An Eternity on Instagram

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Tobi had promised me it’d be easy. Log on to Instagram. Spend a few hours scrolling through posts until you find a handful of illustrators you like. Fire off some DMs. And when one finally responds, you have yourself a comic book artist. But the reality was not nearly as seamless as he made it sound.

The hours crawled by as I tried every hashtag I could muster to find the right artist to partner with. #christiancomicbookartist #christianillustration #historicalgraphicnovels #helpme

If it wasn’t one problem, it would be another. They wouldn’t possess the right style. Or they wouldn’t accept commissions. Or they had experience with every medium under the sun except comic books. And if ever the stars aligned so that all of these previous boxes were actually checked off, they’d ghost me like the Phantom of the Opera.

Instagram Comic Artist Scrolling Session
A typical afternoon Instagram scrolling session.
Source: Instagram; Credit: Ife J. Ibitayo

The Coup de Grace for Instagram

I remember one particularly discouraging interaction I had with a fellow I’ll call Matthew. On one of my seemingly endless Instagram scrolling sessions, I stumbled across his artwork, and I instantly felt a connection. He’d drawn a scene of David transitioning from meager shepherd boy to powerful warrior king. It was vibrant and colorful comic book style with clear Christian undertones. Then I clicked on to his Instagram page and found an up-to-date website with contact information. And when I filled out the form, he responded within twenty-four hours.

I felt like I had just won the lottery! We set up a phone call and bonded over a shared vision. Then I sent him a non-disclosure agreement and payment terms, excited to embark on a new journey together in 2023. But he vanished like smoke. Weeks passed, and my emails remained unanswered. It was like calling out into the void. I was back to square one.

Conclusion

Entering the new year empty handed, I knew I’d have to change tactics. Social media wasn’t the answer for me, but I was praying something else would be.

While attending LA Comic Con the previous month, I’d spent a few minutes chatting with an amazing independent comic book creator. He was a writer, like me, without an ounce of drawing capability in his body. And he practically gushed over his experience forming a team of artists to work with using an online freelance marketplace called Upwork. So I decided that that would be my next pit stop.

My first, but definitely not my last, trip to LA Comic Con.

So You Want to Write a Script?

By Ife J. Ibitayo

The zeroth step of creating a comic book is writing its script. This document is where dozens of striking art panels and hundreds of clever speech bubbles are born. As an experienced science fiction prose writer, I reasoned that I would be well equipped to write a humorous historical script. But after a week of research into the subject, I was baffled by the amount of “unnecessary” structure that goes into screenwriting.

In the novelized form of Romeo & Juliet, Romeo sneaks into the Capulet’s family orchard. Placing his very heart in his hands, he lifts his head and cries to Juliet’s window, “But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?”

But in the script version, you have to first explain that the scene is “Capulet’s Orchard”. Then you have to describe the orchard itself. Then you have to denote that Romeo is speaking. Then you have to…can you imagine how such tedium can dam up even the most powerful flow?

Romeo and Juliet Script Excerpt
An example of the formatting that goes into the screenplay for Romeo and Juliet.
Source: Chandler Unified School District; Credit; Shakespeare

In prose, the inner thought life of your characters is visible, all extraneous details are implied, and the formatting is loose and simple. But in a script, all these rules are reversed. As soon as I opened a fresh Word document, writer’s block smothered me like a heavy blanket.

“Do I indent this line once or twice? Is this one bold or italicized?” I muttered my way through my first frustrating hour. And by the end of my maddening day, I was already ready to throw in the towel. I knew there was no way I would finish anything worthwhile at this rate.

But You Can’t Write It on Your Own

The creative side of my brain had already gone to bed for the night, but the problem-solving side was still wide awake. So I turned to Google convinced that there must be some software out there to hold my hand through this painful process. And to my relief, there was!

From scene setting to dialogue, parentheticals, and every other jargony screenwriting term I’d encountered, StudioBinder had me covered. And the very best news, it was free for my first script!

Let My People Ball Script Excerpt
Let My People Ball Script excerpt using StudioBinder software.
Source: Ife J. Ibitayo; Credit: Ife J. Ibitayo.

Conclusion

With renewed vigor, I spent the next three months writing Let My People Ball. On countless afternoons, I’d lay claim to my small cubicle at the library and tap away at my computer as I honed my story. I’d open my Bible to confirm important story beats, and I’d surf the web for credible historical information about Egypt’s New Kingdom—which was in power during the time of Moses.

When December of last year rolled around, just in time for Christmas, I gave myself the only present I really wanted—a finished draft! I excitedly sent it to a screenwriting friend of mine to ensure I hadn’t wasted a quarter of my year in vain. And with 2023 fast approaching, I began to search for the perfect illustrator to bring my project to life.

Entering the World of Comic Books in 80 Days

Ife J. Ibitayo

With an idea marinating in my head and hope germinating in my heart, I flew out to Los Angeles. And my first order of business was finding some people in animation to talk to. Well, besides moving into my new apartment, getting situated to a new city, and renewing my mindset as a student. But less than 80 days later, I was sitting across from a man I’ll call Tobi. He was a foul-mouthed, clean-shaven, middle-aged Nigerian who’d successfully launched his own animation studio. Feeling like I’d just hit the interviewee jackpot, I excitedly explained to him my vision of telling “meaning-filled stories”.

Coming Down to Earth

But he rubbed the back of his neck and said, “You know how expensive animation is? I’ve been in the business a long time, and even twelve minutes of quality video is going to run you hundreds of thousands of dollars. You’re going to have to find someone to pay you to do it.”

He scrolled through the work he’d completed for some of the biggest entertainment companies in the business until he finally arrived at an original project. It was a paranormal romance he’d crowdfunded as a comic book, even though he ran an animation company. He explained, “Original work is tough to get out there, even for someone like me. But you may just be able to get your project off the ground if you start with a comic.”

Skyward Volume 1 by Image Comics
This book pretty much singlehandedly changed my view of the narrative power of comic books.
Source: Amazon; Credit: Image Comics

Preparing for Liftoff

I didn’t grow up reading comics. My older brother ate up comic books while I kept my head buried in prose fiction. It wasn’t until adulthood that I rediscovered comic books anew. In late 2020, I purchased a comic book bundle off the internet that included the science fiction graphic novel, Skyward: My Low G Life, about a teenager growing up on an earth with a fraction of the gravity that our planet currently has.

Up until that day, I had never appreciated comic books as a serious medium for storytelling. I was familiar with superhero tales and other well-known IP like Star Trek and G.I. Joe, but I’d never read an original story that so gracefully leveraged the power of comic books as a means of visual storytelling. And that was when my eyes were opened to the great potential of that medium.

Reaching for the Sky (Again)

Initially, I was hesitant. I’d hoped to transition from the literary world into TV & Films, not cross back into it. But I realized that as a science fiction writer myself, a comic book might be the perfect medium to explore the intersection of writing and visual art.

As Tobi finished showing me his own graphic novel, he said, “It wasn’t hard. All I had to do was find a ghostwriter and an illustrator. I hit them up on social media, and a few months later, I had my comic book.”

And with that encouragement, I embarked on what was supposed to be one of the “easiest” creative projects of my life.

A Biballical Origin Story

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Like all truly great ideas, this one began in bed. I had just returned from two crazy weeks of volunteering at a Christian kids’ camp. And my brain must have still been running on soda and gummy snacks. Every night when I opened my Bible, I found myself chuckling. The Exodus was amusing, the book of Joshua was comical, and the story of David was downright hilarious.

This all came to a head one night as I lay down to sleep and immediately woke up with an idea in my head. I called it at the time the Dodgeball Bible Animated Series. (That rolls right off the tongue, am I right?) I spent several minutes penning down scene ideas: Joshua winning battles by calling down giant dodgeballs from heaven, King Ahab dressed in fishing garb and a sailor’s mustache, the nations inhabiting the Promised Land as ninjas, samurais, and juggling circus clowns.  The list grew more and more ridiculous until I finally tossed my phone aside and let my weary eyes return to their rest.

Prince of Egypt Moses parting the red sea
I still get chills seeing the beautiful artwork from this classic film.
Source: Art of Animation; Credit: Dreamworks

The Muses that Inspired My Bemusement

Two bodies of work inspired my percolating idea that night: The Prince of Egypt and Veggietales. First, the Academy Award winning movie The Prince of Egypt has held a special place in my heart over the years. It was both a faithful retelling of one of the most important stories in all of scripture. But it was also well-acted, gorgeously animated, fast paced, and exquisitely orchestrated. It resonated for both those who claimed the Abrahamic faith and those who did not. And few other movies in all of history have been able to effectively straddle that divide.

Second, I grew up inhaling animated movies like oxygen, and none did I devour more readily than Veggietales. I watched every one I could get my hands on from well known classics like Esther, the Girl Who Became Queen to deep cuts like Moe and the Big Exit. This collection of Bible-based movies distilled the heart behind these sacred stories and enveloped them in silly wrapping paper. It was this unique blend of the divine and the absurd that expanded my view of what it means to “stay true to scripture.”

Veggietales Moe and the Big Exit dodgeball
Notice any interesting props in this picture?
Source: Pinterest; Credit: Big Idea

A Bumbling Beginning

A few years after this late night brainstorming session, I sat my family down at the kitchen table and told them about my dream. I said, “I want to launch a faith-based animation company.” As I began to lay out my vision and my plans to apply to MBA programs, my little brother walked away out of boredom. My older brother nodded in excitement. My mother was sold at the word “faith-based”. And my dad struggled to make sense of some of the stories I wanted to tell, but he supported me anyway. So with my family’s blessing, my bumbling journey began.

I’m Not a New Yorker

By Ife J. Ibitayo

I just returned from a trip to New York City—the home of Miles Morales, the Cookie Monster, and some other, less important people. New York is a complicated city. I’d listen to the siren song of an undiscovered musician as I descended into a subway station. Then I’d choke on the rancid stench of piss as I ascended out of it. Someone once said that those who visit New York will either see “all that glimmers or all its garbage,” and I definitely experienced both ends of the bargain.

But I was most bewildered by the people. New Yorkers are a race in and of themselves. They are brash, confident, hip, and strange. From the men sporting sunglasses on the already cloudy days or the women wearing spaghetti straps and minis in the middle of the rain, I knew I stuck out with my millennial skinny jeans and pullover sweater.

Am I Hustling Enough?

I quickly learned that to be in New York is to be in a hurry. New Yorkers will push past you, scream at you, and literally climb over you to get to their destination on time. Some have defined the New York Second—the time between a light turning green and the taxi behind you honking—as “the shortest time in the multiverse.” And I became well acquainted with this phenomenon as blaring horns harassed me as I lay awake in my hotel room.

 But my lying awake didn’t start here in New York. Ever since this year began, my schedule has taken a dramatic turn. Social outings, hangouts, and Sabbaths all took a backseat to studying, working, and hustling. Some of it seemed necessary at the time. A perfect storm of schoolwork and life circumstances coincided to squeeze the space out of my schedule. But it was only revealing a much deeper issue lurking in my heart.

I remember one late Thursday afternoon when I foolishly scrolled through my email right before taking a much-needed nap. When I discovered yet another rejected application, I lay restlessly in my bed for a few minutes before having to get back up. I didn’t want to return to the grind; I needed to. Because in the absence of external validation to confirm the value of my hard work, I needed the hard work itself to substitute in. I needed the bleary-eyed late nights and the bone-weary exhaustion and the harried, frenetic pace of my every day to distract my worried heart.

Am I Enough?

Too stressed out to sleep and too distracted to work, I went outside for a walk. On that strangely wet and cloudy Los Angeles day, I wondered to myself: Why am I doing all this? Do I hustle because I fear falling behind? Or do I fear not measuring up? Am I enough? And fighting my way through the crowded streets of New York City a few months later, these questions resurfaced all over again.

Conclusion

But there was one beautiful respite that redeemed my Big Apple breakdown. Standing on the top floor of a skyscraper, staring out on the harbor, I enjoyed a rare moment of stillness. A ferry carved a lazy arc through the water as the sun just began to peak out of the clouds. As its warm glow dispelled the gloom from that afternoon’s heavy rain, I knew in my heart that I’m not built to be a New Yorker.

I cannot hustle my way to happiness. I have to religiously carve out time for God, friends, and for myself. And even if the building I’m constructing grows at a slower pace than others’ high-rises, at least I’ll be laying down a sturdy foundation that just might survive the ups and downs—the earthquakes—I know I’ll experience out here in Los Angeles.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”
(Matthew 7:24-25)

We are the Israelites!

By Ife J. Ibitayo

There once was a nation that dominated the world financially, militarily, and culturally. It was the heart of trade, the brain of technology, and the soul of deep spirituality. But within a couple decades, a revolt split the country in two. A few years later, it was conquered by another military juggernaut. Then a few short generations after that, it ceased to exist as a country at all. Who was this nation, you ask?

This nation was ancient Israel, an upstart people that overcame geopolitical turmoil to dominate the Ancient Near East for nearly a century.

The Purpose of Israel

From the time God led the Israelites out of Egypt, He had a specific calling for them. He commanded them, “‘If you obey me fully, then out of all the nations you will be My treasured possession. And although the whole earth is mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’” (Exodus 19:5-6). God called His people to be His representatives here on earth. And by obeying His commands, they would both be blessed and be a blessing.

The Problem with Israel

But from the moment Israel stepped foot into the Promised Land, they were hellbent on turning their backs on God. From the sun and stars above (Acts 7:42) to the rocks and trees below (2 Kings 17:10), the Israelites worshiped everything in the universe except its Creator. And as they slid into idolatry, their morality unraveled.

Speaking on their great wickedness, the prophet Amos lamented on behalf of God, “They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane My holy name” (Amos 2:6-7).

Through their depravity, the ancient Israelites rejected their calling. Instead of being a blessing to the nations, they were a curse—a people so corrupt even the most depraved of nations could learn from their wicked ways.

The Purpose of the Church

Which brings us to the modern-day church. We are the Israelites! As the Apostle Peter said, “we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9)! Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God extended His family to include not only those biologically descended from Abraham but also those who share in his same faith (Galatians 3:6).

And Jesus Christ commissioned us with a purpose: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). And chief among these commandments is loving God and loving others (Matthew 22:36-40).

 From inventing hospitals to founding universities, the church has powerfully catalyzed positive social change for thousands of years.

The Problem with the Church

But the church’s history is also a checkered tale filled with tremendous stumbles and egregious moral lapses. Under the guise of spreading Christendom “to the heathen”, Britain and the rest of Europe rapaciously plundered Africa, America, and much of the rest of the known world. Looking a little closer to home, the church in America played an active role in prolonging slavery and segregation rather than ending them. And the rise of evangelical purity culture in the past couple decades has succeeded not in ending premarital sex but traumatizing a whole generation of young women. Just as ancient Israel ultimately failed to live up to the standard God set for it, so have we as the church today.

Conclusion

We can be all too easily tempted to delineate the line between the good and the evil as those inside the church versus those outside of it. But as the late Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once said, “the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either– but right through every human heart.”

Many Christians would be shocked to learn that the most moral person they know may not be their church’s head pastor but their irreligious boss. Or that their drinking, smoking, cursing coworker is a better husband than their clean-cut small group leader. Or that their gossipy neighbor is more righteous than they are.

But that’s the irony of grace. It’s not the reward we earn for being good people but the gift we humbly accept for being bad.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

(Ephesians 2:8)

Divine Promises and Hellish Realities

By Ife J. Ibitayo

“‘Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation…I will make your name great…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’” (Genes 12:1-4). God made Abraham this promise when he was 75 years old. If I were an old man with no offspring and no land, I think I would have taken God up on His offer too. In a few years, I’d be dead, and by then I’d birth a nation, enter the Biblical Hall of Fame, and bless the world. But God failed to tell Abraham he’d wait twenty-five years for his son to be born (Genesis 21:5) and be homeless for the rest of his life (Hebrews 11:9). If only that had been included in the disclaimer before Abraham signed the rest of his life away.

And this wasn’t a one-off oversight either. God didn’t clue Joseph into the years of hardship that awaited him before his brothers finally bowed before him. God neglected to tell Moses that by abandoning his regal palace in Egypt, he’d wind up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, twice! And David did not simply topple Goliath and ascend the throne. Two long decades in caves, backwater towns, and a foreign country awaited the shepherd boy before he finally claimed what was rightly his.

Viewing all these cases together, a disturbing pattern emerges of divine promises tempered by hellish realities. Could there be any reason for this painful dichotomy?

Divine Promises

Just like any good parent, God is intimately familiar with His children. He knows what makes us tick, what inspires us, and what worries us. If God told us (like He did Paul), “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake,” (Acts 9:16), He wouldn’t have to waste His breath showing any of us the exit.

Church planter Tom Bennardo describes God’s selective revelation like this: “The mental image God bestows graciously draws us into privileged participation in a journey we won’t regret when it’s done, but one that we might not have been willing to enter if we had known the entire plan in advance.” Marriage, children, college, and a host of other critical life choices brim with promise. Yet they’re simultaneously filled with tears. Tremendous highs and incredible lows are tandem twins in this life. But because of a psychological phenomenon known as loss aversion, we take losses much harder than we appreciate gains. This is one key reason why God is willing to show us the glory ahead of time, but He lets the difficulties surprise us.

Hellish Realities

Further, no matter how we choose to live our life, pain is all but guaranteed. We are resident aliens in a fallen world. So broken bones and shattered dreams shouldn’t surprise us here on planet earth. Yet they do! And as they accumulate, discouragement will rear its ugly head like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. That is why God gives us promises.

“When God made His promise to Abraham, He wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear so that we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged” (Hebrews 6:13, 17, 18). Promises give us something to hold on to as we wait. Every “also ran”, romantic breakup, and failed business venture is not the end of the line, but a link on the unbroken chain to the vision God has so firmly implanted on our hearts.

Conclusion

Christian Comedian Yvonne Orji wrote a book titled Bamboozled by Jesus: How God Tricked Me into the Life of My Dreams. And I agree with the tongue in cheek sentiment of her pithy work. Like a master of legerdemain, sometimes it feels like God shows us one thing but slips us something else. But every good and perfect gift comes from God (James 1:17). And this includes both the vision we see and the present we receive from His hand.

“’You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.’”

(Matthew 7:9-11)

The Oil of Pride and the Water of Grace

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Last month, I alluded to a significant financial setback on my journey to launching a business. What if I told you since then God has graciously met my need but my pride nearly aborted the whole process?

Pride is Me-Based

America was built on the myth of self-made men and women. We’ve been conditioned to believe, “With unrelenting intensity and a can-do attitude, the best and brightest can move every mountain all on their own.” I’ve all too often fallen into this trap. But all too often bad timing, bad luck, and my bad habits remind me that I can’t always be the solution to my problems.

Grace is God-Based

In his best-selling book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that the truly exceptional “appear at first blush to lie outside ordinary experience…[but their success] is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not.” In other words, our success will always be contingent on forces beyond our control. Even the Bible affirms this truth: “The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle…And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time” (Ecclesiastes 9:11).

The atheist accept this as randomness, and the spiritual call it destiny. But the believer knows this phenomenon as grace, for even “every roll of the dice is determined by the LORD” (Proverbs 16:33). Grace points to a force beyond our own two hands that ultimately determines the outcomes in our lives. It lifts the weight of responsibility off our shoulders and places it squarely on the LORD’s. This means it also shifts the weight of glory from our crown to His.

Conclusion

Pride and grace are like oil and water; they don’t mix. For God Himself says He “opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

The oil of pride is complex. Crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons which has no easily written chemical formula. Similarly, pride requires all sorts of explanations to justify its existence.

But the water of grace is simple. Water has only two components: hydrogen and oxygen. Similarly, grace requires only two responses: gratitude and humility. And these two responses can be summed up in two words: Thank you.

“A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.”

(Proverbs 29:23)

Article Frequency Transition

By Ife J. Ibitayo

With all of the projects I’ve undertaken recently including creating a graphic novel, finishing my second science fiction novel, and launching a company, I’ve decided to transition my blog from a weekly post to a monthly post.

Having written a post a weekly for nearly three years almost without fail, I didn’t find this decision easy to make. I still have so much I’d like to share as this journey unfolds, but I’m hoping this transition will help pave the way for some exciting announcements in the future.

Thank you all for following along, and see you again later this month!

Setbacks to Glory

By Ife J. Ibitayo

You know that feeling when you’ve been working toward something for months? You’ve been trusting, fasting, praying for it to come through. But that hopeful interview turns into a hopeless disappointment. You “shot your shot,” and you missed.

I’ve nearly drowned in that feeling this past week, a toxic blend of disappointment, bewilderment, and a dash of self-pity. If “all things truly work out for the good of those who love God” (Romans 8:28), what good can be found in yet another setback?

Perseverance

First, it develops perseverance. Two years ago, I shared a little bit about my writing journey. Striving to become a professional writer has been one of the greatest challenges of my life. Much to my father’s chagrin, the only documents I have framed on my wall are not from any of my graduations but from my first publications. But that is because of the power of perseverance. When year after year you receive rejection after rejection, you can either grow bitter or get better.

The Word says, “Let us not grow weary of well doing, for in due season we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). From Oprah Winfrey to Winston Churchill to Michael Jordan, many of the giants of this past century did not cruise through life on easy mode. But rather, their hard work, determination, and “never-give-up” attitudes led to the acclaim they’ve now rightly earned.

Humility

Secondly, it inculcates humility. Joseph in the Bible has one of the greatest “riches to rags back to riches again” stories of all time. He began his life as a pampered trust fund baby who dreamed that he’d someday rule over the rest of his family. And he had to make sure they all knew it too!

But that “wise” decision led to thirteen years of slavery and imprisonment. The end of Joseph’s time in prison was punctuated by another dream. And because of it, he was led into the royal halls of the preeminent empire of his time to speak to the most powerful figure in the world. And when Pharaoh, king of Egypt, asked Joseph to interpret the strange dream he had, Joseph’s first words were, “‘I cannot. But God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires’” (Genesis 41:16).

Setbacks are often the only force powerful enough to remind us of our limitations. In American culture, we are taught from day one that we are special. Our straight A’s, scholarships, raises, and promotions all attest to our singular genius.

But when we are passed over, delayed, or rejected, we’re forced to look within and take stock of our weaknesses. And we’re reminded of the grace of God that has carried us thus far.

Conclusion

When naming this article, I realized that some might misunderstand “Setbacks to Glory” as obstacles that impede our journey to greatness. But it’s quite the opposite. Setbacks are rungs on the ladder of distinction. By callousing our fingers and deflating our egos, setbacks accelerate us toward success. The question is: Will we let them set us off course from our God-given vision or set us up for the triumph to come?

“We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that sufferings produce perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

(Romans 5:3-4)