Writer turns the other cheek after DC Comics cancels his Jesus-themed series

A comic book buddy comedy featuring superhero Sunstar and Jesus Christ has been cancelled by DC Comics — but its creator, Mark Russell, says it will live on elsewhere.

The Second Coming explores Christianity in its totality, including non-canonical texts that aren't often cited by institutions like churches and governments.

"I thought the way to do that would be to have a comic where Jesus Christ returns to Earth — 2,000 years later — and is shocked and appalled by what's been done with his teachings," Russell told Day 6 host Brent Bambury.

The cancellation came after the conservative, anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion website CitizenGo launched a petition for DC Comics to kill the series, calling it blasphemous.

That petition currently has over 230,000 signatures, according to the website.

"Maybe I am naive, but I thought that people would at least give it a chance ... [and] wait until it came out, and then decide whether or not it was blasphemous," Russell said.

The author has previously written two books focused on Christianity, including God is Disappointed in You and Apocrypha Now.

"[Jesus is] so rare," Russell said. "He's one of the few people to ever come up with a solution that didn't entail murder or bribery."

Super-powered Jesus

In an age where, according to Russell, the world seems to be "sliding into global fascism" and governments are rebuilding nuclear stockpiles, the writer wanted to offer an alternative view.

"Christ immediately popped into my mind as somebody who would provide a meaningful alternative to the cycle of greed and revenge that has sort of governed world affairs since the beginning of civilization," he said.

Despite the depth of The Second Coming's themes, it also offers some levity.

Russell describes the series as heartwarming and funny. It's about two people "learning to understand each others' approach to the world," he said.

And yes, in the comic, Jesus has superpowers — but he doesn't want to use them.

"He feels that that's maybe where he went wrong the first time," Russell said.

"Once he started performing magic tricks ... everyone stopped paying attention to what he was saying and just started wanting him to like, you know, multiply fish."

DC Comics was supportive

David Cooke, the executive director of CitizenGo Canada, told Day 6 that when they got wind of Russell's series, they "needed to do something."

"This is taking the person and the work of Christ ... and is just twisting it and distorting it," Cooke said.

For their part, Russell says that DC Comics and their editorial staff was largely supportive of the series.

With six issues ready to go, it was scheduled to publish on Mar. 6 under the company's Vertigo imprint. 

But DC Comics had asked Russell and co-creator Richard Pace, to make changes to their work. While they initially agreed, Russell says the requested changes became excessive after the petition took off.

The project was ultimately cancelled in mid-February.

"It kind of occurred to me that this could be the kind of thing that would just begin to snowball until it was like a watered-down version of what we'd all wanted," Russell said.

Eventually, he requested to take the series to a new publisher and DC Comics agreed.

"I'm 99.9 per cent sure, unless we all die in a volcanic holocaust or something, that it will come out with a different publisher," he said with a laugh.

CitizenGo says that they'd be happy for Russell to write a series based on "the Gospels." Russell has no plans to change his approach.

"This is based on the Gospels," he said.

"I don't think they're going to be as upset with it as they think they are if they actually give it a chance and read it."

To hear the full interview with Mark Russell, download our podcast or click 'listen' at the top of this page.