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A MATTER OF FAITH

  • On 16 Jan | '2025

Greetings Loyal Airmen, this week the Air Chief thought it might be interesting to look at some of current comic projects and their relationship to my personal faith journey as a practicing Catholic. We were brought up in a Catholic home, went to a parochial grade school and attended Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover NH. After which, upon the joining the US. Army, we pretty didn’t give either religion or our faith a second thought. Oh yeah, that was a mistake.

In the years that followed, we skirted around the the subject and weren’t really concerned about it. Yet somehow familiar themes of the church continued to find their way into our stories. A good example being the mini-series we first developed for Caliber Press in the 1980s, The Boston Bombers. In that series, we envisioned an alternate world where women were part of the clergy and one of our major character’s mother was the Bishop of Boston.
Some thirty years later, due to the urging of artist Rob Davis, we returned to the series to write a volume two, after having collected the first volume. As it turned out, in the interim, our faith has resurfaced, and in a big way. Gradually we began to feel God’s presence in our lives and see that this “talent” for making up stories was in fact His gift to us. The more that realization took root in our soul, the more our life changed…and for the better. Above are two pages for Issue # 3 of Vol 2 and that’s Mother Pirelle Jordan at center stage long before she becomes a bishop of the church.

THE CRIMSON NUN

No sooner did we get Bombers back in action, then the Air Chief ended up working on an old comic series created by writer/creator Ben Dunn, The Crimson Nun. She was a spin-off from Ben’s highly popular Warrior Nun comic but more with a pulp feel to her. The Air Chief had wanted to write this character for well over thirty years. Now having that green light from Ben, we began doing some planning and research. In the process we learned about Saint Jean of Arc, a teenage girl called by God to help save France in its hour of need. Feeling the faith motivation, we saw an opportunity to add an historical background that would give spiritual weight to what we wanted to do. And that inspiration was picked up by artist Jesse Thomas who brilliantly visualized the character of Gabrielle Cauxvette, our new Crimson Nun.

CHIVALRY INC.

And then we have Chivalry, Inc. our three issue mini-series coming later this year from Silverline, Comics. With pencils by Javier Lugo, inks by Jesse Hasan and colors by Mickey Clausen. Above is a sample of Mickey’s flats as he gets familiar with the characters. Then we have Javier’s pencils and finally, Father Peter Dumont, a major character in the series who comes to Chivalry’s assistance when she needs it desperately. For the record, Fr. Peter Dumont was the priest who married Val and the Air Chief. By now you must see that you might be able to take the comic creator out of the church (for a while) but you can never take the church out of the Air Chief. That’s been a revelation and an unbelievable blessing to know that through all our ups and down, God never gave up on us. Ever.

BEYOND THE STARS

Okay, so now we can see some of you Loyal Airmen scratching your heads. “Beyond the Stars,” the six part mini-series the Air Chief is writing for Silverline Comics with art by Andrea Bormida and letters by Mike Belcher. Hmm, you don’t see a faith-connection in that one? Alright, here’s the lowdown. When developing the concept with Andrea, he let the Air Chief know he wanted to create a story that gave glory to God. He is a man of strong faith. With that in mind, the Air Chief evolved a plot wherein a giant all consuming Black Cloud was literally eating up the universe and mankind, in this future world, is on the edge of extinction. Then along comes this giant alien mother-ship in the shape of a sword with which our heroes can defeat the Black Cloud. In this one, we opted to use symbolism with the Black Cloud being the true evil that is Sin, and salvation, as the three of us believe is provided by the cross/sword of Jesus Christ. Happily, it was an approach that proved to not only be doable, but visually exciting as well. Having completed four issues, we’ve only two left to go. Stay tuned.

JIN & TONIK # 2

Meanwhile artist Cesar Feliciano continues to draw new pages for our spy action thriller, “Jin & Tonik #2.” Whereas there is no overt christian themes or symbols, this is a primal tale of good vs evil. Itself the core of what spiritual life and combat is all about. Do we want to be heroes or villains in the stories of our lives. Each of us makes that decision hundreds of times a day. Saint or sinner, what will it be? So Loyal Airmen, that’s our humble testimony. It’s never about preaching, rather it’s about praying. AMEN.

HAMLET’S END

And finally, wrapping up this week’s Flight Log, we thought you’d get a kick out of the above. Artist Zane DeGaine, now wrapping up issue one of our western series, “Hamlet’s End,” has been going over the completed 24 pages and decided to change the one above. You can see from his earlier version on the left to the new one how heightened the drama with by changing the point of view. He’s another super talented artist we’re exciting to be working with and most anxious to get this comic to you. There you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you back here next Friday.

RON – OVER & OUT!

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