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A Spiritual Audit of Cave Pictures Publishing

Cave Pictures Publishing is a new comic book publisher we've featured on Bleeding Cool a few times. They describe themselves thus;

Cave Pictures Publishing is a wall for modern myth-telling. We produce content that is excellently crafted, deeply questioning, and spiritually meaningful. Our projects include wholly original works by acclaimed artists in the comics industry as well as original adaptations of existing public domain and copyrighted works. We tell stories through different genres like fantasy, supernatural fiction, historic fiction, and science fiction.

And they are publishing a number of comics by well-known names such as Billy Tucci, Meredith Finch, Jim Krueger, Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon.

Where do they come from – and what is their funding? Well, they are part of Cave Pictures, a company launched by Mark Rodgers and Dale Brown that has released a number of Christian-themed movies, stating that they the company 'produces aspirational mainstream media that are good for the soul's consumption, true to the human condition, and beautiful in their craftsmanship. Taking its name from Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Cave Pictures strives to catalyze conversation around issues concerning faith, hope, love, and family.'

Mark Rodgers, co-writing their title Blessed Machine, is also the publisher of Cave Pictures Publishing, describes on the website, thus;

Through his endeavors he has worked closely with artists as diverse as Michael W. Smith, Bono and The Fray. Mark has worked with entertainment companies such as Walden Media, Electronic Arts, Disney and Roadside Attractions, addressing issues including human trafficking, animal cruelty, global poverty and restorative justice.  

He launched a joint venture called Cave Capital, through which he has served as an executive or associate producer on several films, including Waiting for the Miracle to Come, which stars Willie Nelson and is executive produced by Bono and Wim Wenders.  Cave was an investor in Martin Scorsese's Silence, based on a Japanese novel of the persecution of Christians in the early 17th century.

It's not mentioned on the Cave Pictures Publishing website but Rodgers is also Principal of The Clapham Group who have funded Cave Pictures, where he is described,

Mark Rodgers is the Principal of The Clapham Group a company that seeks to influence culture upstream of the political arena. Mark served as the third-ranking Republican leadership staffer in the U.S. Senate for six years overseeing strategic planning and strategic communications. He also served as a high profile chief of staff to Senator Rick Santorum, working on Capitol Hill for a total of 16 years. He was known on the Hill for his work on such issues as poverty alleviation and global AIDS, as well as protecting life at its most vulnerable stages.

Where it also states,

He is currently a Policy Fellow with the American Conservative Union Foundation.

Which has the exact same biography for him. The ACUF describes its purpose as to,

educate voters, office-holders, and opinion leaders as to why conservative principles work better to solve the myriad of complex and dynamic problems facing Americans today and to equip them to become better and more effective problem-solvers by implementing conservative values within their communities. Our five policy centers represent a range of issues, including criminal justice reform, property rights, statesmanship and diplomacy, arts and culture, and human rights and dignity, and bring together the nation's most respected thought leaders to share conservative solutions with community influencers, civic and religious leaders, think tanks, local and federal-level elected officials, the media, and the general public.

Basically creating a scoring system which annually rates legislation and politicians – both at the federal level and more than 8,000 state legislators, on just how conservative they are.

With these resources at hand, we provide a hub for conservative thought, answers to our nation's toughest challenges, and the tools to make a difference in your families, communities, and across the country.

It's also part of the American Conservative Union, that also hosts the annual CPAC conference which usually courts controversy by hosting controversial voices who often end up being withdrawn a day or two before the event.

Other names at the publisher include Michael Leaser, vice president of Cave Pictures and an associate of the Clapham Group  who was also Michael Novak's executive assistant at the American Enterprise Institute from 2002 to 2005, a Washington DC-based conservative think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare, and which gained controversy offering to pay scientists five-figure sums if they would critique climate change reports after receiving almost a million dollars from Exxon Mobil.

Cave Pictures, Cave Pictures Publishing, the Clapham Group, the American Conservative Union Foundation and other related groups do seem to work well together.

So when Cave Pictures Publishing talks about publishing more spiritual comic books, one might suggests it comes from the conservative Christian side of that spectrum, and concerning with guiding and changing the modern political and social agenda. Nothing wrong with that, of course. The comics industry has a proud tradition of conservative Christian comic books trying to better their readers from Jack Chick Tracts to the Christian Comic Art Society present at many comic cons, to publishers Kingstone Comics, to the Left Behind graphic novels and those peculiarly preachy Archie Comics. And I love my comics-illustrated Pilgrim's Progress drawn by Vic Mitchell with all that I hold dear.

Maybe it's just that educating people to 'become better and more effective problem-solvers by implementing conservative values within their communities' doesn't look as good on the Cave Pictures Publishing PR material as telling stories that are 'excellently crafted, deeply questioning, and spiritually meaningful.'

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