Spire Christian Comics
Encyclopedia
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s published by Fleming H. Revell
Baker Book House
Baker Publishing Group is an evangelical Protestant Christian book publisher based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It has six subdivisions: Bethany House, Revell, Baker Books, Baker Academic, Chosen and Brazos Press.-Identity:...
starting in 1972
1972 in comics
-Events:* Marvel Comics forms their British publishing arm, Marvel UK .* Phil Seuling founds East Coast Seagate Distribution, developing the concept of the direct market distribution system for getting comics directly into comic book specialty shops, bypassing the established newspaper/magazine...
. In 1981 Hugh Revell Barbour started his own company, Book Bargains, which soon became Barbour & Company. Barbour acquired the rights to republish many of the titles in the Spire Christian Comics line under the NEW Barbour Christian Comics imprint, keeping the comics in print until 1988.
Most of the Spire Comics were written and drawn by Al Hartley
Al Hartley
Henry Allan Hartley , known professionally as Al Hartley, was an American comic book writer-artist known for his work on Archie Comics, Atlas Comics , and many Christian comics...
, who was working for Archie Comics
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
at the time. Due to this connection, he was able to get permission to use the Archie characters in many of the comics.
Other comics were based on true stories, Christian novels, or Christian movies. Examples of this type include those based on Charles Colson
Charles Colson
Charles Wendell "Chuck" Colson is a Christian leader, cultural commentator, and former Special Counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973....
's Born Again, Corrie ten Boom
Corrie ten Boom
Cornelia "Corrie" ten Boom was a Dutch Christian, who with her father and other family members helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. Her family was arrested due to an informant in 1944, and her father died 10 days later at Scheveningen prison where they were first held...
's The Hiding Place
The Hiding Place (biography)
The Hiding Place is a 1971 book on the life of Corrie ten Boom, written by ten Boom together with John and Elizabeth Sherrill.The idea of a book on ten Boom's life began as John and Elizabeth Sherrill were doing research for the book God's Smuggler, about ten Boom's fellow Dutchman, Brother Andrew...
, and a modernized version of Charles Sheldon
Charles Sheldon
Charles Monroe Sheldon was an American minister in the Congregational churches and leader of the Social Gospel movement...
's 1896 novel In His Steps
In His Steps
In His Steps is a best-selling book written by Charles Monroe Sheldon. First published in 1897, the book has sold more than 30,000,000 copies, and ranks as the 9th best-selling book of all time, along with Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls...
.
The comics were created from 1972 and 1982
1982 in comics
-Year overall:* San Diego-based independent publisher Pacific Comics makes a strong push in the marketplace, following Jack Kirby's Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers with four new ongoing titles, Starslayer, Ms...
, and kept in print for several years.
Archie Series
- Archie and Big Ethel
- Archie and Mr. Weatherbee
- Archie Gets a Job
- Archie's Car
- Archie's Circus
- Archie's Clean Slate
- Archie's Date Book
- Archie's Family Album
- Archie's Festival
- Archie's Love Scene
- Archie's One Way
- Archie's Parables
- Archie's Roller Coaster
- Archie's Something Else!
- Archie's Sonshine
- Archie's Sports Scene
- Archie's World
- Christmas with Archie
- Jughead's Soul Food
Bible Story Adaptations
- Adam & Eve (modernised story)
- Alpha and Omega (modernised Adam and EveAdam and EveAdam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
/JonahJonahJonah is the name given in the Hebrew Bible to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BC, the eponymous central character in the Book of Jonah, famous for being swallowed by a fish or a whale, depending on translation...
story) - Jesus (also published as He's the Greatest!)
- Live It Up (also published as The Prodigal Son)
- My Brother's Keeper (modernised story of JosephJoseph (Hebrew Bible)Joseph is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt....
) - Noah's Ark
- Paul: Close Encounter of a Real Kind (modernised story of Paul of TarsusPaul of TarsusPaul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
)
Biographical and Autobiographical
- Attack! (Mitsuo FuchidaMitsuo Fuchidawas a Japanese Captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and a bomber pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy before and during World War II. He is perhaps best known for leading the first air wave attacks on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941...
) - Born Again (Chuck Colson)
- Corrie ten Boom's The Hiding Place
- Crossfire
- The Cross and the SwitchbladeThe Cross and the SwitchbladeThe Cross and the Switchblade is a book written in 1963 by pastor David Wilkerson with John and Elizabeth Sherrill. It tells the true story of Wilkerson's first five years in New York City, where he ministered to disillusioned youth, encouraging them to turn away from the drugs and gang violence...
(David WilkersonDavid WilkersonDavid Ray Wilkerson was an American Christian evangelist, best known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade...
) - God's Smuggler (Brother AndrewBrother AndrewAndrew van der Bijl , known in English-speaking countries as Brother Andrew, is a Christian missionary famous for his exploits smuggling Bibles to communist countries in the height of the Cold War, a feat that has earned him the nickname "God's smuggler"...
) - Hansi, the Girl who Loved the Swastika (Maria Anne Hirschmann)
- Hello, I'm Johnny CashJohnny CashJohn R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
- In the Presence of Mine Enemies (Howard Rutledge)
- On the Road with Andrae CrouchAndrae CrouchAndraé Crouch is a seven-time Grammy Award-winning American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, recording artist, record producer, and pastor.-Early years:Born Andraé Edward Crouch in San Francisco, California....
- Through Gates of SplendorThrough Gates of SplendorThrough Gates of Splendor is a 1957 best selling book written by Elisabeth Elliot. The book tells the story of Operation Auca, an attempt by five American missionaries - Jim Elliot , Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian - to reach the Huaorani tribe of eastern Ecuador. All five...
(Nate SaintNate SaintNathanael "Nate" Saint was an evangelical Christian missionary pilot to Ecuador who, along with four others, was killed while attempting to evangelize the Waodani people through efforts known as Operation Auca....
and Jim ElliottJim ElliottJim Elliott is the current Chairman of the Montana Democratic Party and a former member of the Montana Senate, representing District 7 from 2001 to 2009...
) - Tom LandryTom LandryThomas Wade "Tom" Landry was an American football player and coach. He is ranked as one of the greatest and most innovative coaches in National Football League history, creating many new formations and methods...
and the Dallas Cowboys - Tom SkinnerTom SkinnerThomas Edward Skinner, KBE, , was a New Zealand politician and trade union leader. He was president of the Auckland Trades Council from 1954 to 1976, and president of the New Zealand Federation of Labour from 1959 until 1979. Skinner was known as a conciliatory and accommodating leader, and in the...
's Up from Harlem
Kiddies Christian Comics
- Barney Bear: Family Tree
- Barney Bear: Home Plate!
- Barney Bear in Toyland
- Barney Bear: Lost and Found
- Barney Bear Out of the Woods
- Barney Bear: Sunday School Picnic
- Barney Bear: The Swamp Gang
- Barney Bear Wakes Up!
- God Is...
Other Book/Movie Adaptations
- Adventure with the Brothers: The Cult Escape
- Adventure with the Brothers: Smashing the Smugglers' Ring
- Adventure with the Brothers: Hang in There
- Hal LindseyHal LindseyHarold Lee "Hal" Lindsey is an American evangelist and Christian writer. He is a Christian Zionist and dispensationalist author. He currently resides in Texas.-Biography:...
's There's A New World Coming - In His StepsIn His StepsIn His Steps is a best-selling book written by Charles Monroe Sheldon. First published in 1897, the book has sold more than 30,000,000 copies, and ranks as the 9th best-selling book of all time, along with Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls...
- Time to Run
- Joseph T. BaylyJoseph T. BaylyJoseph Tate Bayly was an American author and publishing executive.Born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, Bayly earned his BA at Wheaton College, Illinois, in 1940, and then entered Faith Theological Seminary to gain his BD in 1945. In 1944, Bayly married Mary Lou DeWalt, a classmate at Wheaton College...
's The Gospel Blimp