Captain Absolutely | Review — Delightful Learning

Captain Absolutely Defending Truth, Justice, and Lots more Truuuth! is a juvenile comic book by Focus On The Family.

The comic book is colorful and printed on glossy pages throughout (not newsprint like I think of when I think of comic books), with black outlined boxes, classic speech bubbles of various shapes and sizes, and plenty of whams, whaps, slams, splats, thuds, and pows to draw your child into the comic book world.

At the end of the book is a section called Big Questions. These are questions designed to get kids thinking, such as "Why can't you decide good and evil for yourself?" and "What makes the Bible different from other books?", "What do you fear the most?" and "What does the Bible say about fear?". All of these questions relate to a scene in the comic book and a page number is listed next to each question.

The story begins in the Metropolitanville Library with two friends, Josiah and Darren, and an explosion. But, before I say anymore, I'm going to give Malachi a chance to tell you all about it. He found a comfy spot to read Captain Absolutely the moment it was brought in from the mail. He read the book in less than an hour, and sat down with me for an interview.

Please enjoy this brief interview with my 12 year old son to learn more about the book!

What is the comic book about?

It's about the battle between truth and opinion.

Tell me about the main character.

Captain Absolutely is a super hero who defeats bad guys.

Let me tell you how it all began...

Josiah gets blown up in the library when his friend Darren drops a sunflower seed on the nuclear powered computer. He ends up in a hidden room with some strange books he has never seen before. They were Bibles. He decides to read one while he is waiting to be rescued.

While Captain Absolutely landed in the Bible section after the explosion, his friend, Darren, landed in the philosophy section which was the area as close to the opposite of the Bible as you can get. (Bible is absolute truth, but philosophy is not.)

Is that why he's called Captain Absolutely?

Yep!

Toxic radioactive fumes fill the room while they are reading, and they turn into super heroes. They even make themselves costumes. I thought that was interesting. It took 2 days for the firefighters to get there to save them and by the time they got there, they realized they didn't need saving anymore.

So, Captain Absolutely is a super hero ready to share God's truth, and Darren is now Dr. Relative, who is a bad guy and Captain Absolutely's nemesis who makes people forget the truth because he discovered Relative Truth in the Philosophy section.

What happened next?

Captain Absolutely defeats Dr. Relative when he tries to spread a Lirus - the ultimate lie that there is no right or wrong.

Then, Captain Absolutely goes on with his sidekick, Hana, to capture the other bad guys in the Legion.

Who are the other bad guys?

The bad guys are:

Fear Chemist who discovered the formula for fear and terrifies others with it
Unifier who puts the city in danger with dangerous infrastructure
Baron Von Confuser who causes mischief and confusion wherever he goes
Cap'n Crastin who televises hypnotic propaganda
Farmer Vile who terrifies the city with vile ants and hypnotic radishes

What do you like about the book?

It's funny that the writer puts jokes and interesting tidbits throughout the book, such as Bible verses quoted by the characters.

I liked how the bad guys lived up to their names. The character bios at the end of the book helped me understand the book a lot better.

What was your favorite part?

My favorite part was when Captain Absolutely thought the department store was ransacked by the Twisted Tailor with immodest clothes, but those are just how clothes are made today. I thought that was funny.

Was there anything you didn't like?

Captain Absolutely is not a good title until you read the whole book and understand why he is named Captain Absolutely, which I understand now is because he tells the absolute truth.

Also, I think the bios should be at the beginning of the book.

And, it's interesting, but it does not flow well, so it is not as good as Adventures in Odyssey.

Thank you, Malachi, for taking the time to read and review this new comic book by Focus on the Family!

My husband who read the book to Eliana (10) and Bo (6) said:

"The comic book, Captain Absolutely was a very fun and engaging book. The pages flew by and easily captured the imaginations of our three youngest children. The characters were fun with each providing a different personality that engaged the reader. Bible verses were introduced at timely moments and through creative dialogues. I enjoyed the color, appearance, and the flow of words on the pages. Truthfully, it brought back memories of days long gone when I would read comic books."

Bo said: