The Book of Ruth- a hidden gem in Indie Crowd Funded Comics!

Just last night I was emailed the digital version of a comic book I backed on IndieGoGo called "The Book of Ruth" written by Meredith Finch and with art by Colin Dyer and it's quality and impact has been a pleasant surprise.

I knew nothing about this book or it's creators until I randomly caught a live stream by Jon Del Arroz and decided on a whim to back it on his recommendation and also because I enjoyed the interview with the writer.

The story of my trying to back the book was a funny and yet frustrating one.

Since I liked what I had been hearing I desired to back the book immediately in the stream to support both creators but every time my card was declined by IndiGoGo. This worried me because I had never had a problem with the website before and started to fear there was some problem with my card. Needless to say I was unable to back the book during the live stream and this vexed me and made me paranoid for some stupid reason.

I called my credit card provider and did a few other checks and finally confirmed my credit card was fine and it must be some other reason. Eventually, while searching on Bing, I finally found out what the problem was. It seems on IndieGoGo if you try to support creators from other countries, in this case Canada if memory serves, with certain credit cards you will be rejected but not be told why. Upon figuring this out I just added a debit card to my account and was finally able to back the book successfully.

I am very glad I was stubborn and kept trying to find out what the issue was because I was surprisingly rewarded by an excellent book for my troubles! But I digress... on to the book it's self!

As you might expect "The Book of Ruth" is an adaption of the classic tale of faith in God by the woman Ruth from the Holy Bible. The setting has been adapted to more modern times, at least the depression era if you consider that modern, but all of the story and most of the dialog has remained the same.

In fact, my only minor nit pick with this book, is the unnecessary time period change. It isn't a big deal and I have to assume the author did so because they felt the change would make the story more relatable, but I would have to disagree.

First off the story of Ruth, even in her own era, is a timeless tale and would have been slightly better if it had been told in it's original format. I feel there are certain elements of the story that make less sense if it is told in more modern and American places like New York City and Texas. But, again this is a nit picky complaint on my part, and the story actually worked really well with the time change and even more so has it neared it's conclusion.

Also one would have to assume the time period change probably helped the artist create more dynamic art which might be more in line with his style and arguably might be more pleasing for the comic book style of telling a visual story.

So, with that, let's talk about the art now and the artist Colin Dyer and it is AMAZING. Maybe the best art to date out of any crowd funded book I have backed. It is that spectacular! To my shame I had never heard of this artist before, but if he isn't already well known, you can bet that he will be in time.

The amount of work and detail that he has put into this book just screams blood and tears and the book is worth having just for the art alone. While I am enjoying buying and collecting comics again because of crowd funding I must admit that the art in these "fan made" books are more often disappointing than they are not. But thankfully, the art in "The Book of Ruth" is top quality.

Everything is top notch. The line work, the detailed backgrounds and the characters themselves. A lot of budding and working artists in Indie Comics should take a note from this artist and this book as a whole.

The writing is just as good as the art as well. The book fires on all cylinders and is near perfect in it's execution!

I was also unfamiliar with Meredith Fitch's work before this book but that is something I definitely plan to change from now on.

She does an incredible job of adapting the classic tale of Ruth and the story flows well, the characters are perfectly told and all of the dialog works with the characters and their motivations. This is also another thing most of the crowd funded books have missed on as well and any aspiring writer could learn as much from Fitch's scripting as any artist could learn from Dyer's art.

This book does a great job of telling how someone like Ruth should never lose faith in God. Faith, as a Christian concept, is almost always misunderstood by non-Christians and by main stream media.

I can still remember one glaring example from going to the movies many years ago. It was from the Clint Eastwood movie "Million Dollar Baby". I haven't seen the movie since it was in theaters so you will have to forgive any memory lapses I have and I will have to paraphrase the words but I remember the issue being this:

Eastwoods character is faced with doing a deed that he fears is wrong. There is a priest that he often goes to debate and discuss issues with. This priest, if memory serves, tries to explain what faith is to Eastwood in this way:

                                       "Faith, is doing what you know to be wrong"

Now I am not a Catholic, but I am willing to bet ANY PRIEST ever would understand and define what faith is better than that. Anyone who can't should just read "The Book Of Ruth".

Faith, is about knowing that God is Good and everything He does is Good no matter how it looks to us mortals in the short term and trapped in time as we are. Faith is knowing that all goodness comes from God and understanding that His work will always work out for the greater good no matter how tough it seems at the time. Faith is us understanding that we are not as smart and as holy as God and still believing in His eternal goodness.

Ruth and her family suffer greatly in this book for seemingly no reason. While Ruth's mother in law becomes bitter and slowly starts to lose her faith in God, Ruth never does. Through every hardship she keeps a pleasant and wise spirit and never loses faith in God. Eventually over her life and even up to modern times we can slowly start to see God's plan and start to witness the fruits of Ruth's faith and her suffering.

 Eventually Ruth, against all odds finds a good and powerful husband that rescues her and her mother in law. Also because of this marriage, we get the lineage that leads to the birth of King David, a man who is after God's own heart, and he becomes a blessing to all the people of Israel. But even more important to Christians, from the loins of King David eventually we see a woman born who is given the favor of that all loving God and He touches her and blesses her with the birth of the Messiah. A birth that brings the gospel and good news and redemption to the whole of mankind.

The book of Ruth is a story about never losing faith in God and it is a story that is also about how the gentiles would also be brought into God's covenant and be redeemed as well. It is a timeless story and one worth reading and this book does an excellent job of retelling it and sharing it with the modern age. I highly recommend finding and reading this book if you get the chance. It is just that good and I cannot wait for my physical copy to come from the printers and be in my hands.

Updated: 4/27/2020- Printed book came about a week ago and it looks great. Well made and was shipped in great condition. The art I bragged about looks even better in the print version. Well worth the wait and one of the best books I've backed to date!