comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
s published by
Fleming H. Revell
Baker Publishing Group is a Christian book publisher that discusses historic Christian happenings for its evangelical readers. It is based in Ada, Michigan and has six subdivisions: namely Bethany House, Revell, Baker Books, Baker Academic, Chos ...
starting in 1972.
In the 1980s, Barbour & Company, founded by Hugh Revell Barbour, acquired the rights to republish many of the titles in the Spire Christian Comics line under the New Barbour Christian Comics imprint, keeping the comics in print until 1988.
History
Christian book publisher Fleming H. Revell had approached
Al Hartley
Henry Allan Hartley (October 25, 1921 – May 27, 2003)Henry A. Hartley at the United States Social Security Dea ...
, about doing comic book adaptions of Christian-themed books that they were publishing. Hartley was working for
Archie Comics
Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.God's Smuggler'' and '' The Cross and the Switchblade''.
Hartley's connection with Archie comics publisher John Goldwater helped Spire license the ''Archie'' characters in a Christian-themed series, and in 1973 they launched the first of 19 ''Archie'' titles, ''Archie's One Way''.
Other comics were based on true stories, Christian novels, or Christian movies. Examples of this type include those based on
Charles Colson
Charles Wendell Colson (October 16, 1931 – April 21, 2012), generally referred to as Chuck Colson, was an American attorney and political advisor who served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. Once known as Pr ...
's ''Born Again'',
Corrie ten Boom
Cornelia Arnolda Johanna "Corrie" ten Boom (15 April 1892 – 15 April 1983) was a Dutch watchmaker and later a Christian writer and public speaker, who worked with her father, Casper ten Boom, her sister Betsie ten Boom and other family member ...
Charles Sheldon
Charles Monroe Sheldon (February 26, 1857 – February 24, 1946) was an American Congregationalist minister and a leader of the Social Gospel movement. His novel ''In His Steps'' introduced the principle "What would Jesus do?", which articu ...
's 1896 novel ''
In His Steps
''In His Steps'' is a best-selling religious fiction novel written by Charles Monroe Sheldon. First published in 1896, the book has sold more than 50,000,000 copies, and ranks as one of the best-selling books of all time. The full title of the ...
''.
A line of comics for very young children featured young Barney Bear, who lived with his parents in a cave in
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...
Archived from the original on August 27, 2015.
The comics were created from 1972 and 1982 and kept in print for several years.
List of titles
Archie series
* ''Archie and Big Ethel''
* ''Archie and Mr. Weatherbee''
* ''Archie Gets a Job''
* ''Archie's Car''
* ''Archie's Circus''
* ''Archie's Clean Slate''
* ''Archie's Date Book''
* ''Archie's Family Album''
* ''Archie's Festival''
* ''Archie's Love Scene''
* ''Archie's One Way''
* ''Archie's Parables''
* ''Archie's Roller Coaster''
* ''Archie's Something Else!''
* ''Archie's Sonshine''
* ''Archie's Sports Scene''
* ''Archie's World''
* ''Christmas with Archie''
* ''Jughead's Soul Food''
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...
/
Jonah
Jonah or Jonas, ''Yōnā'', "dove"; gr, Ἰωνᾶς ''Iōnâs''; ar, يونس ' or '; Latin: ''Ionas'' son of Amittai, is a prophet in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran, from Gath-hepher of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th cent ...
story)
* ''Jesus'' (also published as ''He's the Greatest!'')
* ''Live It Up'' (also published as ''The Prodigal Son'')
* ''My Brother's Keeper'' (modernised story of
Joseph
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
)
* ''Noah's Ark'' (modernised (somewhat) version of the story because God does destroy everything)
* ''Paul: Close Encounter of a Real Kind'' (modernised story of
Paul the Apostle
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
)
Biographical and autobiographical
* ''Attack!'' (
Mitsuo Fuchida
was a Japanese captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and a bomber observer in the Imperial Japanese Navy before and during World War II. He is perhaps best known for leading the first wave of air attacks on Pearl Harbor on 7 Decembe ...
)
* ''Born Again'' (
Chuck Colson
Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to:
People
Arts and entertainment
* Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet
* Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer
* ...
)
* ''
Corrie ten Boom
Cornelia Arnolda Johanna "Corrie" ten Boom (15 April 1892 – 15 April 1983) was a Dutch watchmaker and later a Christian writer and public speaker, who worked with her father, Casper ten Boom, her sister Betsie ten Boom and other family member ...
David Wilkerson
David Ray Wilkerson (May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011) was an American Christian evangelist, best known for his book '' The Cross and the Switchblade''. He was the founder of the addiction recovery program Teen Challenge, and founding pastor of t ...
Brother Andrew
Andrew "Anne" van der Bijl (; 11 May 1928 – 27 September 2022), known in English-speaking countries as Brother Andrew, was a Dutch Christian missionary and founder of the Christian organization Open Doors. He was known for smuggling Bibles an ...
)
* ''
Hansi, the Girl who Loved the Swastika
''Hansi: The Girl who Loved the Swastika'' is an autobiographical book by Czech-born American author Maria Anne Hirschmann. Originally published as ''I Changed Gods in 1968'', it was more popularly released in 1973 as ''Hansi: The Girl Who Loved ...
'' (
Maria Anne Hirschmann
Maria Anne Hirschmann is a Czechoslovak- American author and public speaker on Christian subjects.
Hirschmann was caught in the events of World War II when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia and the local Sudeten German population came under the in ...
)
* ''Hello, I'm
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
''
* ''In the Presence of Mine Enemies'' (
Howard Rutledge
Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
)
* ''On the Road with
Andrae Crouch Andrae, Andræ (Danish) or Andrä is a surname and given name, which is a variant of Andreae, itself a patronymic (via the Latin genitive case) from the personal name Andreas.
Notable persons with this name include: Surname
* Ahmed-Tobias Andrä ...
Nate Saint
Nathanael Saint (30 August 19238 January 1956) was an evangelical Christian missionary pilot who, along with four others, was killed in Ecuador while attempting to evangelize the Huaorani people through efforts known as Operation Auca.
Early lif ...
and
Jim Elliot
Philip James Elliot (October 8, 1927 – January 8, 1956) was an American Christian missionary and one of five people killed during Operation Auca, an attempt to evangelize the Huaorani people of Ecuador.
Early life
Elliot was born in Portlan ...
)
* ''
Tom Landry
Thomas Wade Landry (September 11, 1924 – February 12, 2000) was an American professional football player and coach. He was the first head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL), a position he held for 29 seasons. Dur ...
and the Dallas Cowboys''
* ''Tom Skinner's Up from Harlem''
Kiddies Christian Comics
* ''Barney Bear: Family Tree''
* ''Barney Bear: Home Plate!''
* ''Barney Bear in Toyland''
* ''Barney Bear: Lost and Found''
* ''Barney Bear Out of the Woods''
* ''Barney Bear: Sunday School Picnic''
* ''Barney Bear: The Swamp Gang''
* ''Barney Bear Wakes Up!''
* ''God Is...''
Other book/movie adaptations
* ''Adventure with the Brothers: The Cult Escape''
* ''Adventure with the Brothers: Smashing the Smugglers' Ring''
* ''Adventure with the Brothers: Hang in There''
* ''
Hal Lindsey
Harold Lee Lindsey (born November 23, 1929) – known as Hal Lindsey – is a best-selling American evangelical writer. He is a Christian Zionist, a dispensationalist and a television host. He wrote a series of popular apocalyptic books – beg ...
's There's A New World Coming''
* ''
In His Steps
''In His Steps'' is a best-selling religious fiction novel written by Charles Monroe Sheldon. First published in 1896, the book has sold more than 50,000,000 copies, and ranks as one of the best-selling books of all time. The full title of the ...
Jack T. Chick
Jack Thomas Chick (April 13, 1924 – October 23, 2016) was an American cartoonist and publisher, best known for his fundamentalist Christian "Chick tracts". He expressed his perspective on a variety of issues through sequential-art morali ...