The story behind the Comic Bible Society
Kingstone was formed in 2004 while Art Ayris was working as a youth pastor with a large outreach to unchurched teens. Struggling to find appropriate materials for the Biblically illiterate youth he encountered, he saw teens sprawled in bookstores reading manga and comics. Art began to envision the opportunity to create an enticing spiritual option for the youth.
After creating a few comics to serve as prototypes, Ayris began raising capital and recruiting artists with Marvel and DC backgrounds. In 2012, Kingstone began the production of the most complete graphic adaptation of Scripture ever attempted. By 2017, the Kingstone Bible trilogy was a finalist for Christian Book of the Year in the Children’s Category.
Even before the volumes were finalized, numerous Bible translators and missionaries began approaching Ayris saying, “We need this in our language.” Simultaneously, requests from prisoners began pouring into the Kingstone offices. In response to this, in 2020 the non-profit Comic Bible Society was formed to provide royalty-free licenses to language partners as well as to provide a conduit to deliver comic Bibles and Christian comic books to prison inmates.
In 2023, Art transitioned the Director role of President of the Comic Bible Society to Brandon B. Brandon is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and has conducted mission work in over 20 countries.
The Comic Bible Society currently partners with SIL and Wycliffe translators, Ethnos 360, Voice of the Martyrs, Reach Beyond, and numerous Bible societies worldwide to deliver a Bible to people in a medium they can understand.
The following core beliefs guide the content which is promoted by the Comic Bible Society.