Comment

Comment by David Duarte on January 30, 2012 at 3:24pm

Of course I won't attack their personality. Though certain pastors have made big outbursts that might make you question their relationship with Jesus, some of these pastors do look like nice people and they do nice things. And they appear to be nice in person but their teachings are what matter and how much they take their teachings seriously to this day.

Comment by Buzz Dixon on January 30, 2012 at 2:41pm

David, using cartoons for critical purposes has a long tradition (probably goes all the way back to cave man times!).  As long as you're stating a personal opinion about the public utterances of a public person, go for it:  Do what you feel led to do by God. 
 
I would think focusing on the doctrinal errors & not the personality would be the most effective approach (i.e., "Here's why I think Pastor X's teaching is scripturally unsound" vs. "Pastor X is fat, ugly & stupid; he smells bad & his mother dresses him funny.").

Comment by David Duarte on January 30, 2012 at 2:29pm

Thanks for the suggestions Martin. The quotes I plan to use will have the sources shown on them. And the videos I will put up will have them either saying or doing whats wrong and I'll have links to articles too.

 As for my last comic, it was done mostly in photoshop. I probably should have drawn the word balloons myself, but I worry if I make them too big or small, there will either be too much space left over or not enough. And the text in the middle of that page was handwritten.

Comment by Martin Murtonen on January 30, 2012 at 1:45pm

David - you might be something. Just when you do do your projects, you may wish to keep the following in mind:

1. Make absolutely 100% sure you have your facts straight as to what the person has or has not said.

2. Possibly focus more on the content of what is said, than the person themself.

3. Do, as you suggest, help people see truth vs. lie/distortion

4. When stating your case - rather than attacking the person directly - dissect the content of their statements, and then show the correction alongside.

5. At the end of each, perhaps ask people to consider "If this is what is taught, and this is how it is contrary to scripture, do you really want to listen to people who make these types of statements.

6. Make sure you do it with professional comic fonts, and keep it neat and tidy. Though one of your most recent comics - the one about tithing is perhaps your crispest work to date, You still need to work with your word balloons and the way text fits into them. (Though your getting there!)

Don't forget - how you judge will be how you will be judged. This of course doesn't meant that we shouldn't make judgement calls on certain issues, but we should be very careful in how we frame our case.

I wholeheartedly agree with you that those folks are out there, and the content of what they say does need to be addressed (many have done exposés on Youtube and on blogs) - but the comic format is possibly a new place for this type of exposition.

I think this fits right in where you are going as comicker - and if you need some tips or insights, I'd be willing to help. At least pass off your first one or two so you can get a second pair of eyes on it to make sure that it doesn't go off the deep end. (If not me, then someone else).

I really like where you've been going with your stuff, and it's neat to see the improvement of your work over time. Your last few pages of Modern Christians have been a jump forward for you - especially in staging, and making things cleaner and easier to look at.

Martin