Between the Panels

Imagine you could have someone that you are able to just chat with at any point and time. Some of you may already have an image of a friend or you are reflecting on your last chill time with them. Don't get me wrong, that's awesome and we all need friends that we can connect with like that. However, that can only happen if that person is there or available.  What I am talking about is a connection that cannot be severed by distance, signal, or availability.  I am talking about the connection with you and God. My favourite example of this connection is Yo and Amidamaru from Shaman King . Yo is a high schooler who is able to connect with spirits and he makes a connection with Amidamaru to get stronger to become the Shaman King. What makes these two stand out is there communication between each other. Yo does not treat this spirit like it is something that can be ignored; there is a friendship/bond there that he connects with Amidamaru in sincerity. Whenever they face different...

Lately there have been a large number of animes that have been featuring their main characters reincarnating into new and strange things.  A couple that have caught my eye and my time have been Black Summoner and A Faraway Paladin, but let's focus on Black Summoner . Our main character has no memory of his past life (typical), but has chosen previously that he is going to be a mage with certain skill sets. As you can imagine he maxed out some of his skills that pertain to magic or special knowledge, while along the way has to retrain his other skills in life. What's really cool is seeing this character make lots of progress and the joy that he gets out of this chosen path that he laid out before himself.  This character even has a spiritual companion that helps guide him along his journey and discuss next step strategies for personal growth.  He seems very refreshed and has more of a drive about him in whatever missions he takes along his journey to get stronger . Imagine...

A man in a red suit, a large antlered beast, the sound of sleigh bells ringing on a snowy night, and a raised crossbow loaded for battle?!?! That’s right crew; you are not reading a typo there. Earlier this month DC Comics published a comic series ( Silent Knight ) featuring our big man in red, a.k.a.  Santa Clause (though he prefers to be called Chris Kringle ) showing up in a way that would get our D&D nerds amped for an impromptu session. One of the best parts of this series was the different heroes’ reactions to the reality that Chris was not a holly jolly guy, but an epic, battle-worn warrior. Turns out that Chris doesn’t just deliver presents to boys and girls, but fights off the things that go bump in the night for the sake of the world’s safety.   Reading through this series made Santa interesting for me.  Like I would look at pictures of Santa throughout Christmas and would automatically translate those images to Chris from the comics. We have a bit of a ha...