Are Christians Dumbing Down?

Hey gang....I just ran across a blog headline which grabbed my attention and I wanted to share and comment on it...since the site does not accept comments on it's posts.

Click sliceoflaodicea to read the original posting.

Addressing the part that got my attention (being someone who's championed the development of the spiritual based graphic novel), here's a taste...

Fast forward to 2009 and the rotting corpse of Western Christianity. This buffoonery is what now fills churches today—the entire idiotic scene inspired by a children’s cartoon of singing and dancing vegetables (which I assume refers to Veggie Tales). Infantalism rules, literacy is dead, and God-given intellects are dead, suffocated under years of video game playing, movie and television watching. Hard to believe that Christians used to produce books like “Bondage of the Will”, and translations of the Scriptures from the original languages. Today, pastors and church laity are reading “graphic novel” (comic book) versions of the Bible because they struggle to grasp anything beyond a one syllable word. Here are some of evangelicalism’s finest in action. Watch and weep.

Now, if you didn't visit the original posting, this commentary is mainly directed at a posted video showing a Christian congregation dancing, singing and worshiping in a way the author finds distastful and degrading. But for the purposes of my comment, I'm dealing with his/her misguided generalization about literature created for young people and/or the graphic novel.

This author seeks to make a point about the breakdown of sophisticated analitical thought and writing within the Western Christian culture by slamming things obviously not created to answer such demands by believers.

Raise your hand, if you think Veggie Tales was created to foster advance discourse on the tenants of Christianity among religious scholars! A Ridiculous question? Of course it is, but it's to make a point. Products like Veggie Tales and most literature (re: picture books) and video's aimed at children are not meant to teach advanced religious theory or complicated Christian Dogma, rather plant seeds of interest among children using forms and styles of entertainment that is prevelant among "our culture". Likewise with most Graphic Novels or Christian based comic books. DISCLAIMER: Before I go forward I will admit for the record, that in my Eye Witness series, I do attempt to dig a bit deeper and pair the Gospel as presented by the Biblical narrative with historical and cultureal data about the first century we now known, in an attempt to take the reader to the next level of interest...but will grant that is not the case with most product designed in this format of literature.

But I reject this author's base assumption that pastors and church laity are reading Graphic Novel adaptations of the Bible (and Christian based fiction) because they struggle to grasp the intrecacies of the Bible and anything beyond "one-syllable words."

First of all, I have yet to come across a publisher that is creating a graphic novel adaptation of the Bible, that is meant to replace the original prose form...that's not to say someone isn't working on one now and it will be a monumental undertaking...but for most of us following this course, I think it's a fair assumption to say that this form is meant to attract readers to the Bible narrative that wouldn't be reading it otherwise, or in other forms. With Eye Witness, I'm attempting to reach the skeptic or person that's uninterested in attending church or reading the Bible, but loves reading in the format of comic books, graphic novels and manga (which translates to comic books in Japan...but in general terms has come to represent the entire output of far eastern created works of that style). My goal is to attract that person through my use of dramatic graphic design and a fictional intermingling with the Biblical narrative to make the story come alive with a contemporary feel. The endgame is to get the attention of someone who wouldn't think twice about reading these stories otherwise and God Willing, to create a spark of interest that might lead them to their local church, teen ministry or even picking up the source material.

Once again, I'll make the assmumption that many of the titles being published today in this format, share a similar goal. Now is that a bad or good thing for "the Church Body"...especially when you consider the docuemented drop off that occurs among young people when they get to high school age? But could there be their churches out there using graphic novel adaptations in their sermons? If there are, I'd wager a guess they are a seeker church that is catering to a high school to college age attendee...and this is the way to get there attention.

Secondly to generalize that those who read Graphic Novels cannot grasp anything beyond a one-syllable word, is this author basically showing their ignorance about the whole format. As anyone who's actually familiar with what's been produced in graphic novel or comic book form over the last 30 years can attest to, charagorizing the format as being simplicist or for those who struggle to read, is a blatent misnomer. Trust me, if you can grasp the involved prose of a Neil Gaiman (Sandman) or Alan Moore (Watchmen)....much of the Biblical narrative would prove to be a snap! Sure there are comics like those produced by Archie Comics and DC's animated line, that are rather simplistic, but than again they are targeting a 10 and under audience.

So what do we make of this uninformed rant? Not knowing the author, my guess would be they have a serious bone to pick with the western Christian Church and like a magician they seek to "pull things out of the proverbial hat" that will support their generalization that it has basically devolved into a chanting, dancing bunch of fools who have no foundation in advance learning or culture. Take a peek inside any Christian bookstore (or religious section of your local Borders) and you'll see their is an abundance of books being produced by contemporary authors every month, who seek to challenge the intellect as well as rouse the passion of the highly literate Christian reader.

Secondly, it's obvious the author has difficulty with the concept of OUTREACH and how it can be used effectively in our comminities. The Apostle Paul called upon us to discover our spirutal gifts and use them to advance the word among the people of the world. By his very actions, Paul demonstrated how we, as followers of Christ, we must be able to converse with "the world" in styles which they use...To the Jews, he was a jew, to the Greeks he became a Greek!

Using something like Veggie Tales, or Christian rock music, or the graphic novel, are all ways to speak to different segments of our culture (and/or age groups) that communicate in a way that they relate to and are attracted to. It surely doesn't mean that our message is deluted...but that it's just in a different language, metaphorically speaking! It's the same premise behind why we have four different Gospels, each written in a way to commuincate with a different aspect of the first century world.

R.J. Luedke
Award Winning Author/Illustrator
http://www.headpress.info/about.html

...And The Future of Communication, Is?

I ran across a wonderful article by Readthespirit.com editor, David Crumm, entitled, "The Shape of Things to Come is...Well...Spiritual." The article is based upon David's impressions of information presented at the recently held, "The Tools of Change Conference, 2009", held in New York City. The Conference was attended by people from all around the world involved in the booktrade, publishing, magazines, journalism and marketing.

Some of the Headlines that caught my attention, were that coming soon to a major corporation near you, will be the creation of a new job title, called: Social Community Facilitator. This will be the person responsible for the companies presence on online communities, (I.E. facebook, twitter etc...), who will be separte from the marketing department and be more attuned to the concept of community, as made popular in the Christian church.

Another revelation from the conference is, that the furture of getting our daily fix of information, (is which is slowly moving away from our daily newspaper and weekly magazine subscription), is not going to be from our home computers or laptops, but rather through our cell phones or hand held devices. Book and newspapers publishers in the far-east are already using technology to deliver their content directly to the consumer through these tools.

This is just one part of a four-part series (links provided) and quite lengthy, but worth the read if your interested in the future of the media.

Go to The Future of Communication.

R.J. Luedke
headpress.info

Explaining the Graphic Novel

As someone who is out there in the media and bookstore trenches, attempting to explain to people who didn't grow up reading graphic novels (or comics, or manga) what exactly they are, I think I've developed an explanation that I think helps make better sense of the whole conversation and if you're a fan of the format...could help to better explain it to someone who may not yet be familiar with it.

For many years now, literary critics, book reviewers and pseudo-intellectual bloggers have been pondering the graphic novel and where it fits into...or even if it fits into...serious discussion about literature.

Here's a current example of this kind of discussion, (by journalist Seth Sommerfeld for the online Gonzaga Bulletin), which is typically created for those who might new to the medium, by those who are vaguely familiar with it. Usually these kind of Graphic Novel 101 pieces, involves invoking one or more of the works that everyone knows since they have been successfully developed into other mediums, (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the upcoming Watchmen, 300, Sin City etc...). Within this competent piece, Sommerfeld restates the stock answer to the question, what is a graphic novel? "A graphic novel is a book-length comic. Everything one would expect in a traditional novel is present, they just happen to add illustrations to correspond with the story."

While much of that is indeed true, (and for the purposes of discloser...I've used a version of this explanation myself in interviews), I've grown to feel that much of that description is not only too simplistic, but just plain out and out misguided. First of all, what he's explaining here, is more akin to an illustrated novel, which adds illustrations every few pages or chapters, that "correspond with the story," and help flesh out the look of the characters for the reader. With a graphic novel, the illustrations don't just add to the story, they are integral to it. Ask anyone who's spent significant time reading or purchasing graphic novels (or comics) and more often then not, their buying decisions are based upon the artist (or art team), rather than the writer. There are exceptions of course, (Neil Gaimen, Alan Moore, Frank Miller to name a few), but typically if the art does not appeal to the reader he might as well be reading a novel (no pun intended)!

You see, when you break it down, a graphic novel is much closer in structure to the format of a screen play, than it is a novel. While you may find some GN authors who write their "scripts" similar to a novel outline, you find a greater majority create a document that looks and reads very much like a screenplay. This is because the creation of a graphic novel parallels the developmental course of a screenplay, more so than a novel.

With a novel you have the writer and then the editor (or team of editors) who help craft the story into a marketable form. But as far as the foundation of the story goes, (the creation of the characters, their descriptions, the settings, the mood), unless there is a ghost writer involved, the writer is the sole person responsible for the creation and vision of the work and he gets the lion share of the credit (not to mention the royalties).

With a graphic novel, you still start with the writer (and also most likely an editor) to craft the story into a usable form. But from that point, the progress of the work will veer into the direction of what happens with a screenplay. With a GN script, the writer is responsible for pointing out what is taking place not only in each scene, but on each page of the scene and depending how they work, sometimes in each individual frame within that page.* With some exceptions when a graphic novel script is completed, it then goes to an artist (some times one person, sometimes a team of people) who take the script and break it down into layouts based upon the descriptions in the script; then pencil illustrations are done; then fully inked renderings are created from these illustrations; and then (in some cases) fully colored-painted artwork. In that case the writer of the script is closer in definition to the writer of a screenplay, since this is the basis on which to total presentation is built. The penciler, inker and colorist (sometimes all the same person) are akin to the cinematographer, director of photography, casting director and director...in that what the writer has indicated in the script, is now translated through their eyes onto the page. The process then comes full circle as the words are then added to the artwork, to create a whole that is now much greater then the sum of it's parts.

So unlike most novels, graphic novels are the result of the vision of more than one person (unless of course you work like me with Eyewitness...actively involved on almost every level). And like movies the final appearance of a graphic novel, can drastically deviate from the original story as envisioned by the writer in his script...because after all, we all visualize a bit differently. How many times have you read a good novel and had a real solid visual image of what a character looked like (based upon the writer's description) only to have him/her look dramatically different on film. That's similar to the impact that a casting director has on a screenplay and/or your pencil artist has on a graphic novel.

Now, when you have one person who is not only the writer, but also the artist and editor of a GN project, you have what could be related to in the world of cinema, as an indy film...one that is driven by the creative vision of one man who not only writes the screenplay, but is also director and cinematographer...rather than an ensemble cast of participants.

So the next time you hear someone trying to talk down graphic novels, because as a literary form, they do not adhere to the basic tenets and accepted practices of a prose novel, politely correct them, that graphic novels are more closely related to movies than they are novels, (which is why they are so easily adapted to that format, since a lot of the work of the director, cinematographer and director of photography has already been done), and so should be judged accordingly! You'll not only most likely "smack down" a literary snob, but you'll sound darned prolific doing it!

Robert James Luedke
Author and Illustrator
http://www.headpress.info/


*There are basically two different formats most GN writers work in...the Marvel Style and Full Script. Peter David, in his seminal work, Writing for Comics, explains it this way, "In the Marvel Style, (Made popular by industry icon, Stan Lee), the story is presented in a general manner , like a short story written in present tense. It includes some, but not necessarily all, dialog and gives the artist much latitude in how he visually paces the story. Once the artwork is done, the writer then scripts the story, adding dialogue, captions and sound effects. When you write in full script, you're telling the artist everything that's going to be on the page...how you want it framed, at what angle, what's in the background, what's the character's expressions, where are their hands...by their side or in their pocket, what's the weather like, etc..."

James Bond & the Spiritual Condition: A Book Review

I recently finished reading the book, Ian Fleming's Seven Deadlier Sins and 007's Moral Compass by Ben Pratt (see Amazon listing) and want to complement the author, on successfully achieving the monumental task of sharing moral and spiritual truths in a new, fresh and insightful package.

Who, besides possibly the most dedicated Ian Fleming fans, knew he was slipping truths about morality, the human condition and the gospel within the tales of Bond...James Bond. As someone who really enjoys reading works that reveal previously unknown history of events and people...I found this book fascinating on a number of different levels. There seemingly was much more to Fleming than most casual Bond fans could ever have imagined and (according to this book) he could very well go down as one of the giants of 20th century literature, along side his contemporaries, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis...when all is said and done.

As someone who is also constantly looking for new insights into our emotional and spiritual condition, the book opened doors to afflictions of the 21st century man, that I had not previously considered. Most of us are familiar with many of the 7 deadly sins: Pride, Envy, Anger, Covetousness, Gluttony and Lust...but it's that seventh one, Sloth (which was known in the middle ages as Accidie), which ends up being the focus and real payoff of Pratt's book (and why I'd guess, it's chapter 007)!

After reading this chapter, it seems possible that much of the depression in our 21 century society might be explained in spiritual terms, rather than physiological ones. Pratt explains, Accidie comes from the Greek akedos, which refers to those who didn't care enough to bury the dead on the battlefield. In a more modern context, Accidie is when we lose our passion and joy for life. Pratt quotes a description from St. John of Damascus, "a sorrowfulness so weighing down the mind that there is no good it likes to do. It has attached to it as its inseparable comrade, a distress and weariness of soul and a sluggishness in all good works which plunge the whole person into a lazy languor of bitterness." Pratt goes on to even describe the kind of people who fall prey to this "sin"..."dreamers, romantics and idealists. The Sin of those who believe hard, work hard and live hard. It is often the sin of those of us who believe that we can make a difference in this world."

In a personal note, this chapter helped me come to gripes with an emotional and spiritual cloud I had felt over my life the past year, as my following the path to create the Eye Witness series (under divine direction) has indeed been anything but easy and many obstacles which had been placed in my path these past 6 years...not just from a publishing and creative standpoint, but in my personal life as well... had succeeded in breaking down not only my passion for my mission, but for life itself! Pratt's explanation of this condition and better yet...his answers on how to deal with this "spiritual condition", (not to be confused with depression as a result of physical or mental illness), was a breath of fresh air into my own psyche, which I had not previously considered. At first I was a bit annoyed at the inference that what I might be feeling is a "sin", but trust me, his explanation is more than sufficient, understandable and condemning...if you can set your pride aside (but you'll have to find out about it for yourself...I don't want to give away too much meat here).

Even if you have never read any of Bond tales in their original novel form, this book should appeal to lovers of the movie Bond, (as Pratt supplies quite a bit of cross referencing to both). If fact it's made me now want to go out and rediscover Flemings work for the first time in its original form...just to better understand and appreciate some of Pratt's contentions.

I highly recommend this book for: Lovers of James Bond; fans of 20th century literature; and anyone who may be struggling with a sadness and lack of passion for life and just can't discover the root of their feelings, and/or don't want to go the way of pharmaceuticals to find answers.

R. J. Luedke

Author/Illustrator

Headpress.info

Radical Christian Graphic Novel is praised

David Crumm, the highly respected journalist formerly of the Detroit Free Press, who now publishes ReadtheSpirit.com, (which is a wonderful site devoted to discussing all things spiritual from around the world)...had graciously included Eye Witness: Rise of the Apostle, in his listing of "10 Books to Watch" in his 11/17/08 edition.

In the article Crumm pays me the ultimate complement...and no, I don't mean his labeling me a "radical Christian" (which I kind of like, BTW)... but by bringing my work into focus through a comparison of Eugene Peterson's "The Message New Testament Bible." Crumm states when attempting to describe Eye Witness, "Think about a marriage between Indiana Jones and Eugene Peterson's dramatically rewritten Message Bible...Fresh, Fun, Faithful and Frantically Pulse-Pounding." Wow...that last part felt like Crumm had channeled a bit of Stan Lee's penchant for the dramatic!

Since I was not that familiar with Mr. Peterson's work before reading this, (and I'm always on the look out for books exploring the original themes, writing style and presentation of the gospels), I dug a bit deeper into Mr. Peterson and this book. It appears Peterson and I share a some common goals for our works, (paraphrasing Peterson) "To bring the New Testament to life for those who haven't read the Bible because it feels to distant or irrelevant to them (in its current form) and to those who read the Bible so much, that it's become "old hat"'. Crumm has indeed hit the nail on the head with this comparison, since that is exactly the foundation behind the Eye Witness graphic novel series...to reach those who may not be reachable otherwise through a presentation they are attracted to, as well as entertained by.

Now that sounds like a book I'm going to have to seek out!

R.J. Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/

New Books from Ann Rice

Ann Rice, acclaimed creator of the southern-gothic vampire genre, (which is currently roaring full bore in sales...especially among teen to YA women), though her Vampire Chronicles series, is following up her first journey into Christian Fiction (Christ the Lord: Out of Eqypt: http://www.annerice.com/ChristTheLord-OutOfEgypt-Editions.html), with a new memoir detailing the rebirth of her faith.

I was so touched by her presentation in Christ the Lord, that it inspired some of the storytelling direction I took with Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit (http://www.headpress.info/eyewitness2.html) and Eye Witness: Rise of the Apostle (http://www.headpress.info/eyewitness3.html).

Her memoir is to be followed up with a new series of books chronicling the early ministry of Jesus.

Yahoo News just posted this story on the topic:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081030/ap_en_ot/books_anne_rice

EYE WITNESS TAKE NAT'L BOOK AWARD

Dallas, TX – USABookNews.com, the premiere online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses, announced the winners and finalists of THE 2008 NATIONAL “BEST BOOKS” AWARDS, (NBBA) on October 20, 2008. Robert James Luedke’s Christian based book, Eye Witness: Rise of the Apostle, (Head Press Publishing, 2008: http://www.headpress.info/eyewitness3.html), was honored as the Winner of this award in the category of Comics: Graphic Novels.

Luedke created the Eye Witness series, as a way to share the spiritual, historical and dramatic nature of the Bible, in a way that is both attractive and entertaining...especially to teen and young adult readers, who may not attend church or read the Bible, but are avid readers of comics, manga and graphic novels. His unique combination of a Biblical adaptation with a modern day action-thriller has proven successful not only in comic outlets, but also with mainstream and Christian booksellers.

This is the third major book award that Luedke’s Eye Witness series has garnered. In 2007 the second book in the Tetralogy, Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit, (http://www.headpress.info/eyewitness2.html) was a winner at the Hollywood Book Festival in the category of comics/graphic novels (http://www.hollywoodbookfestival.com/past.htm) and a silver medalist at The Independent Publisher Awards in the category of Dramatic Graphic Novels (http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1157)...not to mention being chosen as a finalist for the FOREWORD MAGAZINE book of the year awards.

Jeff Keen, President and CEO of USABookNews.com, said this year’s contest, now in its fifth year, yielded an unprecedented number of entries, which were then narrowed down to over 500 winners and finalists in over 140 categories. A complete list of the winners and finalists are available online at http://www.usabooknews.com/. Winners and finalists traversed the publishing landscape, from large publishing houses: Simon & Schuster, Tarcher/Penguin, HarperCollins, Hyperion, St. Martin’s Press, McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons…to hundreds of independent publishers, including Head Press Publishing.

Head Press Publishing was established in 1995 and is dedicated to outreaching teen to young adult readers through creating works in the format of comic books and graphic novels, which are not only entertaining, but also feature a spiritual foundation. For further information, visit: http://www.headpress.info/

Scribes of the World, Take Heart!

Here's another one of those stories from a writer who's made it big that can help prop up the spirits of all us writers (or wanna-be writers) who are still waiting for their big break.

Stephenie Meyers, ( http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/), the Phoenix mother of 3 kids, whose Twight series (about Vampires and Werewolves...so take heart Sue Dent/http://www.shoutlife.com/profile_view.cfm?uid=2236...LOL), has become a bonafied hit among teen and young adult readers, has sold over 5.5 millions copies in 28 countries. Last month she was named one of the 100 Most Influencial People of 2008, by Time Magazine.

Her original idea for the characters in Twilight came in a dream back in 2003. Her sister encouraged her to submit the idea to publishers. A year later, after being rejected by nine agents, the story was discoverd in a "slush pile" of unsolicited manuscripts at Writer's House (the Literary agency responsible for Nora Roberts, Neil Gaiman among others/http://www.writershouse.com/content/independent.asp ).

Four years later, Meyers has been dubbed "the next J.K. Rowling", as her Twilight is now being developed for the big screen. The final book in the series, Breaking Dawn, will release this August with a first printing of 2.5 million copies.

The moral of the story?...don't give up on your manuscript, just because it may have been brushed aside by a publishing house or agent or two, or nine! Of course this may not happen for you, like it happened for Ms. Meyers, but if you don't believe it can, who will?
(source: Edward Nawotka/Dallas Morning News).

bob luedke
inspried writer of graphic novels
www.headpress.info

Is Thomas Nelson Moving away from the CBA?

A very interesting article was brought to my attention this morning from fellow author, Sue Dent, (www.shoutlife.com/suedent), that Thomas Nelson had gone on the record with the trade publication, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, that they are not a publisher of Christian Fiction!

Wow...that would be news to the publishing world indeed. Before going any further, read the entire article to understand the context: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6530751.html?industryid=47140

Now that your back ....Let me explain what I think this all means, from a position of one who's been in these Graphic Novel publishing trenches.

Thomas Nelson (http://www.thomasnelson.com/) is indeed a company that people look to for quality "Christian based Fiction" (which I define as stories that go anywhere from overtly Biblical, to those with spiritual or Christian principles or ideas at their core), but a company who is now attempting to make headway into the GRAPHIC NOVEL MARKETPLACE, which is not so friendly to Christian based works (partly due to a bias created by years of persecution from the politically Christian Right, over freedom of speech issues with the product...among other issues).

With their upcoming line of GN's they are attempting to parlay the success they've found with their prose fiction (re: Dekker's works) to their GN lines...which is you read the orginal article talks about that 70% of their prose fiction sales come from outside of the CBA, while only 50% of their current GN sales are outside of the CBA (re: Dekker's trilogy and Serenity).

For those of you who are not in the know, GN's represent the largest catagory of growth in Publishing over the past few years in the USA. Outside of the USA it represents the top catagory of publishing worldwide and now we in the states are catching up in sales, beause the US book market is finally understanding that ANY KIND OF STORY can be told in this format, not just kids stuff or superhero's, but serious literary works of all genres.

So far the CBA has been kind of resistent to the GN format for a number of reasons, (a. don't really understand the format or it's potential to attract teens into their stores... and b. don't really understand how to display and market it, etc....). So TN, is being proactive to all book retailers by making this statement. They are in essence announcing...HEY, we're not just publishing illustrated Bible adaptations or tracts...this is serious fiction here FOR ALL BOOK RETAILERS, not just the CBA! But that does indeed kind of put them in a rocky place where their membership with the CBA is concerned. But, in the big economic picture they realize there is much more money to be made outside the CBA then their is inside. They just have to have a internal sitdown, I'd guess and decide what kind of publishing house they really want to be!

Footnote: We here at Head Press Publishing have been traveling down this Christian Graphic Novel path and clearing the brush for these larger publishers to follow. Through the publication of the AWARD WINNING Eye Witness graphic novel series, (which premiered in August of 2002), we have experienced and worked through many of the same barriers to our product in both the CBA and secular book trade that TN now is attempting to overcome. As they are finding, given the format, it creates challenges that are unique and quite different from prose only works.

But unlike TN, (or other very large publishing concerns), our bottom line goal with Eye Witness is not to generate the most income possible, but rather to impact the most people with the story of the Gospel shared within it who may not hear about it otherwise. Now don't get confused and think we're socialists (LOL)....if the books sell big-time and generate a healthy profit, we won't complain, but on the other hand that is not what spurred us to create this work, that would just be a nice benefit.

And when all is said and done, staying centered on that goal is what will keep the series on track through it's conclusion (all four books of the tetralogy published)!

Bob Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/

Hollywood Festival Honors Acts of the Spirit

(Hollywood, CA/ August 2nd, 2007): The second book our my graphic novel series, Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit, took home the top honors in the category of Comics at this year's Hollywood Book Festival, which was held on Saturday July 28th, (see: http://www.hollywoodbookfestival.com/ ).

The purpose of the festival and the awards, is to honor books that deserve greater recognition from the film, television, game and multimedia communities. Criteria used in selecting winners are the story-telling ability of the writer and the potential of the work to be translated into other forms of media.

This is the second major book award for Acts of the Spirit. In June, the book was awarded a Silver medal in the Independent Publisher Awards, (which were announced at this years BEA Convention in New York; see: http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1157 ), in the category of Dramatic Graphic Novels, as well as being named as a finalist for the FOREWORD magazine Book of the Year Awards.

This was a very surprising and ironic event for me after returning from a week at the Comic Con International. After listening to enthusiastic fans of the series ask me all weekend about whether I had began development of the books in other media...especially an animated version... then to come back to Texas and see that the Hollywood Festival's judging panel also believed the book deserved further recognition by other media, really blew me away. Although I created the series as a way to convey the story of the birth of the Christian Faith, in an entertaining and attractive way to lovers of comic books and graphic novels, I am not opposed to seeing it adapted into other media, as long as those wishing to do so, do not stray from the original core goal of the project.

We are currently in production on Eye Witness (Book Three): Destiny Road...which is slated for a later summer 2008, release date. We just came to terms with a "world class talent" cover artist for book three, that will blow everyone away! Stay tuned for more details!

For more information about Eye Witness series, come visit our main website: http://www.headpress.info/

Eye Witness Book Three in production

When I was creating the first Eye Witness book, (A Fictional Tale of Absolute Truth), from 2002-2004, I believed that this one project was the answer to God’s calling for my talents. Retell the Passion story of Jesus, in a relevant, accessible and entertaining way and will hopefully reach a lot of people with the story who might not really delve into it otherwise.

Shortly after publication of this book in 2004, when I was marketing it at conventions, churches and bookstores, I learned that this wasn’t enough. People wanted more. They wanted to know the outcome of this event, which was one of the most relevant in man’s history. People wanted, (needed it seemed), to be able to better understand the effect Jesus’ life-death-resurrection had on the world and his contemporaries, both friend and foe alike. Though to the mature Christian the answers may seems all very elementary, to those who are not yet believers (or skeptics) these answers may be missing or the answers they have heard, confusing to them...and after all that is the kind of person I am writing for.

The more I had people ask me when the next book was coming out, the more I began to ponder this and it all became very clear to me…I wasn’t through yet! Here was one of the world’s greatest action-adventure stories ever written, just waiting in the wings for someone to do a contemporary adaptation of. I am referring to of course…the book of Acts. This book of the Bible contained the answer to most asked question for non-believers…how did this one week two thousand years ago end up affecting the lives of so many people, even today? Thus was born the Eye Witness Trilogy!

I share all this exposition, because it’s that time again gang, when I embark on the most time consuming portion in the creation of one of the Eye Witness graphic novels….the illustration process. Since December 2006, I have been busy writing my screenplay, (I call it a screen-play, because creating a working script for a graphic novel for me, is more in line with that format, than it is to say writing a manuscript for a novel), for the third and final chapter in the Eye Witness saga….Eye Witness: Destiny Road.

For the next approximately 15 months, (depending on life’s diversions), I will be sequestered to my studio creating this, the largest of the Eye Witness books. At over 160+ pages, it will involve close to 1000 individual illustrations. At an average of about 8 hours a day of work, six days a week, that means I am beginning what will be about 3000+ hours of work to complete the trilogy. I don’t share this for any other reason, but to educate those of you out there in the blog-reading audience who may not understand or appreciate what it takes to produce a graphic novel this size.

Starting with this entry I will attempt to let you, the reader, come along for the ride as I am developing this book and see behind the scenes in the process and watch all the prat-falls that can occur along the way. So make sure to visit the blog regularly to see what I am up to and even sneak a peek at some of the artwork as it unfolds.

Robert James Luedke
Head Press Publishing
www.Headpress.info

A Rose by Any Other Name...

Here's a fun little quiz to share with your friends and family.

What do all these classic pieces of literature have in common?

The Arabian Nights
The Diary of Anne Frank
Black Beauty
Call of the Wild
The Bible
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Doctor Zhivago
All Quiet on the Western Front
Fahrenheit 451
Lady Chatterley's Lover
Tropic of Cancer
Ulysses
and Harry Potter

---The answer is that they have all been targets of censorship by a group, government (including the USA) or religious organizations. And when you consider that Fahrenheit 451, (written by the sci-fi pioneer Ray Bradbury), was about censorship and book burning…it's the most ironical of the list!

Censorship is defined as: The removal from public viewing, or the prevention of circulation of information, where it is felt best by some controlling group or body that others should not be allowed to access the information, which is being censored.

Typically censorship is undertaken by governments or by an established body (religious or mass media). By it's very nature censorship recognizes that there is some person or body of persons that can determine for the majority of a society what information or forms of entertainment it should have access to. In the seminal work dealing with loss of freedoms, (including censorship), 1984 by George Orwell, the term was coined "Big Brother" to describe these people or groups who would be making these types of decisions for us.

Censorship is generally found in societies whose freedoms of speech are repressed, (communist countries and/or dictatorships) or are leaning in the direction, but it also thrives ironically in bastions of freedom, like the United States, where groups can and do use fear and ignorance as the motivating factor in their drive for censorship.

Case in point: The children's book The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron. This book just received the coveted, Newbery Award for children's literature…which is basically the equivalent of receiving an endorsement by Oprah, within literary circles, with book buyers and librarians. So needless to say, there are people out there that feel this is a pretty powerful and effective piece of literature designed for children (whom the author says is the 9-12 age group). That is, all but a couple librarians, who have taken to the blog-waves to share their discontent over the fact that the author uses the word "scrotum" in the book and are making it their mission to alert other librarians and parents, all over the country about this terrible occurrence and encouraging them to have the book removed from the shelves…. before it too late, (you know…that time when we'd have to discuss with our kids what a scrotum is).

For those of you who may not be familiar with the term, (and you can admit it…I had to think it over for a few seconds ma'self), it is defined by Webster as, "the pouch of skin containing the testicles." And if you don't know what they are…sorry you're going to have to look that one up for yourself!

One of the librarians in question stated on her blog, "The word scrotum does not often occur in polite conversation or children's literature for that matter." Dana Nilsson, a librarian in Durango Colorado writes, "This book included what I call a Howard-Stern shock treatment just to see how far they could push the envelope." A Howard-Stern type shock-treatment? Let's see, how many more descriptive and disgusting names can I think of, that Stern would use on his show before resorting to the official medical term of scrotum to describe this part of the male anatomy? Okay, so Dana doesn't get out much!

Another one of the blogger librarians write, "I don't want to start an issue about censorship, but you won't find men's genitalia in quality literature." And there it is gang! We (the offended librarians) feel in our judgment that any description of the male genitalia (which sounds like your discussing some sort of single celled creature discovered under a microscope… but I digress), is inappropriate, even if it's done using only the specific medical terminology to do so…but that's not censorship! A rose by any other name, my friends, would still smell as sweet. One of the common threads of all censorship is that the censor will usually claim what he is doing is not censorship…they're just trying to help us out by keeping harmful information and words away from us and our children. Aren't we lucky?

What they are doing with their 21st century styles cyber-assault on this highly decorated book, is exactly what censorship has become in this information-highway-age we now find ourselves. But you want to know what really makes this whole thing even more ridiculous? The use of the word scrotum, (it's actually kind of fun to say, try it...scrotum, scrotum, scrotum, scrotum, scrotum…. there, got that out of my system), it's not even used to describe any man or boy anatomy in the story. It's about a dog that got bit in the scrotum by a snake, (which was actually a true anecdote the author was sharing).

Ah-ha…now it all makes sense to me now! The librarians in question were protecting our children against possibly reading about dog genitalia in a children's book.

So how does a free society deal with this kind of garbage? By doing the same things they are doing…voicing our opinions against anyone telling you or your children what books are appropriate for you or your children to read. That's not their job. They select from the thousands of books that come out every few months and make choices based upon, marketing to them by publishers and distributors, critical reviews, (in publications like Publishers Weekly and Forward Magazine) and watch book awards lists to see what books have been deemed by those who have proven to be experts in culling out books of note from the masses published.

Their job is not to make reading judgments for their patrons based on their subjective personal tastes…like does a book have or have not words describing male canine genitalia included…(ha, ha, ha…sorry I can't even write that without chuckling). So, let you local librarian know, you'd prefer they just concentrate on making books available and let the parents or teachers make the call on what their children will or will not read. Heaven forbid a parent or teacher would have to engage their children in a conversation about what a scrotum is!

Their next target of the cyber-librarian assassins…a book about the little kitty's uvula getting caught in the mouse trap...discuss!

Robert Luedke
Head Press Publishing
http://www.headpress.info/

copyright R.J. Luedke 2007