Fun Yet Profound Messages in a Kid’s Christian Comic

I’m sure many Cannonballers can relate: When I first found out I was going to be a parent, one of the first things I did was buy several books on parenting. Books are companionship through all stages of life for people like us. The next thing I did was create a giant list of books that I wanted to share with my kids throughout their lives. I keep a running Amazon list specifically for that purpose. While I didn’t read Rescue Me! as a kid, it is the kind of book I want to share with my family because it combines several of my core beliefs – faith, the power of story, and the fact that superheroes are cool.

The concept of the book is a fun one for people of faith with kids in their lives. Rescue Me! is a comic about a superhero called Captain Sun who protects Capital City. Interspersed inside each scene of the comic is a little lesson that also explains where goodness and heroism come from (God), and that we can all be heroes by looking out for one another and putting others first. There are also a couple of questions at the end of scene to help kids think about why they like heroes, how they can be a hero, and other things like that. I wish I had a book like this when I a kid so I could’ve put together some ideas about story and faith and myth earlier. That’s the concept. On to the comic itself.

Story – today’s comics are much more quippy and/or broody than books from fifty or sixty years ago. This book is a lot like more classic book from DC or Marvel than a book today: A good guy is fighting a bad guy, narrator boxes explain what’s happening, and there’s limited dialogue between the adversaries. However, the simplicity of the comic gives the profundity of the message room to breathe.

Art – while I like the simple, cartoony art of the book, I have a feeling the colors and style pop more digitally than on paper. I think Createspace probably printed the book and they paper doesn’t have the true gloss that makes colors pop.

I like the book a lot and look forward to reading it with my boys.