Progress Update April 2015

Here is the progress chart as it stands now at the start of April. 

This week I have had a bit of a hiccup with my PC, but not data was lost just a bit of time figuring out how to fix it. It seem to be up and running again now though, thank the Lord. 

I'm just finishing off the first page of chapter 10 ready for colouring now, but as chapter 10 has only two and a bit pages I'm looking forward to that bit of pie changing colour soon too. 

My goal each week is to complete three pages ready for colouring; which is what I need to complete Judges before the money runs out, so no pressure. 

This month one of my favoured publishers will be taking my project to their review board to see if they are interested in publishing the work. So please pray this goes ahead and I can stop concerning myself with thoughts of publishers. They review it on April 20th. 

Thank you, to everyone who gave their opinion on the latest "Have your Say" blog.  Please keep an eye out for these as I love hearing your opinions.  

Here's a little cartoon I found on FB, which amused me, if you are familiar with the Footprints poem it may amuse you also. 

HAVE YOUR SAY: WHICH IS MORE DRAMATIC

In this scene Abimelech torches a temple stronghold containing a thousand men and woman. (Judges 9:45-49)  Look at the two option which show how I could dramatise this below (rough). Then read the different cases underneath.

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Abimelech burns down the temple stronghold (Judges 9:49) 

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If you can't read the text on the image this is what it says... 

 "Abimelech was told that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.  Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an ax in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done!”  All the people likewise each cut down his bough, and followed Abimelech, //and put them at the base of the stronghold, //and set the stronghold on fire on them; so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women." (Judges 9:47-49 WEB)     (//=show where the divide in the text could be. )

Option 1: The Stronghold Burns

Straight forward rendering of the text you see the stronghold burn in all it's glory. The black panel tells you how many died.

Option 2: Impending Doom.

Less straight forward the picture shows the situation of impending doom and it is the black panel which delivers the death knell.

Which is better in your opinion?

Please comment here, on the Facebook/social media page you came here from.   

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Very exciting news! Terry Virgo: Founder of Newfrontiers endorsement

Very exciting news! 

Terry Virgo founder of Newfrontiers has agreed to give The Word for Word Bible Comic his endorsement!

This is an amazing blessing and I hope this will give buyers the confidence to trust the comic and have no fear of it being an ill conceived or unfaithful version of the Biblical text. 

With the help of the leader of my church, Simon Walker, I got Terry's agreement that I could send him a sample and he would look at it and decide if he would endorse it. Then a few weeks ago Terry came to Bristol for a small Newfrontiers church weekend. I got to talk to him there and he was happy to support it. 

He is so humble and is, himself, not sure his name will make any difference, but I'm sure you'll agree that his name and positive words (below) will carry great weight the the "true to the Text" claim of the comic.

The statement... 

"The Word for Word Bible Comic is immediately arresting and I cannot help being impressed by the thoroughgoing commitment to research and the Biblical text in order to make it as accurate as possible." 

Terry Virgo: Founder of Newfrontiers, a family of Word and Spirit churches with over a 1000 churches in over 70 nations 

 Please pray with me that this endorsement will help the project reach an even greater audience once it is released and to open doors with publishers and other well-know Christians who will give their endorsement also. 

Terry was one of two trusted bible teachers who corrected my thinking on Samson and his appearance; I was all set to draw him as an incredible hulk, but as they pointed out the Philistines ask "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength..." Judges 16:5, which of course would not make sense if he looked like Superman or as some Jewish legendary hyperbole state Samson's shoulders were sixty cubits broad. So it was great to be able to show him the comic with the slight Samson empowered exclusively by the Holy Spirit.

Below is a portrait I did of Terry which I also gave to him (framed without logo), and is hopefully hanging in his office somewhere. 

Please comment below your thoughts about this endorsement, especially if you were not familiar with Terry Virgo before reading this post.

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Progress update

It's been a little while since the last blog, mainly this is due to spending all my time creating the comic. Someone messaged me keen to know how far along the project is, so I've created this progress pie chart which I will try and post once a month. 

White represents the parts that have not been started except for having the storyboard ready. The dark colour is completed, the light cyan is complete except the colouring and pale is the part I am currently pencilling and inking. 

Progress Pie Chart for the Word for Word Bible Comic Feb 2015

My aim is to complete the whole book by the end of this summer. 

Please pray for productivity, accuracy, wise choices and for the right publisher to be signed in good time for the book to be released soon after completion. 

Also please pray that the high profile people I contact about endorsements are keen to give their support. 

Thank you to all the backers and followers of this project. 

Have your Say: From the sky the stars fought

I am currently completing the final copies of the pages of Judges 4 and 5, the story of Deborah and Barak's battle against Sisera. In the song of Deborah she and Barak describe what happened in the battle in poetic language.

One verse stands out, it is intriguing and not entirely clear what is meant :

“From the heavens the stars fought,
    from their courses they fought against Sisera.” Judges 5:20 (NIV)

(See the verse in context and with parallel translations here)

Commentator and scholars are divided over the interpretation of this verse, but it basically breaks down into two camps: those that think this means angels fought in the battle against Sisera's army and those that believe it means something else.

The reason commentators are divided is because angels are referred to as stars in other parts of the Bible (Daniel 8:10, Jude 1:13, Revelation 1:20, Job 38:7). So it is a possibility; but it's not mentioned in any other way in these two chapters and so other commentators feel it should be interpreted as natural stars or as lightning, or as other natural phenomena. Also, angels do fight or at least muster in battles in other parts of the Bible (Isaiah 37:36, Revelation 12:7, 2 Kings 6:14-17, Matt 26:53).

You can see a range of commentaries here (and links across the top of this page to even more commentaries)

Also I would not be the first to depict the battle this way here is one example...

The Defeat of Sisera : Luca Giordan 1692

So the question is whether I should draw in the angels on my comic.

If I do draw in the angels...

If I do draw them in I will have categorically sided with the “angels interpretation”, it is a view consistent with the rest or the Bible but as it is uncertain perhaps it should be left ambiguous. On the other hand this is a comic and the more exciting it is for the readers the better (especially those just dipping their toe into the Bible with the comic). Having the angels there looks cool (as you'll see below) but it make the comic a little bit more interpretational.

It should be noted that the image below is the only image in which the angels would appear, there are not lines and lines of angels fighting men, just this one image where, as the lightning strikes, we (the reader) glimpse them there. The cyan colour and the fact they are mostly transparent also communicates (within the comic's language) that they are not seen by the humans only by the comic reader, exactly like in the verse mentioned above  (2 Kings 6:17).

If I do not draw in the angels...

If I do not draw them I am gently siding with the “naturalistic interpretation” but not exclusively as the angels could still be there but just invisible. This way of doing things is more in line with the normal way I treat the text when creating the comic. The general rule I have is...

If it's clear = draw it that way

If it's ambiguous but another part of the Bible clarifies it = make it clear

If it's ambiguous but all the trustworthy commentator agree = make it strongly implied

If it's ambiguous and commentator have differing interpretations = make it as ambiguous as the text.

By that rationale it should not be explicitly drawn, but is that the best way?

So what should I do?

Look at the pictures compared below and give me your opinion on what you think a word-for-word bible comic should do, play it safe or have cool angels?

Battle without visible angels

Battle with visible angels

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Have your say: Title for each instalment

In this blog you can have your say about the method used to Title each book within the series of the Word for Word Bible Comic. The easy way is to keep it simple and just have the standard english name (for the English versions) e.g....

The Word for Word Bible Comic – The Book of Judges

...but I had an idea which may or may not be a good idea. I would like you to tell me if you think having the Hebrew name for the book (of the Old Testament) as the title of the book, followed by the normal name would be good e.g.

The Word for Word Bible Comic – SHOFTIM (The Book of Judges)

Here are some pro's and Cons

Standard

PROs

• It's what is expected/logical

CONs

• Lost in a search engine (Google etc) to billion articles about the book and online Bible sites of the same name.

Hebrew Version

PROs

• It is excellent for searching online (Amazon, Google etc)
• It embraces the Hebrew origin
• It shows a deep connection to the original text.
• It would be more unique when spoken about “Have you read the Shoftim comic?”

CONs

• Could confuse people and make them think it's a “version/paraphase” of the book in question
• Might give the idea it's cultic interpretation to some. (Kabbalah etc)
• Christians might think it's a Jewish comic that ignores Christ.
• I can't seem to find Greek versions for the New Testament so if there are none it would be a bit inconsistent.

If you can suggest more pros and cons, share your opinion and let me know if you know of Greek versions of the names of the New Testament books then please comment below.

Below are the Hebrew names to help you think about it

1. Genesis [בראשית / Breisheet] (B'resheet)
2. Exodus [שמות / Shmot] (Sh'mot)
3. Leviticus [ויקרא / Vayikra]
4. Numbers [במדבר / Bamidbar] (B'midbar)
5. Deuteronomy [דברים / D'varim]

Nevi'im (נביאים, ("Prophets") Major and Minor.
6. Joshua [יהושע / Y'hoshua]
7. Judges [שופטים / Shophtim]
8. Samuel (I & II) [שמואל / Sh'muel]
9. Kings (I & II) [מלכים / M'lakhim]
10. Isaiah [ישעיה / Y'shayahu]
11. Jeremiah [ירמיה / Yir'mi'yahu]
12. Ezekiel [יחזקאל / Y'khezqel]
13. The Twelve Prophets [תרי עשר] (minor)
a. Hosea [הושע / Hoshea]
b. Joel [יואל / Yo'el]
c. Amos [עמוס / Amos]
d. Obadiah [עובדיה / Ovadyah]
e. Jonah [יונה / Yonah]
f. Micah [מיכה / Mikhah]
g. Nahum [נחום / Nakhum]
h. Habakkuk [חבקוק /Havakuk]
i. Zephaniah [צפניה / Ts'phanyah]
j. Haggai [חגי / Khagai]
k. Zechariah [זכריה / Z'kharyah]
l. Malachi [מלאכי / Mal'akhi]

Ketuvim (כתובים, "Writings") or "scriptures" ...
The "Sifrei Emet," "Books of Truth":
14. Psalms [תהלים / Tehilim]
15. Proverbs [משלי / Mishlei]
16. Job [איוב / Iyov]

The "Five Megilot" or "Five Scrolls":
17. Song of Songs [שיר השירים / Shir Hashirim]
18. Ruth [רות / Rut]
19. Lamentations [איכה / Eikhah]
20. Ecclesiastes [קהלת / Kohelet]
21. Esther [אסתר / Esther]

The rest of the "Writings":
22. Daniel [דניאל / Dani'el]
23. Ezra-Nehemiah [עזרא ונחמיה / Ezra v'Nekhemia]
24. Chronicles (I & II) [דברי הימים / Divrei Hayamim]