by Trey Bowling & Lori Fausak
2025 / 169 pages

As the author confidently declared, “Project Artifact: the Spear is going to be the best sci-fi, dystopian, creationist, Christian graphic novel you will read this year.”

There is something special going on here. This is the Institute for Creation Research’s (ICR) very first go at a graphic novel, and the story is intriguing. We’re taken to the year 2257, where a mega-corporation, Quanticorps, rivals the nation-states in size and influence. It’s Project Artificat has, as it’s audacious goal, to decipher the secrets of man’s origin once and for all. The head scientist for the project, Dr. Gideon Gates, is operating from evolutionary presumptions, trying to use a computer holographic interface to take himself back millions of years, to examine, face-to-face, human-kind back then. Will we be half monkey?  The “spear” from the title is the artifact being used as the “key” to his holographic adventure. It is supposed to be millions of year old itself, and by analyzing it, and bringing in every bit of relevant research from around the globe, the computer should be able to shape an accurate representation of our primitive past.

But surprise, surprise, when the computer takes Dr. Gates back, the people he sees aren’t monkey-like at all. And they seemed to be building a tower of sorts. When Gates figures out the date he finds he is only thousands and not millions of years in the past. And the man in charge of this tower-building project is a king who is mentioned in the Bible – Nimrod. Hmmm..

There’s a lot going on, with Quanticorps eager to suppress Dr. Gates’s curious results. And just to add another layer, a terrorist group, the Ghosts of Liberty, is busy trying to sabotage Quanticorps. As another reviewer put it, there is a bit of a Doctor Who/1984 vibe going on here.

Cautions

If I was desperate to include a caution, I might note there is one panel in which some men from Nimrod’s time are shown bare-chested, and because we don’t see them from the waist down, you could question whether they are wearing pants. But, of course, they are.

Conclusion

This is a great fun effort by the ICR, but in fairness, it doesn’t have the artwork of a Marvel or DC comic – the drawings are solid, but not spectacular. And while the story is intriguing, I was a bit disappointed it didn’t have a proper ending. This is just Part 1 of at least a 2-part story, and there’s no indication of when Part 2 might be coming. Those are the downsides.

What makes this special is that even though there’s going to be a moral to this story – coming from the ICR we know this is going to tackle evolution – they haven’t let the message get in the way of the storytelling. It’s the story that’s got me eager to tune in for Part 2. Overall, I would recommend Project Artifact as a very solid pick for a Christian school library. Should you get it for your home library? Depends on your budget. If it is limited, then maybe get some of these other, even better, Christian comics first.

Project Artifact can be ordered from the Institute for Creation Research website here. Check out the book trailer below.