Unabridged, historically accurate graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of scripture. This page contains a blog of the features and discoveries that have been made through the work and research of this project.
A study of some of the details within the Biblical story of Joshua 10. Approx 20-minute video, with links below it.
Word for Word Bible Comic website...
http://www.wordforwordbiblecomic.com/
Monthly News Letter
http://eepurl.com/bzpR9f
Chuck Missler - Science Behind Joshua's Battle of Beth-Horon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9uyH...
Look at the passages side by side on BibleGateway.com
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...
Welcome to May's progress report and newsletter...
Last week I sent this out as a newsletter, I've you follow the blog please get yourself added to the mailing list as next month I believe the blog version of the progress report will be just the chart and info about that. For all the news and updates please sign up to the newsletter here...
Colourists
During the Judges production I had two colourists working on the pages, but as I went on to the new book I only required one until I had enough pages to keep two people busy. So now that I do have enough pages, I'm welcoming back Ryan Esch to the team.
In the past couple of weeks, both Leslie and Ryan have produced some truly excellent work rendering landscapes with amazing skill. The project if very blessed to have their outstanding digital painting enhance its pages. Here are a couple of examples.
Ryan has rendered Ai, the town which I have recently been blogging about.
Leslie has rendered this view of the cliffs on the east side of the Jordan as the Israelites prepare to cross the river.
Progress
With two colourists working you can see the pie start to fill with “Completed” pages in two areas, as I have started Ryan in Chapter 7, just less week.
I realised that this pie chart is good in some ways, as it shows the proportion of the verses completed from the book, but is weak in regards to the proportion of pages to complete. For example, I am closing on half way through the pages “Drawn ready for colours” but the pie chart barely reflects this. Today, I am working on page 58 of the 122 pages of the comic but the pie appears only one third full. Oh well, never mind.
Last weekend I exhibited at a small event in Weston Super Mare, called Stars of Time and it was held in a helicopter museum of all places! It was probably more of a film con than comics as I was the only comics exhibitor there, but never-the-less it went well, I made a profit which is good for indie comics exhibitors. I added a few new people to the mail list too (Welcome if that's you!).
I have a few more events booked over the summer, the first is at the end of June at The Gathering hosted by CVM (Christian Vision for Men). They have been very supportive of the project since the early days, so it'll be good to be there with the books to sell.
I just had confirmation that I will be exhibiting at New Wine this summer (end of July). It's going to be a big organisational challenge as it's two stints of five days, basically back-to-back, probably camping and being at the stall all day and evening throughout. It's a huge event though and so I am really praying it will help me release the capital in the last limited edition prints that remain, and get the project out into the world more.
Endorsement
To help me along at the Gathering I got in touch with Carl Beech about an endorsement for the comic as I know he is very keen on the project, having met up with him a few times now. Carl is one of CVM's founders and hosts of the Gathering events, a previous Elim senior leader and now UK director of the Message Trust). I'm very pleased to add his positive words to our endorsements page and to have with me at the next Gathering.
Prayer requests
If you are a praying person I'd love you to look at these areas we are seeking the Lord for, and either give a quick amen or to add them to your list for ongoing prayer support.
Guidance – Please pray the Lord would guide us on the right path in regards to publishing and distribution. Our options being whittled down, but if He has unexpected plans and methods to make them known, in order to help this project be as beneficial to His Kingdom as possible.
Progress – Please pray the work progresses smoothly, without blockages or obstacles like poor health, and that the Spirit continues to bless us in trying to depict the events how they really happened and were. That we can get the work done by the time we need to to launch well.
Financially – That ol' chestnut. Please pray the events we exhibit at will provide all the money we need to see us through to the best possible time to launch the project officially and have the capital to do it right.
Blogs
Below are a blog and a video I posted this month you may have missed...
Creating a map of Ai
Video Blog about creating a map for the comic.
Making Comics
A video about shortcuts and new ways I create a page.
Get your copy and more...
If you'd like to support the project by buying one of the last numbered limited edition copies created for Kickstarter backers or you want to get other exciting rewards, even become a big backer and have your likeness drawn into the book of Joshua, then please click below and check out our Mega Founder page. (It's the same as Kickstarter but there is no time limit and no waiting for your fulfilment.)
Today, I created a new video showing how I made a map for the comic of the settlement of Ai, based on the real world location. View it below.
The story is featured in Joshua 7-8
The previous blog researching Ai can be found here...
https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/researching-ai
Heading home.
This update I'm writing after an exciting weekend at a local comic con where I had a stall. The event had about 3000 attendees, and was bursting with amazing cosplay, from Transformers to orcs, and Iron 'men' of every colour to Super Saiyan.
The responses I got from the people there were very positive, very few I spoke to dismissed it out of hand for being the Bible as you might think many people would. People were interested and could see the point of the project even if they didn't think it was for them. Interestingly, several times I was telling someone about it who'd seem pretty disinterested, but then at the end they'd pipe up with “It's not my sort of thing, but my sister/father/cousin would love this” and merrily carry off a leaflet.
We made a small profit selling the books, which is was pretty good, because as many indie comic creators will tell you, they more-often-then-not make a loss and the events are more about the exposure and making connections as striving for a profit. Plus, I'm also hoping a few extra sales from this my come in online over the next couple of weeks.
If you wanted to get a copy you can do so using this link...
Well, the last month has been somewhat of a bad month. In my last update, I mentioned that I was just starting to get unwell, but as I had antibiotics from the doc I was hopeful it would be short lived. Unfortunately, I was off my feet for about 3 weeks! So things are a little behind for the Book of Joshua now, but there's nothing I could do about it so I have to just write a line under it and move on. Thankfully, is was well again this weekend just gone to get to the comic con. Phew!
If you missed the research blog last month about the ancient city of Ai, you can find it here...
In order to draw a place, I have to research where it was and what it might have looked like.
In this video, I briefly describe how I collected together some of the information to get a picture of the location of Ai, that shows up in Joshua 7-8
The Book of Joshua is under construction but Judges if available as a special prerelease copy to backers at ...
The last month has mostly been characterised by illness, unfortunately. This has had some impact on the progress as I took a week off to look after the children and a poorly wife. I'd managed to dodge the bullet in regards to this virus until now, but am hoping it will be short lived. Please pray for good health for us all.
I've had a few new leads in regards to publisher which will probably be the last ditched attempt before accepting that it will need to be self-published. These are a few big publishers so again please pray they see the potential of this project and sign me up.
I've booked into several comic cons and Christian conventions that will be happening over the next few months, the plan is to sell off the remaining limited edition copies. So lastly pray this goes well and we don't loose any money on any of them.
Here's how the progress pie chart is looking.
I had a few great responses from asking for feedback last month so if you didn't do so and you are a backer and you've received a hard copy of Judges please get in touch and tell me what you thought of it. It's always good to get feedback, encouragement and critique.
wordforwordbiblecomic [@] Gmail.com
I also discovered a site which allows you to basically continue your Kickstarter campaign and offer rewards for donations to the work. So please refer your friends to buy the limited edition copies of Judges and they can even still get themselves drawn into Joshua.
Thank you for following the progress please keep praying for the project.
This weekend my wonderful wife has taken the kids to granny's and I have been working non-stop trying to keep on target with the book of Joshua's progress. It's slightly frustrating as I just hit a bunch of pages which needed a lot of work! That is the fall of Jericho (Joshua 6), so lots of falling bricks to draw and tiny soldiers climbing up the ruin to attack the city and all the dead bodies everywhere.
A few months ago I upgraded my computer from a Windows XP(!) machine to a new Mac, thanks to the kind donation to the project by two lovely families in my church for the purpose. But, there has been teething issues as some of my old peripherals have not been compatible. A couple of weeks ago I said to my wife "Right, I think I need a new graphics tablet, scanner, printer, monitor and keyboard." (as my graphic tablet also broke that day). She said "Great, where are we gonna get the money for that?" , "God(?)" I replied tentatively. Since then I've had a graphics tablet lent to me, a new monitor and keyboard given to me and one Sunday someone anonymously gave us £100 in an envelope, which I have used to buy a graphics tablet for £65 on eBay. Now I just have to figure out the scanner and printer and it will all have been taken care of. Amazing.
Here's how the progress pie chart is looking.
At the end of January I sent off a few copies of the book to possible publishers, so please pray that come back to me soon and are keen to get it out there this summer.
If you were a backer and you've received a hard copy of Judges please get in touch and tell me what you thought of it. It's always good to get feedback, encouragement and critique.
wordforwordbiblecomic [@] Gmail.com
I also discovered a site which allows you to basically continue your Kickstarter campaign and offer rewards for donations to the work. So please refer your friends to buy the limited edition copies of Judges and they can even still get themselves drawn into Joshua.
Thank you for following the progress please keep praying for the project.
Just a quick progress report on how far along we are.
Over Christmas there was a fair bit of illness and with the kids around progress was somewhat slow, even with a week set aside for it. However Things are picking up a pace and my wonderful wife is taking the children to Grannies next weekend so I can work from dawn 'til dusk and beyond and catch up.
The pie chart is not looking to bad and I have to keep reminding myself that some chapters don't need to much illustrating as they are maps.
This month I hope to track down a publisher, sending out hard copies to the key ones. Please pray this is successful and the right one that God wants us to use is found and found in time.
Thank you all for your support
