Captain Absolutely -- my REVIEW

Absolute Truth. Do you talk about this with your family? I recently overheard one of my teens say to a younger friend, "You know that when they (the club they are a part of) talk about morals and integrity that ours are different, right?" I asked him what he meant by that and he said that the definition for integrity that they gave at the meeting was "doing what you think is right" and he followed that by telling the slightly younger boy, "You know what I mean, we shouldn't just do what we think is right, but what God says is right." Ah, yes! :) Glad that he has assimilated that into his own life. So much of what we are told today is to do what is right for that circumstance, or what you feel like is the best thing to do. People who follow Christ and the Bible hold to a higher standard of truth, absolute truth which finds its origin in God and the Bible.

A great tool for introducing the idea of absolute truth is this new graphic novel (aka bound comic-book style book!) produced by Focus On The Family called Captain Absolutely. Captain Absolutely is a super hero who uses Scriptural truth and some special powers that he gained through a big explosion in the library where he worked which threw him into a big set of Bibles plus a slow leak from the city's radioactive core. His arch nemesis is Dr. Relative (who used to be his friend in the library but in the same explosion he was thrown into the philosophy section...) Captain Absolutely works hard to fight against (no pictures of violence...one scene explains, "...but we shouldn't glorify violence, even when God asks us to fight for the truth") Dr Relative, the fear chemist, and a handful of other bad guys (a part of the "Legion of Bad Guys").

"Captain Absolutely: Defending Truth, Justice, and Lots More Truuuth!" :)


My 12-year old daughter has been a long-time subscriber to Clubhouse Magazine (another product of Focus On The Family) and as such already knew who Captain Absolutely was (the comic is in serial-form in the magazine, so she has read a section every month in the magazine).  She was excited to receive this book to read.  She's not a big fan of regular superheroes, but this one is more her speed :) .  I asked her to write a bit of a review on the book for this posting, here's what she gave me:

I liked this book because it gave the perspective that being a Christian isn't always easy but you have the Ultimate Truth.  I think one of my favorite characters is Hana's mom, because she loved her daughter so much that she took the responsibility (when police found the hidden Bibles.)

My daughter, at 12 years old, is definitely at the top end of the intended ages for this book.  My 15-year old son who loves superheroes read it as well (at my request) and confirmed that it was for kids younger than him :)  He did enjoy some of the humor, but it was definitely not something he would've read had I not asked him.

As a parent I really liked the range of topics that this book touched on.  Things like music and how the lyrics can lead into feelings of isolation; things like hygeine (haha!! yes, not only mom wants you to be clean!), other things such as laziness, grudges, confusion, FEAR, and more!  At the end of the comic was a little lineup of all the characters with their characteristics and Bible verses relating to each of them.  There is also a questions section at the end.

I think that this book would be a really great way for families to talk through different topics that relate to God's absolute truth.  Going section at a time might be an effective way--reading and discussing.

Captain Absolutely is a bright, eye-catching, action-filled book :)  Its pages are sturdy, this is a book that I imagine most kids in the target audience age will read without being prompted.  It'd make a great discussion book for you and your child or a great gift!  I recommend it!

You can read more reviews of this book here: