A friend of mine who goes by the handle Hawkman once told me he'd rather hear testimonies than sermons in church!

He was saying there is a particular power in hearing a person's transformation story.

Here are a few that I have run across that have particularly resonated with me, convicted me and humbled me. 

1. Born dead and handicapped for life...

2. Abandoned by his mother and became a terrorist...

3. His mother was raped and told to have an abortion...

4. The most unlikely of converts...

5. God didn't take his same-sex attraction away...

I've always been a DC Comics guy. Now, I'm leaving them for someone else.

And no. It's not Marvel.

I grew up with DC characters. I love them. I like Marvel stuff too, but the truth is I have a limited budget (because I'm a pastor) and limited time (because I'm a pastor). Because of this, I just stuck with DC so I wouldn't get sucked into another universe and buy more comics than I could afford, or could read within my limited schedule.

Lately, though, I haven't been enjoying the books coming out of DC. With constant creative team change-ups, character re-boots (and re-re-boots), and massive 18-part crossover mega events, I'm just tired of the whole rigamarole and not loving what I'm reading.
Well, that's not entirely true. The books that I thoroughly love have been cancelled. Reading has become a chore instead of a joy.

I was ready to just throw in the towel and give up.

Then I checked out Valiant.

It wasn't a whim. I used to buy comics from their sales manager Atom! Freeman back when we both lived in Southern California. I'd kept up with his goings-ons via Facebook. I wasn't interested in jumping onto a new upstart, re-booted company, though. So I never gave it much thought.

But when the frustration grew, I turned to Doug over at my new comic store, Top Comics and asked him about this whole Valiant Universe thing.

He raved. He made suggestions. I bought trade paperbacks.

I fell in love.

(Not the kind of love a man has for a woman, or even a man has for his numerous cats. No this is a different kind of love. Like the love a man has for his sports team, or his car... only deeper.)

I've now made the decision to ditch DC and jump into the Valiant Universe.

Here's Why:

1. Full Universe Submersion
Because there's only eight on-going series right now, I can afford to be fully involved in the universe. Unlike the Big Two companies, I don't have to make sacrifices and hard decisions on which characters to follow. I can follow them all.

2. Character Driven
So far, the vast majority of issues I've read are dedicated to character-driven stories. While the series all have very interested premises of their own, the plot devices don't drive the story. The story isn't about the technology. It's about the characters. (Even in the case of Bloodshot where the character is the technology.)

3. Quality
I haven't read anything I didn't like. The writing is solid. The art is great. Certainly there are issues better than others, and weaker storylines than others, but it has all been enjoyable. Never a chore.

4. Theology
Unlike the vast number of modern stories (movies, tv, books, comics) the Valiant Universe doesn't pretend like people's belief in God doesn't exist. Most people believe in the divine. And while I certainly wouldn't agree with all the theology of every book... Valiant at least acknowledges the existence of religion, and even gives Christianity a fair shake-down in characters like Archer in Archer & Armstrong. There's also been nods to Christianity historically in X-O Manowar. And a sympathetic Christian support character in Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps.

5. Realism
Moral conflict. Defeated heroes. Loss of dreams. Beauty in the midst of pain. This universe presents, what philosophers call "complex wisdom." It's not just a simple black-shirts versus white-coats sort of conflict. (Okay, there is some of that too....) Characters like Toyo Harada and Aric of Dacia have some very positive and negative intentions lurking behind their actions. Just like in real life! We also get a glimpse into family life (which comics often neglect), which includes foster families!

6. Humor
Certainly humor is not in all the titles. But in particular Archer & Armstrong and Quantum and Woody have moments where I laugh out loud. That's a hard feat to accomplish in book form. And Valiant does it consistently for me.


So, I've been reading Valiant now for about three months. I love it. I'm looking forward to continuing with them!

Don't get me wrong, I still love all my childhood heroes, but in the end story wins out. Story is king. And Valiant is telling extraordinary stories.

Summary: All of the Apostle Paul’s letters have a common theme of the overlapping ages – this present age and the age to come. This “inaugurated eschatology” was a tension that Paul addressed to believers in his epistle. This “already/not yet” also created tension in competing eschatologies which the apostle tried to dismantle in his presentation of the gospel.

Review: In the Apostle of the Last Days – The Life, Letters, and Theology of Paul C. Marvin Pate makes a convincing and exhausting argument for the apostle's inaugurated eschatology, meaning that Jesus has heralded the dawn of the age to come, but that age has not fully come yet.

From there, Pate systematically works his way through each of the apostle’s letters and demonstrates this inaugurated eschatology. He goes further, though and dives into the backgrounds of these letters and demonstrates how Paul’s eschatology is in direct conflict with the eschatologies of the various peoples he addresses. From the various eschatological views in Judaism to the emperor worship predominant in the Roman world, Pate shows how Paul’s Christ-centric eschatology opposed, threw down and ultimately defeated all other eschatological views.

The book contains quite a bit of technical data. The biblical data and support for Pate’s presentation is also very extensive, and sometimes exhausting to work through. But in the midst of all this information, Pate’s attention remains with the Apostle Paul’s focus. These epistles aren’t just about some events that will happen years from now. No, instead, Paul’s gospel is that the age to come has arrived in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Believers can have new life now, which will be fully realized and consummated when Jesus Christ returns.

In fact, even amidst the mountains of technical data, and extraordinarily helpful charts, Pate has some rather encouraging and even poetic lines of inspiration. For example, in his conclusion on the book of Romans, Pate writes, “Though Paul would meet his death in Rome at the hands of Nero in the 60s, before it was over Paul would have the last word because the mighty Roman Empire would bow in defeat before the cross of Christ in 313, when Constantine converted to Christianity.”

Pates concluding section is also very helpful as he takes an abbreviated look at Paul’s theology in a systematic overview.

Certainly, this title will be a difficult tome for many to work through. But to those willing to put the effort into this book, it will illuminate the Pauline epistles.

Find it here on Amazon
Find it here from Kregel

Rating: 4.5/5 (I Really Liked It)

Last week I released the eighteenth story on the Untold Podcast!

I am pleased with the direction this podcast is taking. Our listenership is increasing and the stories I'm able to tell are consistently great!

This last episode was also a crossover episode featuring Ben Avery from the Strangers and Aliens podcast. In it, he and I talked about the importance of Christian storytelling. The conversation continued onto his show, where we talked about some great Christ artists who are making artwork out there.

I learned so much from this conversation and I am greatful for Ben Avery's perspective, wisdom and grace.

Give a listen:

Untold Podcast 18 - The Spigot

What Makes Christian Fiction Good? (CROSSOVER feat. Nathan James Norman) — SA111

Crossover Nexus Podcasts Crossover Nexus Podcasts