Hello.
For sometime now, I have been attempting to get into the world of 3D Computer Animation. I graduated from Collin County Community College in Plano, TX where I got my Associate's Degree in Applied Science as well as my 3D Entertainment Animation Certificate. Needless to say, I have not had much success in getting my foot in the door of Animation. However, there is something else that I feel God has laid on my heart to create for quite a long while. This is my story of what has been and what is happening right now.
In the summer of 2004, I received a magazine article called "Plugged In" (created by Focus On The Family) where I began hearing about what was going on in the world of Japanese Animation / Manga Comic Books. They began listing off everything that went against Christianity. The article ended with one last question: Can God use Japanese Anime / Manga Comic Books to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world? At the time, I felt the answer to that question was: NO WAY! NOT A CHANCE!
However, I was unaware of the fact that there were places out there such as Dynamic Animation (www.dynamic-animation.com) and Anime Angels (www.animeangels.net). These were people trying to use Anime to bring the message of Jesus Christ to the world. This was the start of what led me to realize that these were people who are believers in Christ going up against a huge industry, and I needed to be apart of it.
(If you would like to read the full article from Plugged In, click here.
I had a concept in my head about what could happen in the future: What If We Were Not One Nation Under God? Well, then I thought: What if I created my own Anime about Christians living in an apocalyptic world where they fought every day for their freedom? I decided to have the story take place when Armageddon (or the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ) was going to happen very soon. However, I chose not to mention if this took place before or after the Rapture of the church since there are many out there, including Christians, who don't believe in the Rapture.
This concept led to the creation of what was called "Street Disciples". Eventually, I changed the title due to the fact that a rapper called Nas released an album at that time called "The Street Disciple". Even though there was a slight difference in the title, it felt like the right thing to do was to come up with a new title just in case Nas came back to haunt me for copyright infringement. So, I had it changed to "Truth Soldiers" which sounds a lot better than "SD".
While I was in the process of creating "Truth Soldiers", I was heavily influenced by manga artist Shirow Masamune. To those who don't know, Mr. Masamune is the creator of several manga titles such as "Ghost In The Shell" and I wanted to bring just a little of my influences from him into "Truth Soldiers". Also, I am influenced by the storytelling and artwork of the "Witchblade" comic book created by Marc Silvestri, David Wohl, Brian Haberlin, and Micheal Turner of Top Cow Productions. On top of all this, I began reading "Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born", which is a very dark graphic novel created by Marvel Comics. Although all of these influencial comics are anything but "Christian" and although these titles have very dark and evil subject matter, I felt it was necessary to read this material to get a good taste of what the culture is like while at the same time being aware of the fact that I am a believer of Jesus Christ and that I am in the process of creating something to bring glory to Him. It was also good for me to realize that I needed to be aware of what I was feeding my mind. I want to speak the language of the culture, but I don't need to be apart of the culture.
When I had the storyline all layed out, I planned on creating an anime short film to start with. However, I did not have the time, the software, or the extra help that I needed. So I put the project on hold for a long time.
Recently, I decided that if I want this story to get out there that I needed to start with something small and then work my way up. That's when I decided I need to create a Manga comic book. The first issue will be called "Searching For The Word" and it is still a work in progress. But my hope is that this story will touch not just Christians, but also someone out there who does not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. God bless you...
Fred Keel
Creator of "Truth Soldiers"