I’m Charlie Baber.  I am a Deacon in The United Methodist Church, and serve as a minister to youth and families, and love leading worship.  I studied religion and art at Gardner-Webb University, and mastered Divinity at Duke University.

As a kid, I was always reading Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes, Jeff Smith’s Bone, Gary Larson’s Far Side, Berk Breathed’s Outland, and Ben Edlund’s The Tick.  I drew full length comic books following the exploits of my anti-superhero “Mr. Pickleman” and gave copies to all my friends in High School.  I drew monthly comics for the Richmond Times-Dispatch as a kid, and then editorial cartoons for my college paper.  It’s been about 10 years since I’ve done comics on a regular basis, and had been looking for a way to use historical church figures in a comic that could raise awareness of the past, but not take it too seriously. As an adult, I have been most drawn to Craig Thompson’s Blankets, Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, Stephan Pastis’ Pearls Before Swine, and Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim.

In Div School, I thought I’d do a comic on early church fathers and Catholic saints, but never found the time to figure out how I wanted it to work.  Then in Spring of 2013, I thought I could just focus on one or two main characters who would interact with others.  If it was set in today’s culture, I could be as anachronistic as I wanted and just ignore time boundaries altogether, so characters who died hundreds of years apart could interact in person (not unlike how you or I interact with brilliant ideas from those who have gone before us).  I didn’t really think anyone would be that interested in my comic because most people don’t know all the historical facts surrounding these somewhat obscure characters.  Then I was introduced to Kate Beaton’s wildly successful “Hark A Vagrant” comic, and thought that I might have a chance (please read her stuff, it’s brilliant).  I didn’t really want to do a “Christian comic,” because…yuck.  For better or worse, Wesley Bros just worked out to be the clearest expression of my weird sense of humor combined with stuff I know a lot about.

Since 2013, Wesley Bros Comics has spawned into the UM Communications animated shorts: Wesleys Take the Web, and a collection of comics is published through Abingdon Press called Submitting to Be More Vile: The Illustrated Adventures of John and Charles Wesley.

Questions, thoughts, and Calvinist disparagement may be submitted to bemorevile@gmail.com.

Check out interviews with the author on these podcasts:

Let’s Talk About the Bible. An interview about the place of humor in theology. 9/15/2019.

http://letstalkaboutthebible.libsyn.com/interview-with-charlie-baber

Instructions for Living A Life. This one’s a more personal reflection, less on the comic and more on burnout in ministry. 4/30/2019

https://soundcloud.com/storiesiflal/ep-31-i-was-trying-to-make-everyone-happy-with-charlie-baber?utm_source=listennotes.com&utm_campaign=Listen+Notes&utm_medium=website

Get Your Spirit in Shape. Video podcast interview at the premier of the Wesleys Take the Web animated series. 7/11/2018.

http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/using-all-our-gifts-get-your-spirit-in-shape

Adventures in Revland. http://adventuresinrevland.libsyn.com, 9/4/2017

Podcast at Colloquy, Interrupted.  I had the privilege of being the first guest speaker on this great new podcast, and talk about the events that led to creating Wesley Bros Comics, as well as my most viral comic (and the humility that it was one I spent no time on).  2/17/17 https://colloquyinterrupted.podbean.com/e/15-state-of-the-media-wesley-bros/

Interview at UMCLead.com.  I had fun interviewing with the folks at UMCLead this week.  They are an organization that highlight innovation in The United Methodist Church. Find the link here: http://umclead.com/forum-friday-drawing-the-wesleys/. 4/25/14.

Interview on Episcopalian Confirmation Website.  I was interviewed on the Episcopalian Confirmation website. Check it out at this link: http://confirmnotconform.com/blog/using-comics-christian-formation-interview-wesley-bros-creator-charlie-baber.  They thought I could sway voters between John and Charles for the www.LentMadness.org brackets!  3/25/14

Wesley Bros Author Interviewed.  Check out Jason Stanley’s interview with me about the comic at this link. 1/17/14.