Little Benny and Friends

Remembering Charlie Brown, Flash Gordon, and Blondie, I would often wonder why there were no Christian comics in the Sunday papers. The only Christian comic that I remember is Jack Chick Publication. I enjoyed reading his comics, and I thought there should be more like his. I didn’t think that a comic book or a newspaper would be interested in a Christian comic. So I began to draw and write Christian make believe stories and hoped that I could get them published into a book someday. It was not easy getting recognized in those days.

Before I knew what a computer was all about, I was jealous of computers. I just knew that I would not be needed as a cartoonist or an artist. I thought that computers were going to run the cartoonist and artist out of business. When I was in high school, my art teacher tried to convince me that they would always be needed to sketch out ideas. She tried to get me interested in computers, and I would not go near one. Well, here I am today and can’t keep away from them.

I remember when my mother brought my baby brother his first Tandy computer. He was very smart. That’s when I learned about “Paintbrush”. I would draw, paint , and write stories using that paint program. I became fascinated by digital comics, computer graphics, video games, and the special effects that movie makers used in movies by computer. That made me want to do a whole lot more. I needed a brand new upgraded computer with more space.

Soon, my brother had gone to college. A few years later, my mother passed away, and I needed something to do. I started sketching a man with a cigar in his mouth. I was able to scan my pictures to the computer. I would combine my art into my photos that I took with a digital camera. Combining all of my skills helped me to make my ideas better.

It was my father that told me to get the internet. I began to search for Christian cartoons online. I was shocked to see what I had found. There were Christian cartoons after all. All of the Christian cartoon sites that I had found had humor. I was no good with humor. The plain truth of the Bible was something that I knew best. Everybody was doing the same thing, and my work was totally different. When I tried to get on those sites, I was rejected right from left. I felt the spirit of God leading me a different way. Finally, I was told that my cartoons were educational and ministry type of material and not to give up. That’s when I found Blogger, and I began to publish my work there. Still, I was trying to get Little Benny known. That’s when I found a website designer, and he made a website out of Benny. Then I found www.freewebs.com and began to build my own personal site for free.  There you go. Here you can see the beginning of Little Benny.

Little Benny loved to drink and smoke cigars. He was not a rich fella, but he looked prosperous and showy whenever he smoked cigars. Little Benny loved to drink strong liquor and beer. He began to worry about his health. Sometimes Little Benny would have nightmares about his cigar. His bad dreams of cigar smoking and drinking had been pleading with him to give up the habit. Whenever he tried to give up the habit of smoking and drinking, his friends would insist on him smoking and drinking with them. Little Benny would get so drunk. He tried to please his friends and make them happy, but he was not happy. Little Benny felt something deep down on the inside of him that he should give up his smoking and drinking habit. He felt that he should live a Christian life. Little Benny was a sinner, and he lived in a world of black and white strips and frames. Drinking made him sin more because he got drunk. That’s when he would do some things that he wouldn’t normally do. He was not himself. Smoking and drinking was bad for his health. 

When Little Benny decided to be a Christian, he discovered that he had a sixth sense. His sixth sense was the Lord. Little Benny was chosen to save lost children from an evil man that also smoked cigars, drank liquor, and committed crime. When he laid eyes upon the man, he saw the demon in him that tried to take over his life. Little Benny could see what no one else could see. The evil man looked like the enemy in Little Benny’s dreams.

After Little Benny made up his mind to give up drinking and smoking, some color began to come into his life in the strips and frames that he lived in. His cigar was a monster in his bad dreams because he smoked so much. Little Benny loved smoking cigars more than he loved drinking. So the cigar was his biggest nightmare. Well, Little Benny’s cigar left his dreams because he quit smoking. When his drinking and smoking stopped, he began to think better, and his dreams became good dreams. His sixth sense grew stronger.