This is part two of an interview with one of  New Creation Now founders, Clint DeRon Johnson, about his character, Matthew Cross: FaithWalker.  It was in July 2008 by Don Ensign.

Don: Does fighting crime primarily take place for Faith Walker within the African American community or is it broader based than that?

Clint: It starts within the African American Community because this is where he encounters his immediate challenges. But because of the organization he is involved with, The Word Technologies it becomes more of a global operation.

Don: Does Matthew have a specific city --a real city or is it just a made up city?

Clint: It is a fictional city and it is called Los Cosmos. Because I’m a native of Los Angeles there are major similarities. It would be Los Angeles just a lot darker, meaning the way it is laid out there are some very criminal and sinister areas. You have what is called the Wide Road district. The Bible tells us that wide is the gate. Then you have the Avenue of Seventh and Hope. So there are different pockets- we have restaurants like Manna from Heaven. So there is a lot of Biblical interplay with where he lives.

Don: What age group or age groups do you think Faith Walker would appeal to?

Clint: I actually believe that the age groups— those that read and begin to comprehend the stories will be kids that tend to gravitate toward a lot of things —I’m not really written to your seven or eight year olds. I’m really writing to that market, your Batman, your Spider-Man your X-Men crowd, so more of like 12 and up. And what I find is we adults still kind of read them too. They would appeal to that audience as well.  But I’m really targeting the early teens to the mid 20s.

Don: What kind of feedback have you gotten from--not necessarily Christian comic’s fans-but people who are not necessarily into comics? Do you get positive or negative or indifferent reactions to Faith Walker.

Clint: I’ve been blessed enough to say I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback. We have done book shows where it wasn’t a comic book show but parents just seem to think that comics are good for kids or comics are for kids.  These are people who are not necessarily Christian but they say I think my son or my daughter would like this and they make the purchase. I’ve actually had people e-mail me -say, "Man, this is hot this is a great idea.  When can I see more of it?" I've actually received an e-mail from a gentleman who told me that the comic book blessed him. This was a number of years ago and so from what I’ve received about Faith Walker I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback.  

Don: That’s great, Clint! Let’s talk a little more about his powers.

Clint: Yes, you asked me about his powers.  It was a struggle to say, does he or doesn’t he because all super heroes do something. There is something special about them. They fly, they are bulletproof-he doesn’t do any of those things. You asked me a question about fighting the villains-are they demonic or human? The answer is both, if I wasn’t clear. There are scenes where the villains are clearly not human and because of Faith Walker’s spiritual relationship he has the ability to withstand these demonic attacks. This is was one of the things that made him a candidate to become a member of this organization the Light Knights. Because Christians -the born again Christian has a certain immunity when they are walking with God the spiritual forces do not impact them the same as those who are lost. What he does add, it is to his arsenal per se. He wears the purple and gold uniform which is referred to as the garment of praise. So because of the technology Faith Walker has Bible based gadgets and gizmos. He has a hand held crossbow which he literally calls the Crossbow. He has a net he uses he calls the Fisherman’s net. He has a staff which he refers to as the staff of Aaron. So there are these other elements that do take place that kind of lock into the Biblical theme of his character.

Don: What other characters do you have in his cast? You say that he is a youth minister-are there going to be young people that he is going to be relating to on a regular basis?

Clint: The primary youth in the storyline is this young guy named David King. Everyone calls him Davey, but he known as Baby Saint. Baby Saint is roughly 12 years old. He is at a point in life where he is learning a lot and Faith Walker interacts with him in the person of a guide or a mentor. As a story device Baby Saint gives Faith Walker access to a lot of youth challenges. The whole gang thing and the peer pressure aspect, all flows through this character, Baby Saint.  Faith Walker has a best friend name (we call him) Doc Vision. He real name is Marcus Hightower and he serves as comedic relief. Faith Walker is a pretty straight laced, straight forward kind of guy and I needed to balance him. So Doc Vision will be the guy who will be saying a lot of silly stuff. Doc Vision might be inclined to use a lot more street slang than Faith Walker. Then we have his leaders, who are Bishop Thunder and Doctor Daylight. Bishop Thunder is Faith Walker’s spiritual head as well as the personality that’s going the give Faith Walker his missions and he is backed by Dr. Daylight who is his wife. She is in charge of the prayer ministry at the church Matthew attends which is called Maximum Ministries. That came later because initially Faith Walker was a lone almost vigilante wandering type guy. I say that doesn’t really work in a real Christian situation. There has to be a level of accountability, he needs to interact and there are certain characters that need to fit.  Most ministers take a directive from their pastors so Faith Walker has that same scenerio and everyone needs a support mechanism. In the story that we have online now is Smoking Mirrors which we introduce Chapel and Handmaiden. These are other agents that Faith Walker works with battling the forces of evil.

Don: You mention that Faith Walker is going to be an agent for a larger organization. However it seems as if Faith Walker is a hero who had his own cast of characters around him and some villains too. Do you see him occasionally, or frequently or not at all relating to other Christian super heroes?

Clint: Faith Walker is also a team player. I look forward to the day when he is teaming up with other characters. In fact we at New Creation Now are planning some crossovers where Faith Walker will get an opportunity to interact characters created by a lot of other great Christian comic book creators. We haven’t titled the project yet so it kind of hard to tell you what it’s going to be called. Then I have also been working off and on with my good friend Tim Gagnon and we’ve created what we call Defenders of the Faith where Faith Walker teams up with this armor wearing saint called Redemption. That will be an ongoing series as well. I love the crossover team up aspect and definitely want to pursue that.

Don: Thanks, Clint. Great interview.

Clint: Thank you and God’s blessings.  

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