In the middle to late eighties, a small company came up with the idea to made comics on rock bands such as Poison, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, etc.. Although they had some success with their comics, they missed one band that would have been perfect for a strip. Now that band, and a particular member of that band, finally are crossing over to the world of Comics.

Pete King of Quest comics has just come out with a comic book titled Soldier Of God featuring our very own Robert Sweet. The main character in the story, Creed, finds himself back to back with the visual timekeeper himself in a battle against evil. A cross between Captain America and Moses, Creed in many ways also reflects his writer's alter ego. "Creed is fashioned after me a bit. I've had some problems in my life that I put into him like alcohol. He kind of dies after a night of binge drinking, but God called him to go back to earth and fight in His name. He's given a power that when he says a scripture from the bible, an item mentioned in that scripture will appear. That keeps me on my toes with going through the bible and finding things."

While this might be the first time many have heard of Creed or Soldier of God, they definitely aren't the new kids on the block. "This is actually Soldier of God issue #2, the 1st issue came out December of 1997 and was published by a secular company called Boneyard Press. There were several different things wrong on the book when it came out like typos, and the coloring was off pretty bad. Even the logo was not the one that I had sent to him, I was in shock when I finally got the book. It's actually still available by contacting Diamond Comics Distribution. It sold pretty well, but after that I could not stay with Boneyard Press."

Pete's history with comics goes all the way back to his childhood. "I've been reading comics since I was 3 years old. I was interested in the art side of it, and started to do some primitive drawings by the time I was 4 or 5. I took art classes in high school, but then got more into the writing side of it. I was really into Batman, Superman, and Spiderman. Captain America is one of my all time favorite characters. I started writing poetry, and then went into short stories. It naturally progressed into writing comic books." Along with his love for comics, Pete was also fond of Christian music. While he listens to many Christian artists, it's Stryper that really caught his attention. "The first Stryper tape that I ever bought was Soldiers, back when I first became a Christian. A friend took me to a local Christian bookstore, and I bought several tapes from different bands. They all were very good bands, but Stryper just kicked me in the face! I was amazed. It had such energy and a magic about it. I never worshiped them, because there's only one person to worship and that's Jesus Christ. But there's something about Stryper that separated them from all other rock bands out there. Each member had a different persona, and their costumes made them look really larger than life."

With the birth of the internet, Pete had a chance to chat with Robert Sweet. It was then that he had an idea to merge comics with music. "About 2 years ago I started talking to Robert online, and I mentioned that it would great to see Stryper in a comic book. He thought it was a great idea. I contacted the other guys from Stryper, and they all said to go ahead and do it. The story was broken up in different chapters, where each band member has his own chapter fighting with a different hero from my comic series. There were 5 or 6 different artists involved, but only a few of them ever did the work. Out of a 26 page story, I have 13 pages of it done. Another problem that came up was my computer crashed one day and the Stryper script was on it! I know pretty much what was said, but I'll have to re-write it. I used a lot of their song titles in the script, so it'll be rough to go back and pick out which ones I used. Robert, another guy and myself designed new costumes for the band, and we worked out super powers for each member. Eventually I think there will be a Stryper issue that comes out." Although Stryper was the first band that Pete crossed over to a comic, they won't be the last. "Bride will be in an upcoming issue, and Tourniquet will be in my first issue of a book called Chronicles. That's the next thing I'm working on, the art on that will be incredible. Chronicles is a music meets a comic book kind of thing, bands like Whitecross and Whiteheart are also interested in being in it. I have so many characters that I want to feature, so I started Chronicles so I could do that."

If you've never heard of Christian comics before, you're not alone. "The whole Christian comic industry really needs a shot in the arm. There are a lot of great creators who are doing some cool stuff, but for some reason Christian comics don't sell in the secular world. I think that's because people who don't believe don't want God rammed down their throats. That not what we're trying to do, but God has commanded us to go out into the world and spread his message who don't know him. When you try to do that, people take offense to it. But there are the die-hard Stryper fans that aren't Christians but still want this book."

You can order the Soldier of God comic through mail order, and soon might even see it in local stores. "It will probably be distributed through Spring Arbor to Christian bookstores in the future. I had 4000 Soldier of God comics printed, and if I sell half of those I'll be happy." And if you're wise enough to visit the Stryper expo this May, you can even pick up a copy there. "My booth at the expo will be right across from Robert, so people can get the signed book and then bring it over to him to sign. I'm really looking forward to doing this, I've never met any of the guys in Stryper. I owe these guys a lot, and I think a lot of us do. I want to thank everyone for the support that I've gotten. I'm just doing what God has commanded me to do to get his word out there. If I help just one person stand up and believe in Jesus out of the thousands of people who come in contact with me or any of my books, then my job has been done."

Just as I was typing up the final paragraph to this interview, several new updates came in! The Christian beanie bear company, Holy Bears is making a beanie bear from Soldier of God called The Creed Bear. There should be some for sale at Pete's booth in the Stryper expo. Here's a time line for some upcoming comic books:

Chronicles #1 featuring AngelFire with special guest Tourniquet (May 2000) Chronicles #2 featuring Dreamer + Champion with special guest Bride (July 2000) Chronicles #3 featuring Soldier of God with special guest STRYPER! (September 2000) Pete will be taking advanced orders for the Stryper book at the expo.