Thread by @PulpLibrarian

Al Hartley may have been famous for his work on Archie #Comics, but in the 1970s he was drawn to a very different scene: God.

For today's #MondayMotivation I look back at Hartley's work for Spire Christian Comics - a publisher determined to spread the groovy gospel...

Spire Christian Comics was an offshoot of Spire Books, a mass-market religious paperback line launched in 1963 by the Fleming H Revell company. The point of Spire was to get religious books into secular stores, so a move into comic books in 1972 seemed a logical choice.

The idea was to create comic book versions of popular Spire Books like The Cross and the Switchblade; David Wilkinson's autobiographical tale of being a pastor in 1960s New York. It had already been turned into a film, but who could make it into a comic?

Al Hartley had started his comics career in 1945, freelancing for Stan Lee across a range of titles including war, western and romance comics. In the 1960s he drew The Mighty Thor, but he was best known for his work on Patsy Walker.

However by 1967 Hartley wasn't happy...

Hartley felt "sterile, numb and filled with fear" in his work and in his life. He also hated working on Pussycat, a cheezy strip featured in Male Magazine. After attending a prayer meeting with his wife they both became born-again Christians.

Refusing to draw Pussycat any more Hartley found himself out of work, until Archie Comics snapped him up as an illustrator. Hartley began adding Christian themes into Archie (though he was later asked not to) which brought him to the attention of publishing company Revell.

In 1972 Revell asked Hartley to draw the first two Spire Christian Comics: The Cross and the Switchblade and God's Smuggler. Hartley jumped at the chance to illustrate something that was in line with his beliefs.

He also had an idea for a follow-up...

Hartley convinced John Goldwater, the President of Archie Comics, to licence his characters to Spire. In essence Hartley and Spire would create Christian Archie comics, using well-established characters to tell faith-based stories.

Almost twenty Christian Archie comics were published, with the Riverdale gang enthusing about "going steady with Jesus" and turning away from the sins of the world.

It was certainly an unexpected turn, but Spire was publishing some unique comic books...

Hansi: The Girl who Loved the Swastika (1976) was the story of naïve Sudetenlander Maria Anne Hirschmann, who grew up under Nazi and then Communist rule before emigrating to America and finding God. It was an odd choice for a comic, even if Hirschmann later became an evangelist.

Hello I'm Johnny Cash (1976) was a more straightforward biopic comic book, but Hartley didn't spare the action when it came to Cash's drug use and jail time - even if it did end in his spiritual redemption.

Alpha and Omega (1978) was a futuristic Adam and Eve story where space travellers are tempted by Lucifer to explore the forbidden Red Planet, before falling into a black hole. Hartley's action packed artwork gives a Marvel-esque feel to what is basically Christian sci-fi.

The Spire range of comics ended in the early 1980s, although Barbour & Co bought the reprint rights and reissued them under their own brand. As for Al Hartley, he went back to working on the secular version of Archie Comics.

Hartley's background with Stan Lee certainly gave Spire Comics an energetic feel. There's A New World Coming certainly depicts the Rapture in the Mighty Marvel manner. But these were all one-shot comics: Hartley and Spire didn't develop a line of Christian superheroes.

Spire Christian Comics were certainly novel, and Hartley's artwork stands up well. But did they convince kids to 'see the light'? Perhaps not. However they did sell well and they were certainly unlike anything anything the 1970s had seen before.

More stories another time...