He set out to remedy that by putting out a call to artists. “I was fortunate to already have a very small presence on the web because of a webcomic I was working on at the time,” Maihack recounts. “So, thankfully when I started pitching the idea of a Christian comic anthology, people knew I was serious.”
The result is Parable: Volume 1 (Lamp Post Inc.), a 200-page anthology with contributions from more than 20 comics writers and artists, including talent who’ve worked for Marvel Comics, Disney, Zonderkidz, Image Comics and Big Idea.
What attracted many of the artists was Maihack’s approach to the kind of material he wanted. “I wanted to emphasize the value of Christianity rather than an evangelistic approach that had previously kept a lot of publications from reaching a wider market. At its root though, it was a reason to use our joy of comics to celebrate our love of Christ as well as fellowship with other creators.”
Maihack hopes the anthology will show the outside market that Christian comics can be fun, entertaining and well-drawn. “Likewise I hope to introduce the Christian market to a variety of different comic styles they might not be used to,” he says. “Mainly though, I hope it’ll bring readers to a richer and fuller understanding of Christianity.”