The Christian Manifesto

An Interview with Brett Burner,
author of the “Hand of The Morningstar” series

Posted in interviews by C. E. Moore on June 30th, 2008

We have recently fallen in love with Zondervan’s Hand of the Morningstar manga series. The only think that makes us mad about it is the length of time it takes to produce each volume. But, each volume of the series (4 so far) is so good, we’re willing to wait it out. In the meantime, we requested to spend some time with series co-creator and writer, Brett Burner. He has graciously agreed to answer some of our questions.

A little about Brett.

Brett is a printer and publisher and is active in youth ministry. He formed Alias Enterprises, Cross Culture Entertainment, and Lamp Post Publications with the aim of bringing high-quality and innovative Christian and all-ages comics to stores to edify and entertain today’s youth. Enjoy!

PS. We’ve been given an exclusive first look at some of the art for Hand of the Morningstar: Indoctrination , the fifth volume in the series.

TCM : First, we’d like to thank you for taking the time to sit down and answer some of our questions.
Your work on the Hand of the Morningstar series is really fun to read.

Brett Burner : Thank you.  That really IS the ultimate goal…to read something truly edifying but really fun.  Hand of the Morningstar has been equally fun to produce…it’s a true labor of love!

TCM : Tell us a little about yourself.  How did you get your start in comic books?

 

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The Manga Bible

Review:

MangaLife Spotlight: The Manga Bible: It's Pretty Good, Believe It or Not
Written by Barb Lien-Cooper

I first encountered The Manga Bible (published by Zondervan Graphic Novels as opposed to the one published by Doubleday, which I haven't read) at my local library. Part of me laughed at the idea of using manga to get out a religious message.

 

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Review

Infuzemag.com : "Hand of the Morningstar: 'Advent' and 'Resurrection' are good. Very good in fact.Zondervan hasn't skimped on the details.I was pleasantly taken aback as I read through these 2 volumes, in one sitting no less, at how much took me by genuine surprise. I've been reading superheroes from The Big Two for 15 years and am accustomed to deaths, betrayals, and resurrections on a monthly basis, but [writers] Mike Miller and Brett Burner wisely let the reader in on a few secrets at a time. It is a page turner and it's obvious that this series has a few more aces up its sleeve yet.Miller's black and white art is straight forward, but far from bland. He knows what he's doing.There's plenty of action in the story for him to litter each book with power packed fight scenes and buckets of energetic splash pages. The expressions are spot-on, and sometimes the reactions are downright funny. This helps to compliment the script perfectly.There is a great sequence in which Tempest [one of the main characters] is reading the Bible as the words come alive. Jesus has never looked so heroic! To some, this may come across as not too subtle but it contains the gospel message beautifully and I actually found the choice of verses quite moving. There's something in these digests for comics fans, Christians, and those that are both or neither.[T]hese two volumes honestly did captivate me." — Infuzemag.com