry without being tied to having to have targets or goals met. For me, this is the first time in my life that this has been possible. Which means that so long as I can find time, then I can do this project. In short, it means I don’t have to find my own time to do it…it can be as part of work.
Or as a young friend of mine said, if God tells you to do it, then it’s God’s work!
I am pretty sure that God is directing me to do this…
So what do I want to communicate? Well I think we have a character, and yes, it is based on a couple of people I know. One of whom is me, and the other is a rather amazing ordained priest who lives on the edge of spiritualities, but really helped me to get my head around some spiritual issues I was working through. Can’t say who it is right now…I want to see if this project sees the light of day, and if it does I will then show him the work, and see if he approves…then I will ask if I can use his name!
Both he and I are priests who are conjurers…and use magic to help people sometimes to explore the possibility that there is something else other than what you see…
So the first novel that I and Christina are working on is based around the the idea (or should that be FACT) that heaven and earth aren’t a million miles from one another, that they are separated by nothing more than a thin veil. Christ was comfortable in both spaces, especially after the resurrection. The tearing of the temple cloth in two may or may not have just been an illustration of the barrier between earth and heaven having been finally destroyed. Did you know it was about a foot thick, and many meters tall?
I can’t be super obvious about this, and the writing that I and Christina do needs to be more along the lines of Tolkien, who got upset with his friend CS Lewis when Lewis made the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe “too obvious”.
I think the reason is that Lewis wrote allegory, where as Tolkien wrote myth. Whats the difference? Well with allegory you can say ‘this is this, that is that’ and so on – so Aslan is Jesus. More of a parable I guess you could say, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
With myth there is legend, some allegory, some fact, some made up stuff to emphasise the other bits. But, and it’s a big but, you can’t start pulling at one thread without the whole tapestry unraveling it needs everything told as a whole.
Which is where the Perry Falcon mystery series comes in.
If you would like to help us to develop this series, then please do contact me by email andy[at]grayclan.co.uk
