DALLAS (ABP) — Christian cartoons are nothing new. They're everywhere from gospel tracts to Christian magazines and newsletters. But a Christian cartoon as a nationally syndicated feature in secular newspapers? That's almost unprecedented.
Despite the fact cartoonist Kevin Frank's upcoming strip involves Christian characters working in a place called Heaven's Love Thrift Shop, he doesn't consider the strip to be Christian. Instead, he said his Sunday cartoon, which debuted Aug. 6 in Salt Lake City's Deseret News, simply takes his “own angle on things as a person of faith and reflects it through my characters.”
“It's hard for me to think of this as a ‘Christian' strip, as opposed to strips about working moms, office workers, divorced dads or single parents,” Frank said. “A Christian can be all of those things. I like to think there's an audience for it among all kinds of people.”
He'll soon find out. King Features Syndicate will begin national syndication of the strip this month in 15 cities. Readers will have the chance to meet Dag, Cassidy, Wilson, and Shelby — Frank's main characters and purveyors of his Christian worldview. And while Frank plans not to be too “preachy,” his message about faith in God will be clear.
The comic strip, called “Heaven's Love Thrift Shop,” centers on a church-owned thrift shop and the workers who spend time there. Dag is an overzealous new convert. Wilson is the older, wiser shop director. Cassidy is the centered and warm-hearted shop manager. A frequent customer, Shelby, while not necessarily a person of faith, keeps returning to the thrift shop for something she can't quite identify. Each character, Frank said, reflects a past or present aspect of his own spiritual growth.
That spirit has driven Frank, 43, since his youth. As a child, he first published religious cartoons for his rural Mennonite church bulletin. He first drew cartoons professionally, for the local weekly, at age 14.
Frank declined to name which congregation he belongs to now, hoping to unify believers instead of identifying himself with one particular denomination. But he told Associated Baptist Press his current church is “pretty traditional.”
“I grew up in the church, and my parents were people of faith,” Frank said about his inclination to insert Christianity into his cartoons. “I knew people of faith. It just became part of who I was.”
For cartoonist Karl Zorowski, the life of faith also comes naturally. A full-time United Methodist minister, he is trying to syndicate his Christian-based comic strip, “Church Mice” — so far unsuccessfully. But he firmly believes Christian comics have a place in secular papers.
Zorowski, who also created a non-Christian strip called “Rat Race,” started drawing “Church Mice” after he argued with a friend that “a Christian-oriented cartoon wouldn't stand a chance in the mainstream media.” The friend — and God, Zorowski said — convinced him. The strip, currently featured online at www.zorowski.com and in Christian publications, is about a pastor-mouse and his congregation of mice.
Kevin Frank doodled his way through high school. He then moved from Peoria, Ill., to Chicago and joined an urban ministry called Jesus People USA, a Christian community that helps homeless people with a soup kitchen, a shelter and, yes, even a thrift store.
Frank then worked as a staff artist at Jesus People's Cornerstone Magazine from 1982 to 1998, creating an award-winning strip called “Oboe Jones.”
Frank impetuously sent a copy of “Oboe Jones” to the editors at King Features Syndicate. To his surprise, King management thought there might be a niche national market for his style of work. He spent five years developing a comic strip, but it eventually was dropped by King.
Undaunted, he continued to hone his skills, working on various projects for Christianity Today, Tyndale House and the Discovery Channel Canada. All of it, he said, has helped refine his tone and talent. “Stylistically, you always try to learn and grow in your work. I like to think that I'm improving.”
The growth paid off when King Features took an interest in his newest strip, “Heaven's Love Thrift Shop.”
“I think [the editors] thought, after ‘The Passion of the Christ' [movie], they might have a niche audience there.”
One factor that separates it from his previous work is the subtlety of its preaching. Frank, a self-styled “connoisseur of thrift stores,” said his thrift store and charity experience helped him learn that “charitable outreach” appeals to most people, while outright Bible lessons are often dismissed by non-Christians.
“That [charity aspect] sort of gives me a vehicle to discuss matters of faith in a way that is more palatable to people, because nobody disagrees with charity,” he said. “It's all good stuff, it's all good works, and historically the church has a record of that.”
These days, many cartoon strips that appear in newspapers promote specific worldviews or agendas — in many circles, it's almost expected. Nonetheless, Frank knows he will have to maintain a delicate balance in his strip. As a faith-oriented artist composing for a secular medium and syndicate, he expects some criticism.
He's not too concerned, though. His wife, Kathryn, and non-Christian editors keep him in line, actually helping him relate to all kinds of people.
Frank said he's not likely to address controversial issues like evolution, fundamentalism and politics. He's “not a political person” anyway, he said.
“I'm not that smart but I'm smart enough to know not to jump into the debate,” he said. “Let's just say people hold all kinds of views of the world and where it comes from and how it works. The same holds for my characters, allowing me to work out my own opinions and doubts through their questions and interaction.”
The bottom line, Frank said, is that the world has many people with all sorts of ideas about God.
“You can't separate religion from anything that has to do with life and ideas,” Frank said. “Some papers put Doonesbury on the editorial page. I love Doonesbury and don't feel threatened by the views expressed there. Hopefully, the readers will feel the same way about my work.”
Like Frank, Zorowski said the purpose of his strip is to demonstrate God's love in a non-judgmental, inclusive and, with some luck, lighthearted way. The underlying message of “Church Mice” is that God is approachable, not a “far-off cosmic tyrant ready to strike you down with a thunderbolt,” Zorowski said.
“So often when the gospel is presented to people, it's done so in a ‘do this or you're going to hell' sort of way, which, in my opinion, can be a real turn-off to some people, if not viewed as an outright threat,” he said. “Also preachers aren't different than anyone else — they're human too!”
The real draw to faith-based strips in secular papers, Zorowski said, could involve readers' realization — overt or subconscious — that much of the news, entertainment and gossip offered in the rest of the newspaper has no lasting value.
“I would like to think that people are showing interest in matters of faith because they are realizing that what the world has to offer will not last,” Zorowski said. “I would like to think that people are waking up to the existence of God and are responding to his calling them back to him.”
Kevin Frank says, regardless of the size of his audience, he plans to take advantage of his opportunity with King Features. “If I can glorify God in secular newspapers, even just a few of them, then that's success to me. That's just awesome,” he said.
-30-