Fan-tastic 4 Me

Apparently people are finding my first book in budget racks all over the world. I've seen a recent upsurge in interest around Comic Book Character in recent days:

* A minister from Pretoria, South Africa, wants to use the online discussion guide with students there.

* He's joined by my youth minister friend on the north side of Chicago, who wants to use the same study guide with his junior high students.

* Lest the book be dismissed as juvenile, which I freely aver is in keeping with my own level of maturity, it was recently given props at the hoity-toity Books & Culture Online by a student of philosophy at Calvin College. (Thanks to Ted Olsen for letting me know, and thanks to Edirin Ibru for his merciful representation of my discussion of the Punisher.

* And to top it off, the editorial intern at my place of work thinks the flip animation in the margin is "super-cool."

What's with the recent upsurge? I'm sure it has a lot to do with the recent release of Spider-Man 3, which had a decidedly morally complex plotline. That study of human sinfulness is followed up this week by the second installment in the Fantastic 4 franchise, which takes a decidedly apocalyptic turn with the rise of the Silver Surfer and the impending destruction of our planet. I wrote a background piece on the Fantastic Four for Christianity Today in time for the release of the first film; it's one of my favorite writing exercises in recent memory (probably because of the prominent props given to G. K. Chesterton at the end), so I'll shamelessly promote myself one more time and provide you with the link. Get up to speed for the release this weekend by going here.