Christian Art in the World Arena

Is it possible for Christian art to make it in the world? Or should I say, compete with the world? In the last few years I’ve gotten more and more into comicbooks of all things, and I have to admit 97% (thats an exact statistic) of all christian comic books are lame to say the least. Unfortunately the culture of today simply doesn’t connect with anything too “preachy”, something that we Christians need to get a hold of. This applies to art, music, conversation, etc. What the world does respond to, is love. Again and again I hear about how people love the idea of Jesus and the things he said, but they can’t stand Christians. Why? We’re judgemental, among other things. But this is getting into another topic. Lets stick to art for now.

I’ve been working on a comic book story for several years now, and I struggled with how “preachy” to make it. I brought it up on a Christian comic book forum, and was answered with everything from “don’t water down the gospel” to “You can just tell your story and have a ‘good’ message”. I’ve wanted to be somewhere inbetween. I want it to be fun to read for both lifetime Christians and those who’ve never heard of Jesus. How do we settle this dillema? I don’t want to write “Christian Comic” all over the cover, because people have learned time and time again that if “Christian” is on the cover it must be lame. I’ve thought about this thoroughly for a long time and still am unsure. I have come to the conclusion (I think…) that I don’t want to publish it with a Christian comic book company, at least if I can help it (not that I’ve had any offers). As sad a thing as it is, I don’t think people go looking for those kind of comic books, at least not non believers, who are really the larger audience I want to reach.

I’ve talked about comic art, but really it goes for any kind of art. Does it compete? Can it compete?

I still don’t think I have any readers, but if anyone passes by, what do you think?