No Wasted Opportunities

Less than a year ago, a comic writer I interviewed for a pop culture podcast I cohosted announced that he was writing a reboot of the Space Ghost comic. I remembered watching the old cartoons on Cartoon Network when my parents got DirecTV in the mid ‘90s. It was a highlight of my afternoon. I waffled over picking up the comics until my wife and I wandered into a comic shop at the local mall and saw two copies of the first issue (two variant covers). I picked them up and found myself suddenly scouring neighboring shops for the other two primary cover variants (A, B, C, and D. I figured going for the rarer covers might send me spiraling into an unhealthy obsession). Then I set up a pull slot at a local store for all four variants of each future issue so I wouldn’t have to travel around the city, state, or (online) the country. I did have to order a couple variants from a big store across the country with a great online store, but sometimes things happen with shipments.

Less than a year later, I have a budding collection that includes the 5-issue run of the Jonny Quest reboot (I missed the Free Comic Book day issue, sadly), the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles refresh, the adjacent Nightwatcher and Mutant Nation, and Space Quest (the Space Ghost, Jonny Quest crossover) series. My time at the local comic shop is usually brief, about ten to thirty minutes each time I go depending on how close it is to closing time and whether I’m looking for something new or just picking up my holds. But I talk with the staff, try to get to know them, and learn more about a world that was, until last year, almost completely foreign to me.

I like it there. It’s comfortable and welcoming. They like that I’m getting interested in comics and joining the “club,” though they’re in no way exclusive. In fact, they invited me to the shop’s new monthly game night. It’s a more “traditional” game night consisting of poker (which I can play and do enjoy) and darts (which I can’t play but enjoy attempting even when I fail). When they told me about it and invited me, I asked if they would someday be interested in adding TTRPGs to the mix. They’re open to it if someone can teach them and introduce it to their customers (I volunteered!), but the most important thing to me is that this is a community where I can find friends and be part of a community.

It’s also an opportunity to naturally tell people about God. I didn’t start getting into comics with ministry on the mind, but I never closed myself to that option, either. My plan, God willing (see James 4:151) is to go to the game night and continue to build those friendships. I’m also going to take advantage of the opportunity to talk to them about God the way Paul did in Athens (Acts 17:22-241) and the way Jesus did with the woman at the well (John 4:1-451). Of course Paul went to Athens with the primary goal of evangelizing, and Jesus is God and knew what he was doing and who he would find even before he arrived. That being said, they didn’t waste the opportunity to minister, and I don’t plan to either.

Sources and Notes

1 At Disciple Gaming Ministry, we encourage people to read the Bible using an accurate translation that is also easy to understand. With that being said, the translation we use is the ESV® Bible. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.