Almost here!

Available to order December 15.

Where to buy?!!?! We've been getting a lot of requests for where to get this product! We will be updating the website in just a few days with info with where to buy!

Detours and Course Corrections

Two weeks ago I announced the website's comic story would be updating once a week in countdown for the next comic. However, a lot has happened including the LDSBA Conference, and I'm taking Spider Comics' business model a very different direction -- From the Dust is taking leaps and bounds towards the digital realm, in particular, the iPad. While we will always be publishing print comics, the future of the print industry is tablet devices and their multimedia capabilities.

Any wise business owner will know that when you create a new product you have to craft that product for its distribution medium -- in the last 4 months I've created a beautiful print comic that is being enjoyed by many, but now I'm having to re-envision the entire thing for the iPad.

So far a few of the aspects that the iPad allows me to do:

• have large introductory material and "extras" sections
• not have to worry too much about page counts
• I can now do videos and music
• all the imagery can be interactive
• I can now deliver my product to a much broader audience

I think this digital route will be the way to go for From the Dust. It really helps to sell that From the Dust is more like a TV series than a graphic novel.

Just know I'm hard at work making the next big thing! All this is to say we will be holding of on the Tuesday story updates. I'll update the website soon to reflect this -- in the meantime, thanks for your patience as I get From the Dust off the ground and flying!

Lastly, I don't want to leave you hanging with no new artwork! From the Dust will shortly be going to war. Here's a sneak peak at some of the Babylonian armies. Keep in mind that Babylon was a plains city, and Ur (of the Chaldees, this is where Abraham was from) was a swampland/delta city kind of like Egypt, but over in Persia. Yep...Abraham was Persian, y'all! Surprise! Anyway all that happened many thousands of years prior to the time of Jeremiah, but these landscapes are what sculpt the peoples of the of the areas. I've also been researching war tactics so that the armies reflect the actual war tactics of the Babylonians.

Keep in mind these are just quick thumbnail sketches. Most of my art starts in the black-and-white stage.

A Serendipitous Convention

This video tells the story better than I can. It was recorded last Wednesday.

The “Al” mentioned in the video is both my neighbor and my surrogate grandfather. He’s a businessman at heart and helps me stay on top of the business side of things.

I had no idea the conference even existed last Wednesday morning, and by Thursday morning I had a booth with a sweet setup and a new video. Needless to say I didn’t sleep much. At all, really.

The booths typically cost $400. Dot’s husband, George, while musing to me while Dot did some paperwork for me, said, “This doesn’t usually happen. You must have a product that somebody really wants out there.”

From the Dust's booth on Wednesday afternoon.

From the Dust's booth on Thursday morning at the start of the convention.

I had many wonderfully fortuitous experiences at the LDSBA (Latter-day Saint Booksellers Association) Convention, the highlight of which is an appointment to present From the Dust to the leaders of Deseret Book in a few weeks.

I made a ton of other friends, many of whom you will meet in the coming weeks as we partner to help get From the Dust into the hands of Latter-day Saints worldwide.

And here's the intro video I made Wednesday night.





Just go to www.bookofmormoncomic.com to see it in action!

Prophets of Old...

Jeremiah blesses Nephi as a kitten.

Most people think of prophets as old guys. History doesn't support this concept. Numerous prophets have been called in middle-age. Others still were called while in their youth.

Jeremiah is one that was called while still young. Daniel, Ezekiel, David, and others--these people were young when they performed much of their work. Why do we insist on giving them big gray beards all the time? In reality most of these people that have interacted with Deity were middle-aged or younger, including Jesus and John the Baptist, and if you're Mormon, let's not forget Joseph Smith. Get with the program people. Being young is cool. People over 30 are boring.

The "laying on of hands" was an established practice for blessing or conferring authority during Biblical times. Moses and numerous other prophets and patriarchs are recorded having done so.

The Melchizedek Priesthood

Lehi prays fervently for the welfare of his people.

At the beginning of Season 1, we spend ample time getting to know Lehi and his family in their land of inheritance. One of the important events that happens here is Lehi's call to the ministry by Jeremiah -- in other words, his ordination to the priesthood. Lehi's experiences and visions--which are comparable to Moses'--would have merited such a call.

Lehi travels to Jerusalem to be ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood by the hand of Jeremiah. In those days very few people held the authority of the higher priesthood, and fewer still were worthy to wield its power.

This being a pivotal moment in Lehi's life, he chooses to bring his four sons to witness the ordination. The older boys have been to Jerusalem numerous times and have even dwelt there for extended periods to be taught and trained by their father.

Nephi, however, has been sheltered in his family's land of inheritance during his youth. He is experiencing the fallen nation of Judea for the first time. It is a dangerous place. The land is ripe with iniquity, a dark world defiled by the many curses Moses pronounced would follow the breaking of the Covenants.

One morning of the journey Nephi wakes up to find his father missing. Concerned, he searches for his father only to find him in solitude praying for the welfare of his people--and begging Yahweh for strength to live up to his call. It is a tender moment where young Nephi sees the true character and faith of his father. Nephi's true character, however, will remain hidden from his father's view for quite some time.

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Come back next Tuesday for my next "best effort" at creating this amazing world! 

Wild Beasts

Laman hunts a "wild beast."

The scriptures, both the Bible and Book of Mormon, mention "wild beasts." In reality, these beasts were probably a variety of game indigenous to the area.

But From the Dust isn't reality.

These same "beasts"mentioned in scripture are rarely named or described, and as such, we're taking a little artistic license with them.

But just a little. :)