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Tullus: Adventures of a Christian Boy in Roman Times
A 52-page full color Christian adventure comic book.
The adventures of a Christian boy in Roman times.
Originally published by David C. Cook company in 1952. Suitable for
children of all ages.
The adventures of a Christian boy in Roman times.
Originally published by David C. Cook company in 1952. Suitable for
children of all ages.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
56 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 27, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 4, 2016
Tullus: Adventures of a Christian Boy in Ancient Rome Teenage Tullus and his friend Nereus are off on adventure in the ancient Roman empire. They’ll go through many sidetraps and pitfalls as they do their best to assist Ajax and his daughter Helena to retrieve a hidden treasure. They’ll have to pit their wits against Roman soldiers, bandits, and a wolf-worshiping clan.
I’m not Christian but I absolutely adore ancient Roman empire stories. So going into this comic, I had a little concern that the Christian views would outweigh the story. Not to fear! I really enjoyed this tale and while Christian values are incorporated, I didn’t feel they took center stage and detracted from the story.
Tullus himself kind of reminded me a young Jim Kirk. Indeed, he and Nereus have hairs cuts similar to Kirk’s and they run around doing good deeds while holding to this high moral code. While there aren’t any Red Shirts to be sacrificed to Drama, the two young heroes do manage to sway a great number of people to their way of thinking, gaining assistance throughout the story.
One of my quibbles with the tale is that there are only 2, maybe 3, female characters. Helena features at the beginning and then at the end. She has a maid servant that’s in one or two frames. If there was a third female character, I don’t recall who she was. Now, this comic was originally published 1940s-1970s, but even keeping that in mind, it’s still a little sad to see the female gender underutilized.
Helena herself doesn’t get a real personality until towards the end of the story. She does keep her wits about her (which Nereus seems to have trouble doing) and is instrumental in getting the guys out of a fix. Yet once that is accomplished, she goes back to being background.
My favorite secondary character is the Roman war horse Blaze. He definitely has his own personality! The guys save him and in turn he adopts them and assists them throughout the story.
I was a bit surprised that there wasn’t more ancient Roman empire stuff thrown in – there’s no Roman myths, holidays, or customs. There are the wolf-worshipers at the end though the author doesn’t tie them to a specific culture. While Nereus and Tullus stay in character with their views on the worshiping of a wolf god, not all the worshipers are portrayed as evil or ignorant (which is good and realistic).
Over all, I was pretty entertained by the story. It’s definitely G rated with no cussing or nudity and only mild violence. Yet the story itself is compelling enough to propel me through to the end. The inside back cover gives a short history of the Tullus comic strip, including the fact that Newton’s wife illustrated the first few runs of the comic. As a bonus, this issue has some panels of another comic, Sir Bagby, on the back cover.
I received a copy at no cost from the publisher (via Word Slinger Publicity) in exchange for an honest review.
The Illustration: The front cover, credited to Danny Frolich, is done in luscious colors and highlights. I like the image that was selected from the comic as it has a sense of mystery and imminent action to it. The internal artwork, attributed to Bob Magnusen, has a catching attention to detail: face wrinkles, arm hairs, folds in clothing, etc. The colors are rather muted compared to the cover, but enough of a pallet remains to distinguish each character. There are some frames that use predominately black and white to illicit suspense and concern for our heroes (for example, a thunderstorm scene). I was most satisfied with the illustrations for this comic.
I’m not Christian but I absolutely adore ancient Roman empire stories. So going into this comic, I had a little concern that the Christian views would outweigh the story. Not to fear! I really enjoyed this tale and while Christian values are incorporated, I didn’t feel they took center stage and detracted from the story.
Tullus himself kind of reminded me a young Jim Kirk. Indeed, he and Nereus have hairs cuts similar to Kirk’s and they run around doing good deeds while holding to this high moral code. While there aren’t any Red Shirts to be sacrificed to Drama, the two young heroes do manage to sway a great number of people to their way of thinking, gaining assistance throughout the story.
One of my quibbles with the tale is that there are only 2, maybe 3, female characters. Helena features at the beginning and then at the end. She has a maid servant that’s in one or two frames. If there was a third female character, I don’t recall who she was. Now, this comic was originally published 1940s-1970s, but even keeping that in mind, it’s still a little sad to see the female gender underutilized.
Helena herself doesn’t get a real personality until towards the end of the story. She does keep her wits about her (which Nereus seems to have trouble doing) and is instrumental in getting the guys out of a fix. Yet once that is accomplished, she goes back to being background.
My favorite secondary character is the Roman war horse Blaze. He definitely has his own personality! The guys save him and in turn he adopts them and assists them throughout the story.
I was a bit surprised that there wasn’t more ancient Roman empire stuff thrown in – there’s no Roman myths, holidays, or customs. There are the wolf-worshipers at the end though the author doesn’t tie them to a specific culture. While Nereus and Tullus stay in character with their views on the worshiping of a wolf god, not all the worshipers are portrayed as evil or ignorant (which is good and realistic).
Over all, I was pretty entertained by the story. It’s definitely G rated with no cussing or nudity and only mild violence. Yet the story itself is compelling enough to propel me through to the end. The inside back cover gives a short history of the Tullus comic strip, including the fact that Newton’s wife illustrated the first few runs of the comic. As a bonus, this issue has some panels of another comic, Sir Bagby, on the back cover.
I received a copy at no cost from the publisher (via Word Slinger Publicity) in exchange for an honest review.
The Illustration: The front cover, credited to Danny Frolich, is done in luscious colors and highlights. I like the image that was selected from the comic as it has a sense of mystery and imminent action to it. The internal artwork, attributed to Bob Magnusen, has a catching attention to detail: face wrinkles, arm hairs, folds in clothing, etc. The colors are rather muted compared to the cover, but enough of a pallet remains to distinguish each character. There are some frames that use predominately black and white to illicit suspense and concern for our heroes (for example, a thunderstorm scene). I was most satisfied with the illustrations for this comic.
June 24, 2016
I have to admit that though I love comic books, I try not to read too many of them, nor keep too many of them in our home. (They deaden the brain, right? **eye roll**) ;) Seriously, though, most of them just aren't worth keeping around. Thrillingly, THIS one is one I am more than happy to keep in our home, and will make an excellent supplement to our Ancient Rome study next time around. Best yet, it has old fashioned Christian values that are greatly lacking these days, especially in comic books.
Tullus is a Christian in ancient Rome. The story revolves around him and his friend, Nereus. Tullus was featured in "Sunday Pix" from 1949-1976, published by David C. Cook. It was created and written by Joseph(Joe) Hughes Newton, with illustrations done by his wife, Barbara. This issue is illustrated by Bob Magnusen, and is edited by Rick Norwood. I love that there's information about the comic in the front and back, so you'll get a bit of the history surrounding it. This particular issue is a reprint of the comic from the 1952 edition of Sunday Pix.
The book is put together through what used to be weekly installments, all in full color. Each page gets a week's comic, with a "to be continued" at the end. It is a year's worth of installments, and it does end with a "to be continued" on the final page. Reading along, I was able to read through the year's worth of comics quickly, but I couldn't help feeling a little nostalgic as I did so. I could just picture a young person excitedly reading each week's new addition, and then impatiently waiting another week for the next installment. The story continues on and on, though, so I also wondered how annoying it would be to get a story so slowly. I really do imagine this comic created special memories for many!
Tullus definitely has an old fashioned feel to it, and some parts of it are corny. I say the same thing about almost every classic I've read, though, even if I adored it. It seems to come with the territory of older books, especially with comic books. Helena, the female lead, made me roll my eyes a bit at her love story, but I loved the bravery and trust in God that was shown by the Christian characters. It was refreshing to read, and I want more of things like this for my boys. I greatly enjoyed making my way through the book, and I hope there will be another installment.
I loved it, and I'm thrilled to add it to our bookshelves!
*I was provided a review copy, in exchange for my honest opinion.
**Just a little information should you want to order a copy, because you can get an awesome discount: It appears that right now, you can only order the kindle version at Amazon. You CAN order a paper copy for $4.99, plus $3 shipping at comicsrevue.com. I do love my kindle, but I really do recommend the paper copy in this case. If you're ordering for Sunday school classes, or from a Christian bookstore, you can get a discount of 40% for 10 or more copies, and 50% for orders of 100 or more. (Free shipping on discounted orders!)
Tullus is a Christian in ancient Rome. The story revolves around him and his friend, Nereus. Tullus was featured in "Sunday Pix" from 1949-1976, published by David C. Cook. It was created and written by Joseph(Joe) Hughes Newton, with illustrations done by his wife, Barbara. This issue is illustrated by Bob Magnusen, and is edited by Rick Norwood. I love that there's information about the comic in the front and back, so you'll get a bit of the history surrounding it. This particular issue is a reprint of the comic from the 1952 edition of Sunday Pix.
The book is put together through what used to be weekly installments, all in full color. Each page gets a week's comic, with a "to be continued" at the end. It is a year's worth of installments, and it does end with a "to be continued" on the final page. Reading along, I was able to read through the year's worth of comics quickly, but I couldn't help feeling a little nostalgic as I did so. I could just picture a young person excitedly reading each week's new addition, and then impatiently waiting another week for the next installment. The story continues on and on, though, so I also wondered how annoying it would be to get a story so slowly. I really do imagine this comic created special memories for many!
Tullus definitely has an old fashioned feel to it, and some parts of it are corny. I say the same thing about almost every classic I've read, though, even if I adored it. It seems to come with the territory of older books, especially with comic books. Helena, the female lead, made me roll my eyes a bit at her love story, but I loved the bravery and trust in God that was shown by the Christian characters. It was refreshing to read, and I want more of things like this for my boys. I greatly enjoyed making my way through the book, and I hope there will be another installment.
I loved it, and I'm thrilled to add it to our bookshelves!
*I was provided a review copy, in exchange for my honest opinion.
**Just a little information should you want to order a copy, because you can get an awesome discount: It appears that right now, you can only order the kindle version at Amazon. You CAN order a paper copy for $4.99, plus $3 shipping at comicsrevue.com. I do love my kindle, but I really do recommend the paper copy in this case. If you're ordering for Sunday school classes, or from a Christian bookstore, you can get a discount of 40% for 10 or more copies, and 50% for orders of 100 or more. (Free shipping on discounted orders!)
June 27, 2016
Tullus is an excellent comic book that has endless pages of Christian adventures. What it's like being a Christian and in troubling times is clearly demonstrated with every page. But also, it shows that if you're strong in your faith and truly believe in God then you can conquer anything. Especially, escaping from one's enemies that are hot on one's trail. I loved every moment of reading these endless tales that bring out the same messages. Believe, stay strong, and don't give up hope even when things look hopeless. Good things can come your way if you're patience. The morals are strong and the graphics are amazing. This comic book is for all ages. Everyone who reads this will be swept up by the adventures that the believable characters go through...Overall, I highly recommend Tullus to readers worldwide.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews