I have this old cartoon story I started way back when I was a teenager about a wizard named Gad who creates the universe and everything in it…
I scanned it and began some preliminary work on cleaning up the artwork and so on. The thing is… well, you knew there would be a thing, I told you so right in the title… that some religious people might be upset by this story. The fact that the wizard’s name sounds so much like the word ‘god’… and the way he creates everything… well, it might be construed as a thinly veiled play on the biblical creation story…
Because… you know… it is a thinly veiled play on the whole biblical creation story…
Now far be it from me to go out of my way to enrage the people who take religion too seriously… but on the other hand, it is a really cute story with a really cute character and lots of really bad puns and jokes…
And kids love magic, right?
My other idea is to do a book about all the things that would be fun to be, and then drawing inanimate objects with legs and arms and faces. Because when you get right down to it, every animal has already been used as an animated character, and so have most of the inanimate objects. I mean, they have talking sponges, talking snowmen, singing vegetables, and a rodent is the freekin’ mascot for one of the biggest corporate empires on Earth.
I knew science fiction was a challenge when I started my sci-fi series. Go ahead, try to invent a picture of an alien in your head that doesn’t look like one of the millions of aliens that are out there in the science fiction universes. But I didn’t realize how hard it would be to come up with new ideas for kids.
Pouring My Art Out 
I think if you want to do a children’s book about Gad (& I read it as God the first time) you’re going to need to make sure you make it different enough from the Creation Story for people not to get upset. Personally, it wouldn’t bother me – but there are so many people out there who would be deeply offended by you trying to teach their kids a different version of creation.
Kids learn through all their senses so when I was a Sunday School teacher of 3 & 4 year olds, I did things like a big box with an ark drawn on it, blue blankets for the flood, paper plate masks for the children to become the animals going into the ark to help them remember bits & pieces of Noah’s Ark story. Maybe you could make some type of interactive book? Like touch things, smell things?
I like that idea
If you think it could be funny, do it. So what if there’s already a singing teapot out there. There’s probably a book stand baritone just aching to be drawn by you right now…
I like the way you think!
That Gad lad sure looks a tad sad with not a friend to be had. It would sure be rad if Gad had a pad where he could be not-sad. It’s not a fad for Gad to create a pad. I’d be a cad and it would make me mad to say that Gad couldn’t create a pad for all he had. So, You Go Gad!
you left out that he wears plaid, has no left gonad so he will never be a dad and have a lad.
I wish I were “freekin’ brilliant” enough to write a children’s book about Gad. And what’s wrong with a “thinly veiled play on the biblical creation story?”
Absolutely nothing as long as none of your friends or family are militant fundamentalist literalist bible thumpers.
I tried to say that five times real fast and passed out.
That could happen with most words at my age.
In this computer age, you might want to name him E-Gad.
HA!
Very good oldman! Is not trouble your middle name?
It is sometimes
I say go for it. You may get some sort of Christian fatwah against you, but it’s good for PR and not nearly as dangerous as a Muslim one. Just don’t name your wizard Allan.
HA!
I could do all the gods… Buddy, the fat Asian guy… Allan the invisible guy… you can only see his beard…
Don’t forget Yahoo, the Jewish guy, Oden from Sweden, and Seuss from Greece.
I won’t
Has he an arch nemesis called Satin?
Well he didn’t, but he might now…
He could wear a lovely satin negligee too.
Don’t make this weirder than it already is…
:-p
yup
How about if you call the arch nemesis STATIN — that way you can piss off the drug companies too! A win-win!
that is freekin’ brilliant
So much talent, so little drive (me, not you)
Bo… me too
That was supposed to be no… not bo
That didn’t come out quite right, did it.
sure it did
Do a caricature of Dick Cheney but make its skin turquoise. There’s an alien no one has tried.
Bad enough we unleashed one Dick on the universe.
But just think of all the fun you could have with a Cheney alien in a religious parody…
well, I obviously need a Satan figure…