We received a review copy of Captain Absolutely from Focus On The Family a few weeks ago. My kids love graphic novels and comic books, so we were excited to dig right in to this one.
Have you or your family ever listened to Adventures in Odyssey? I grew up on the audio drama series, and this comic book is a spin-off from that! In fact, this comic was “created” by the character Wooten Z. Bassett, the zany mailman in Odyssey. The comic strip has been featured in Clubhouse magazine, which my kids also really love!
The title character, Captain Absolutely, is actually Josiah King. He becomes a superhero when he’s hanging out in the library and an explosion occurs. He got trapped, and began reading the Bible for the first time, not realizing that a leak from the city’s radioactive core was seeping into the room with him.
Throughout the 105 page softcover comic book, Captain Absolutely helps people and shares Bible truths, even when it is difficult. At the end of the story, there’s a little background information on each character, which makes for some fun reading to get to know them even more. This was my favorite part, because it includes cute factoids like their height, eye color, biggest problem, and their worldview.
You also learn a little twist about Josiah King. I don’t want to spoil it, but you might find a clue if you check out 2 Kings 22:1 in your Bible.
Finally, there are two pages of Big Questions. This references which page number you should refer back to in the comic book. This is some great character building material! Some of the questions you find are things like, “Why does obeying God sometimes make you unpopular?” or, “What’s the difference between cleverness and wisdom?”
My kids really liked this comic book! Honestly, they begged to take it to read during personal reading time starting the day it came in the mail. My 5 year old wanted to know what was going on, and my 7 year old read it several times. My 10 year old liked it as well, and I feel like he got the most out of the Big Questions at the end. He really loved the Characters section at the end, too. They all loved the silly character names, like Sloppy Joe, Edward Snooze, Lord Foulspleen, and Farmer Vile.
This would be an easy read for a middle school kid, but my elementary kids enjoyed it all. The colors and text were engaging and interesting. There was a lot of action in the book, which hooked my guys. There were some silly things that happened that my kids had to stop reading and come share with me so I could enjoy it, too. How great is it when a kid enjoys reading something so much that they have to tell someone else about it?
I liked that the book was a clever way to teach good character to my elementary boys without lecturing or making them read a textbook. They love comics, so this was a natural fit for us. Now that they’ve read this one, they are interested in checking out more episodes of Adventures in Odyssey that feature Wooten. They think “his” imagination in creating the character was great and want to hear what else he has to say.
If you’re looking for a light read for your kids this summer with a strong Christian message of strength, truth, and justice, do check out Captain Absolutely! It retails for just $9.99, so it’s affordable, too.
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