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QUEST COMICS
By: Brett
Date: February 2000
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.
Brett Christensen
www.Stryper.com
Keeping The Fire Burning!
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