Wizard Mag shows EW some love!

It had been pointed out to me, (and I confirmed it today), that in the latest issue of the Magazine on everything Pop Culture, Wizard, (#174...on sale now at newsstand everywhere....totally unpaid endorsement), they have included Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit, in their list of the "42 Things You Need to Know About Comics in 2006".

Sample page from Acts of the Spirit.

We are #40 out of 42, but being the half full guy I am I look at it this way...when you consider how many comics/graphic novels are published each and every month in this country by the indy press, small press, or individuals, (hundreds at least?), just being mentioned as one of the 42 coming in the next year is an incredible honor and I feel blessed by this inclusion of my work!

Better yet, in the blurb, Wizard actually acknowledges that there is a segment of the market creating Christian materials! "Author Robert James Luedke continues to break new ground for the Christian Fiction genre." When you consider how elitist Wizard has appeared in the past concerning the small press, (anything beyond Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse), it is a marvelous development for the marketing potential for projects such as Eye Witness, Armorquest, David, Serenity, et al...that this leader in comic-market pre and post publication publicity is declaring for their readers that there is indeed a "Christian genre" being developed.

Some might say...."why do you care about what such a secular and publication like Wizard thinks anyway?" To that I would answer....I am called to spread God's Gospel to the readers of comics and graphic novels around the world. I am not going to reach many of those potential readers, by having the book reviewed in Christianity Today, Though that of course would be a wonderful thing, and would take my books into our secondary target market, (re: Christian parents looking for outreach to attract their children to God through relevant choices of media), it would not address my calling head-on! But having a respected pop culture publication, like Wizard or Entertainment Weekly, or Variety, etc... just acknowledging our existence, (Christian comic creators-publishers), and listing us as something people should take note of within the industry, gives the book a sort of "street-cred" with their readers around the country and thus opens the door for curiosity, (and possibly more potential readers...and pre-orders?).

I Count it all as joy my brothers!