Here are today’s dispatches from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.

1. New graphic novel tells the story of Christmas.  From the Apostle Arts website: Founded in 2011 by Billy Tucci, Evan Archilla, and Dr. Jason Peet, Apostle Arts is the publisher of Billy Tucci’s A Child is Born.

Evan Archilla, grandson of Lost Battalion hero Lt. Colonel Eliel Archilla (featured in Tucci’s Sgt. Rock epic), first met Billy Tucci in Austin, Texas in 2010, where the two struck up an immediate friendship. “We were having dinner and I asked Billy if he felt that The Lost Battalion was his ‘Magnum Opus,’” Evan recalled. “It was then that he told me of his passion to write and draw A Child Is Born. I can’t explain it in earthly terms, but there was something in Billy’s idea that called to me, an ‘invitation’ to be a part of something larger than either one of us could comprehend.”

Within weeks, Tucci returned to Texas to discuss the project with Archilla and Dr. Peet, and Apostle Arts, LLC was formed. “What was amazing was just how in tune with each other we were about what type of comic book we wanted to read come Christmas,” Dr. Peet added, “and it soon became very apparent that we all needed to see this become reality.”

In a world of superheroes, it might seem a bit out of the norm to release a Christmas comic book, but Tucci knows that such a “leap of faith” will bring in new consumers who’ve never shopped at comic book stores before. After all, “A Child Is Born is not just another Christmas story…it is THE Christmas Story.”

1. Updating Cecil B. DeMille. From TwitchFilm.com:  Deadline reported in late September that Warner Brothers had an interest in Steven Spielberg for their Moses epic Gods And Kings and Twitch has learned that the two sides have now entered into formal talks for the job.

3.  Would the world be better off without religion? I’d say no but the issue was debated by Intelligence Squared on Tuesday night at a Manhattan  event put on by Intelligence Squared.  Participants included Science Debate President Matthew Chapman,  atheist A.C. Grayling, King’s College President Dinesh D’Souza (author of What’s So Great About Christianity) and Rabbi David Wolpe who, in 2008, was declared by Newsweek to be the “#1 Pulpit Rabbi in America.” I tried to cover the live on this blog but a tech problem put the kibosh on that. If you you’re interested in seeing the event after the fact, you can click here. Note, however, that you may need to download a specific Adobe Flash Player.

No blog tomorrow. See you Monday.

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11