Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: anne rice, injustice gods among us, jesus, kickstarter, mike s miller

Anne Rice Novel About Jesus, Adapted As A Comic By Injustice: Gods Among Us Artist Mike S Miller, Funded On Kickstarter

Published Thu, 27 Jun 2013 17:00:06 -0500

Last updated Fri, 28 Jun 2013 04:31:01 -0500

There's a headline I never thought I'd write.

Mike S Miller, the artist on the Injustice: Gods Among Us comic, is drawing an adaptation of Anne Rice's novel about the early life of Jesus written by Anne Elizabeth. And funding it with Kickstarter.

Christ The Lord: The Road To Cana will be published next year, if funding is successful.

$25 gets you the comic, $40 gets it signed by Mike Miller, $50 gets it hardcover, limited to Kickstarter, $60 get a black and white version as well, exclusive to Kickstarter, $70 gets them both signed by Miller, $250 gets the hardcover signed by Anne Rice limited to 100, $750 gets you original art as well as the books, $1000 gets a painting of you or anyone you choose standing next to Jesus (you could, if you wish, ask for The Joker), $1500 gets you in the graphic novel… that's right, that means you will officially be part of Jesus' life

I had a quick chat with Mike. We've chatted on and off over the last decade or so, I wondered how it was going to go. I started asking him;

Will you find it a jump from drawing the likes of Superman ripping the Joker's heart through his chest, to the life of Jesus?

It's a bit of a shift in priorities. lol. The Cana book isn't quite as action-packed as Injustice. But hey, it's still a story about God among us 8-)

That's what I was thinking. Are there any other similarities?

In a sense… Cana and Injustice are both 'how we got there from here' stories. In Injustice, it's obviously 'how did Superman turn 'evil" and the road he takes to get from the big blue boyscout to the dictator of the world. In The Road to Cana, it's sort of a prequel to Christ's ministry and a fictionalization of how he took on the role of the Savior of the world. So yeah, surprisingly, there are similarities.

Anne Rice talks about telling the stories as fiction, Did you have any issues with the way she portrayed Jesus and his story?

It's kind of a gray area, isn't it? Like the Bible says you don't add to the Bible, but she's really not telling a gospel account. She's telling a fictional 'this is how it could have been' account, and she's using more of a Catholic dogma on the family of Jesus than I would coming from a more Protestant albeit non-denominational perspective myself. But nothing I've read has been unorthodox or contradictory to the source material, she's taken great pains to be true to the message and the period and the culture… it's a very well researched book, and I appreciate that.

You've been a controversial comics creator, with some rather famous Facebook quotes to your name. You seem to have dulled it down of late, the worst I can find from the last few days is "One step closer to polygamy… Let's DO THIS!". Do you think your history could hinder this project?

'The worst' you can find from me? Gee, thanks for looking. lol. I like to argue. I like to poke sticks into fires and see what lights. It's a tremendous waste of my time, and I've been trying to keep from getting into too many debates lately for that reason. 5 kids and multiple projects keep me pretty busy… But true, I used to go on message boards and pick fights with fans… I was young and full of beans once. Now I set my FB to private and just argue with my friends. I rarely accept friend requests from fans unless I've met them personally at a con or something. So I pretty much keep my fights to my circle of friends. I never get into these debates on my fan pages. (Facebook.com/mikesmillerart)

You still have that reputation though. I wondered if you thought it might affect the reception and success of this project?

I have that reputation among a small band of message board trolls who have nothing better to do than find reasons to hate on everything under the sun. I don't play in that sandbox anymore. If a few people don't want to buy my book because they disagree with my Christian faith, guess what… They weren't going to buy a book about Jesus anyway. lol

Really? I don't think that's true at all. Plenty of Christians are in favour of gay marriage, plenty may be offended by your anti-Muslim rhetoric, and they may be just the kind of people happy to buy a book about Jesus. In fact, plenty of Muslims may be very interested in buying a book about Jesus too… but less happy about your comments about pigs blood, say.

Really, Rich? Is this for lying in the gutters suddenly? I try to do you a solid by giving you a scoop and you want to turn this into a gotcha piece?

It's Bleeding Cool. We're the site that's going to ask these questions and bring these matters up, not just PR puffery. You know that…

You've already asked the question. Now you're just digging for dirt.

You didn't really answer the question. I didn't think so anyway. It does feel like those late night arguments we used to have ten years ago…. remember those?

Yup. But I did answer the question. People who dislike me because I've been vocal about my Christian faith aren't going to buy a book about Jesus anyway.

Fair enough. Thanks Mike and good luck with the Kickstarter, I'm going to back it myself now…

Christ The Lord: The Road To Cana: The Graphic Novel by Anne Rice, Anne Elizabeth and Mike S Miller can be backed on Kickstarter here.

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