About John Louis

I suppose I should tell you a little about myself. My name is John Louis, I live thirty miles east of Cincinnati, OH. I have been a comic book fan all of my life. I even remember the first comic book I purchased in 1968, Avengers 59, the first appearance of Yellow Jacket. A whole new universe was thrust upon me. I saw it then and now as more than an interest, fascination or even an obsession. For me it was a calling. I didn’t understand it then and still wonder about it today. I can only say that fifty years and 6000 comic books later and I am still just as enthralled.

I have a M.A. in Criminal Justice and worked in the field for over a decade. This made me at least somewhat familiar with the laws, procedures, regulations, and nuances of the criminal justice system. Hence it was a no-brainer for me to include Jim Gordon as a main character.

I am a full time magician. I believe that there is a certain similarity between the art of illusion and being a costume vigilante. Both deal in secrets, hidden techniques and more importantly the art of deception. Of course there is quite a bit of difference between the magician’s goal of presenting an entertaining show and the vigilante trying to catch the bad guy while not being caught or killed. But they do share the common goal of not wanting the methods employed to come to light.

Learn more about John Louis go to www.johnlouis.net or www.youtube.com/user/johnlouis62/videos.

So, Why a Christian Batman Story?

Image courtesy el-grimlock

In addition to being a huge comic book fan I am also a committed Christian. For a long time I wanted to merge my two interests. I have been fascinated with the question of how true follower of Jesus Christ would react to the presence of the Batman. Think about it, If you were a strong Christian praying for your city and started hearing rumors of a mysterious, shadowy figure busting up criminals how would you react?

From time to time the media will report on a case of vigilantism. It always generates controversy. People have the right to protect themselves, but you can’t take the law into your own hands. This is essentially the quandary the people of Gotham would have to come to terms with.

Another reason for writing this is an issue that confronts the writers of any Batman story. How do make The Dark Knight mysterious when the story is told from his perspective? I wanted to write a Batman story in which he was not the main character. Telling the story from the perspective of someone who is not the Batman adds to the mystery the vigilante brings to the tale. Hence Batman from Dark to Knight was born. I hope you are pleased with the results.

I have had some people ask me why Batman? Why not write with original characters of your own creation? I have done just that. This is the third work of fiction I have presented. The first was all original characters. The second was based on historical events. But even that misses the point. There should be no limits on fiction. There is good storytelling and bad storytelling, there is as many different types of stories as there are story tellers. But there should be no limit on the types of stories being told.

Plus as a Christian I believe in spreading the word. I make no apology for my beliefs that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead to save the human race. Inherent within that belief is a need to tell others. The arts and entertainment have been a primary way of accomplishing this. From music, to painting, to sculpture, to drama the capacity to create and enjoy art was given to us by God to glorify him.

I fully believe that Christians should employ every type of art, music, drama, storytelling, variety arts, video production, social media etc. etc. etc. to bring glory to God and to spread his word. Of course there are Christian standards of behavior, but beyond that the Christian Arts needs encouragement, support and a free range to present the Gospel.

Copyright Consideration

Image courtesy Memed

Before I started this project I made sure that writing fan fiction does not violate copyright law. I called the legal department of DC Comics. They assured me that as long as I made no attempt to make money off the project, they had no problem with fan fiction.