August 2020
I’m excited to be here today and to share Pillar of Light: Joseph Smith’s First Vision with you. When Sal Velluto and I started this project back in February of 2019. We had a great collaboration with Sal doing the penciling, inking, and art direction and I was primarily over the script, historical details and coloring, and we definitely had crossover in many areas. We had several objectives we wanted to achieve with Pillar of Light.
The first was to create a visual harmony of the First Vision accounts. Many of the youth will never read the different accounts of the First Vision or compare them, but they may encounter the charges on the internet that the accounts contradict each other. We wanted to show them that they complement each other and harmonize.
Second, we wanted to make a creative visual representation of elements of the vision not shown in film or art before. Things that are described in his words have been difficult to translate into film. We wanted to show some of those.
Third. We wanted to create a book that was historically and doctrinally accurate, since this event is held sacred by so many. We wanted to make sure we didn’t take liberties that wouldn’t hold up to the historical account or that would require disclaimers.
Fourth, we wanted to use the graphic novel format to tell the story in a visual way that is different from films and non-sequential illustrated books. The graphic novel format impacts the viewer in a way that is a hybrid between film and non-sequential illustrated books that allows the viewer to control the pacing of the experience.
Fifth, we wanted the project to generate new thoughts and ideas on what the First Vision might have meant to Joseph, and what it might mean to us. Were there meaningful or symbolic elements to the Vision we could see in a new light or a new way that could give us additional insights into the nature of God, the Adversary, and our relationship to him? We found the answer to be a resounding YES. We’re going to share some of these with you today.
Sixth, we wanted our project to be a catalyst for the Holy Ghost to testify of the truth of the First Vision to any who see it. Many of you have experienced how powerfully the Holy Ghost comes into a discussion when we testify of the First Vision. We hope this can be a doorway to that witness.
Seventh, We wanted to give this as a gift to the youth inside and outside of the church and as part of the 200th anniversary of the First Vision. So the plan from the beginning was to make our book available online for free. We’ve succeeded. It’s available right now at www.latterdaysaintcomics.com. We hope you will help us share it with the youth of the world by sharing it with the youth you know, your families, and youth leaders around the world.
We’re working on getting it translated into Italian, Spanish, German, and other languages.
Since a picture is worth 1,000 words we are excited to take you through the pages of Pillar of Light and show you the First Vision in a way you’ve never seen before.
2. Cover
Here on the cover we show how the First Vision was a nexus of events. Joseph’s upbringing, the religious revivals of the time, the influence of his parents, and God’s decision to choose Joseph and restore the gospel at this time.
The two contrasting forces of light and darkness are shown. Revelation vs confusion.
Symbols of seeds, planting, the law of the harvest, and the hard work associated with maple sugar production/receiving answers. We see the firefly, a symbol of enlightenment and the new growth of the restoration symbolized in the vines growing up from below to surround the image.
We see the angels from Heaven, the Father and the Son. The Bible opened to James 1:5, And Joseph’s parents are shown.
3. Page 1-Waking Up
The story starts at the end of the vision and will end just like it begins (going full circle).
Joseph’s complete exhaustion is often not portrayed. Here we see him unconscious and awakening. We show him working at being able to stand, which for a young healthy farm boy is saying a lot. The text explains that the feelings of calmness and peace indescribable lasted many days.
The spots of light shown here and throughout are symbolic of God’s inspiration and revelation.
4. Page 2-Leaving the Grove
Now we see Joseph leaving the grove. Weather records show there were 23 inches of snow in the first two weeks of March. We think there may have still been some snow on the North sides of the trees. It makes for a great symbol of the winter of apostasy.
We show the new growth coming out of the snowy ground and it represents the Spring of a new dispensation. We have a fallen dead tree in the foreground, also symbolic of the apostasy.
On the trees you see maple taps and sap buckets, which would have been prevalent on the maple trees throughout the farm. The Smith’s had likely tapped over 500 maple trees on their property.
5. Page 3-Joseph’s Family
Here we see the log home and the rest of the Smith family at their ages in 1818, 2 years before the first vision. In the text we emphasize that Joseph started his search at age 12, a point often overlooked, that his search lasted 2 years.
Joseph’s large family and work ethic played an important role in his life. To quote Daniel Peterson “In order to pay for their farm, the Smiths were obliged to hire themselves out as day laborers. Throughout the surrounding area, they dug and rocked up wells and cisterns, mowed, harvested, made cider and barrels and chairs and brooms and baskets, taught school, dug for salt, worked as carpenters and domestics, built stone walls and fireplaces, flailed grain, cut and sold cordwood, carted, washed clothes, sold garden produce, painted chairs and oil-cloth coverings, butchered, dug coal, and hauled stone. And, along the way, they produced between one thousand and seven thousand pounds of maple sugar annually.[2] “
Here we show Hyrum, Alvin, and Joseph working in Hyrum’s cooper shop and Joseph’s sisters selling homemade goods.
Joseph was used to hard work, and his search for truth was hard work.
6. Page 4-Different Churches
A. We know that the Second Great awakening was in part a response to the construction of the Erie Canal and the influx of workers, alcohol, gambling and other vices. Some of the preachers came there to combat what they viewed as depravity and to save these working people from spiritual damnation.
B. Here in the center panel we show Lyman Beecher standing on a wagon. He was part of the temperance movement so we see that his sermon has already influenced one man to pour out his alcohol. Lorenzo Dow is shown in the bottom left, followed by Charles Grandison Finney in the bottom center panel.
C. We also introduce the idea of the darkness of confusion, doubt, and the influence of the adversary shown by these dark dots around Joseph and on the different preachers. It’s also symbolic of the decay or corruption of the doctrines and the church that happened as a result of the apostasy. These will come up later in the confrontation with Satan and represent Joseph’s doubts and fears being used against him.
7. Page 5-Camp Meetings
This shows Joseph 2 years later. The stakes have been upped and the intensity of his search increases.
We based this scene on an actual folk painting of a Methodist camp meeting.
You can see one of the participants is falling down in what they thought was a spiritual feeling. Again you see the dark spots of confusion from the adversary. Joseph said he wanted to “feel what the others felt, but felt nothing.” I would bet that later in his life he would realize that these feelings he wasn’t having were imitations of the Holy Ghost.
As Joseph is accused by these preachers we can see how Joseph’s search for the right church could have also been directly connected to his statement that he was concerned for the welfare of his own soul. This addresses the criticism that the different accounts cite different reasons for Joseph’s prayer. Going to these fiery sermons would definitely make a young person question whether they were saved or not. It’s a chicken and the egg loop, but whether he started searching for the true church and then started wondering about his own soul, or the reverse, they can clearly both be true statements.
This page also creates a contrast to the next page, where Joseph compares how he viewed the preaching and teaching compared to what he sees in nature.
8. Page 6-Fireflies
We based this scene on the 1832 account where Joseph mentions seeing God’s creations and knows God cannot be the author of confusion. This is the moment where Joseph begins to receive light and inspiration, symbolized by the fireflies that surround him. These bursts or spots of light represent the opposite of the dark dots of doubts, fear, and confusion. They are sudden flashes of insight. The First Vision shows us so many opposites.
Joseph speaks about God’s creations moving in harmony as evidence of the divine creator, so we had this movement of the stars shown around Polaris, and behind the firefly.
Polaris is the North star and is fixed in its location. It is a symbol of Jesus Christ and eternal truth.
9. Page 7-Lucy’s experience
This story comes from The History of the Prophet Joseph Smith by his Mother: Lucy Mack Smith. This is the only page that has material that is not directly referenced in Joseph’s accounts.
We know both Joseph’s Father and Mother strongly influenced him, but we didn’t want to get off too far away from Joseph’s story. Joseph felt pressure from inside and outside the family. We really wanted a page that indicated the impact of his parents and how his confusion was compounded by a conflict of allegiance to people he trusted/loved.
The page reads like this. “My mother had encouraged me to seek the Lord after she had been spared from death years earlier. Lucy says “After the Doctors told me I would die, I prayed and made a solemn covenant with God,that, if he would let me live, I would endeavor to serve him. Shortly after, I heard a voice say. “Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Let your heart be comforted; ye believe in God, believe also in me.”
I was healed, And I have sought to keep my covenant and to seek the Lord ever since. Joseph, You must also seek the truth. God loves you and wants you to believe in Him and be saved.”
We felt like Lucy’s near-death experience she recorded would have really had an effect on Joseph, especially since the admonition she is given by God is “Seek and Ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened.” This seems like a foundational idea that would have contributed to Joseph’s intense feeling when he reads James 1:5.
It also explains why Lucy felt so strongly about her children joining a church and getting baptized.
10. Page 8-James 1:5
This page is one of our favorites. We did 3 different versions of it until we felt we got it right. We really wanted to show that this was the tipping point for Joseph’s 2 year search. We sometimes quickly go through this moment in talking about the First Vision without giving it enough credence. Joseph had been trying with all the means he had for two years, studying the Bible, listening to sermons, going to camp meetings, and he had come up empty. The frustration in his tone to me is very telling.
This moment when he finally has that inspiration by the spirit through James 1:5 and knows the answer is to asking God directly. It’s the opposite intensity to the confusion, contention, and darkness he had felt before.
This page is a visual representation of the statement from the Orson Pratt account where he says that for Joseph reading James 1:5 was “like a light shining forth in a dark place, to guide him to the path in which he should walk.” We chose to show this scene at night so that there could be this contrast between the light and the darkness.
So you have this side of the page with darkness, then this side giving way to the inspiration of the spirit symbolized by the candle and the light of the candle being much brighter than it really would have been, and then him going outside to see the fireflies again adding to the symbol of the inspiration from the God of nature and Heaven. He’s also standing up and closing the Bible, symbolic of the idea that he’s found the way to learn the truth and it’s not from as he puts it “an appeal to the Bible”.
11. Page 9, Walking to the Grove
A.There are some indications the day he went to pray may have been after one of the maple runs. So we have shown here the large kettles and the rigs used to boil the sap to make the sugar.
B. The statement that it was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day was something memorable to Joseph, for him to mention it in his accounts. It was perhaps an indication that things hadn’t been very clear or beautiful in the days or weeks previously. So we have some snow lingering on the ground beneath his feet as he walks to the Grove.
C. Why wasn’t he working on this particular morning? We don’t know for sure. Perhaps it was a Sunday. Perhaps he just asked for some time alone, perhaps he told his parents he needed to go get his axe.
12. Page 10. Arrival in the Grove-Axe in stump
The 1843 David Nye White account references Joseph was returning to a clearing where he had been working the day before and had left his axe. This also seems to be a reference not only to the hard work they were always doing but also the possibility that he had been working to cut wood to keep the fires continually burning to refine the maple sap, which will sour like milk, if it’s not refined within a very short time.
Perhaps Joseph had left his axe because he had been carrying bundles of wood and didn’t have a free hand to bring his axe. You can see here a bundle of wood behind the axe that perhaps he had made but not yet brought back.
We also see the adversary’s presence appearing in the form of the darkness in the panels as well as the dark dots of doubt and fear we showed previously spilling into the page. There’re also these black vines in the corner that encroach on the page and are offset with green versions to create a sense of vertigo and unease.
13. Page 11, Sounds of walking
Now we see the adversary’s presence is increasing. Several of the films and art avoid the issue of the adversary in the grove. We felt like this is one of the most understated parts of the First Vision. In the 1835 account, Joseph states three times that he heard a noise like a person walking towards him. We know the adversary has a spirit body, not a physical body, but he seems to be affecting the physical world. Joseph being an outdoorsman, identified sounds better than most of us, and he specifically identifies it three times in the 1835 account as the noise of walking, and that the sound gets closer.
So we choose to show the adversary’s hands, legs, and feet here. Some of the details are behind this top panel. In the next few pages we portray the adversary in different sizes and forms because not only is he a spirit, but the evil of the adversary has many forms, and he is the ultimate evil, the Author of all sin, the Father of lies. It also communicates that Joseph is having his First Vision of Satan here as well, the first time he really comprehends that Satan is real and what some of his powers and intentions for stopping the work of God and Joseph Specifically would be.
Joseph mentions trying to pray again but feeling like he couldn’t. Preventing Joseph from praying becomes more and more aggressive as the account progresses. There are some differences in the 2nd hand accounts of how much success Joseph has in resisting the adversary, so we went with what the First hand accounts indicated, which was that the attack became more intense until the moment he is delivered.
14. Page 12, Seized
Here we see Joseph spring to his feet and look around. The perspective becomes distorted as the adversary is allowed to show his power over Joseph and his senses, and even perhaps the environment.
We see a distorted reality from Satan’s point of view as he attacks at the first mention of “God”. We thought it would be interesting to show perhaps how Satan see’s Joseph’s spirit in his body and how the world for Satan is colorless and empty.
Then Joseph says he was “seized by some force which entirely overcame him.” That’s an interesting word. Seized. Almost as if Joseph is expressing a physical wrestle, since Joseph was known to be a wrestler. We show him being seized by the arms and twisted.
We see Joseph’s arms and tongue bound by the darkness, almost a disease, an infestation or corruption going into him. Those dark spots of doubt and fear are now choking him.
The page is tinted with a sickly yellow green, and we decided to use images of water and drowning to illustrate how Joseph might have felt under this assault. Satan is mentioned in D & C 61:19 as riding upon the face of the waters, so it seemed to be an apt symbol.
15. Page 13. Thick darkness gathered around me
A. Here we see the full onslaught of the darkness of the adversary. Remember, this is meant to be a contrast to the light and glory of the Father and the Son which we will soon see.
B. How serious was this attack? Sometimes this idea is overlooked. Joseph’s use of words is key. He wants us to understand that this is not happening in his imagination. He says this was not an “imaginary ruin”. This is very real, very threatening, and very deadly.Joseph says he “thought I would be destroyed”, and that he felt “doomed to sudden destruction.”
C. Joseph also only ever refers to a single being. So we show the face of the adversary in the midst of all this darkness to show this is all coming from a single being. Isn’t it interesting that God restricted the adversary in this instance and did not allow Satan to bring along his fellow fallen spirits? We have other examples of Satan appearing with hosts of his fellow fallen spirits, but not here. Is there a lesson God wants us to learn? The adversary is ultimately alone, no family, no children, no ancestors. It is the Father and the Son that are a part of a family, a group, unified in purpose, who invite us to join them and remain a part of their family in eternity. Satan has ultimately forsaken that family by his rebellion and wants everyone else to be miserable and alone like he is.
D. We went back and forth on how to convey Satan’s thick darkness. I’m really pleased with how it turned out. Just showing an all black page with just Joseph showing seemed insufficient. So we show the adversary’s presence as filthiness and corruption. Almost like a waterfall of gross filthiness. He is corruption. He does not create things. He corrupts things and turns them to his purposes. So he has elements of the natural and animal world, but they are corrupted and filthy. He is the author of all sin, which ultimately makes us unclean also until we repent. Joseph is being made to feel filthy and unworthy.
E. Joseph is being put down, compressed and lies in a fetal position. It’s like the process of birth in reverse. Joseph is being symbolically reduced almost to his premortal state, symbolic of the war in heaven against the adversary that has now resumed here on earth.
16. Page 14. Filled my mind with doubts
Here we show some more of what this attack might have consisted of.
Joseph is disoriented, we show him upside down, coughing. The dark dots of doubts and fears are at full strength on this page, now choking Joseph.
The Orson Hyde 1842 account says Satan filled Joseph’s mind with doubts and he was severely tempted with all kinds of inappropriate images. We spent a lot of time trying to decide what the doubts and images would be and what we should try to show.
We decided to add dialog of doubts he would have had during his quest for the truth, and that many of us probably feel when seeking answers from God, such as “God won’t answer you, you’re not worthy. God doesn’t know who you are. He doesn’t care about a dirty farm boy.” It’s the opposite of what he learned in James 1:5. This creates the contrast that happens later when The Father and the Son call him by name.
We indicated the filthy images via these skulls because ultimately the wages of sin are death.
Satan tries to crush Joseph’s head with his heel, which is meant as, as a mockery of Genesis 3:15.
17. Page 15. In the Grip of the Adversary
As the battle continues, we show how Joseph’s struggle was real but that he was reaching the end of his ability to resist.
You see his little bit of energy that he had been using to resist getting crushed by the hand of Satan and disappear.
We have this mixture of transparency, where you see that Satan has power, but he’s still a spirit, but obviously still able to affect the physical world.
We wanted to show that even though God was about to deliver him (shown by the glowing yellow light appearing on the right) from Joseph’s point of view he was about to “abandon himself to destruction” and this was his moment of “greatest alarm.”
We also wanted to convey that this encounter has left Joseph wounded, if not physically, then definitely emotionally and spiritually wounded. We see tears running down his face.
Satan’s powers begin to melt away when the light appears. The light of God will first penetrate it and then disintegrate it.
18. Page 16. The appearance of the Pillar of Fire.
The Heavens are open. A pillar of FIRE and LIGHT is funneled down. There’s a cone of fire in the center and the red and orange colors reflect on the vegetation. In the 1835 account Joseph describes the pillar as flame, in the 1832 account he writes fire then crosses it out and writes light. The 1838 account says Pillar of Light.
We wanted to show how it could be both, with tongues of fire, rings of fire, and light. Also how Joseph see’s the Pillar descending at a distance and it is traveling down to Earth. Seeing the Pillar was separate from seeing the beings.
Interestingly, if you look up “Pillar of Fire” on wikipedia it says “A pillar of fire was one of the manifestations of the presence of the God of Israel in the Torah” So those of the Jewish Faith recognize the Pillar of Fire as a manifestation of the presence of God.” Lehi even sees a Pillar of Fire before his vision of God.
The grasp of darkness dissipates from around Joseph. The presence of darkness can’t stand the light. We see the symbolic hand of the adversary dissolving in the corner and releasing it’s grasp on Joseph. He’s been delivered from the enemy which held him bound.
19. Page 17. Pillar surrounds Joseph
We show Joseph’s realization (mentioned in the Orson Pratt account) that this Pillar might catch the trees on fire, and his association with light, heat, and fire.
All of Joseph’s experience on the farm with cutting and burning wood gives him a very keen understanding of the power of fire and how quickly trees can burn. The maple trees were an important source of income for the Smith’s, so it’s a very practical concern to think of the effect on the trees.
Sal had this great idea of showing symbolic DNA strands in the Pillar representing how God is a God of order, creation, and I think it’s also a beautiful symbol for how each of us is a child of God. We have God’s spiritual DNA in our spirits, and Joseph is about to learn the very personal nature of his relationship with God as a son.
Joseph wonders if he can endure the presence of this pillar, it’s that powerful at a distance.
This is a Holy enclosure, similar to a Temple experience, So we used colors that were used in the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. Reds, blues, and golds or yellows.
20. Page 18. Transfiguration
We wanted to show the contrast of being pushed down, under the heel and hand of the adversary, with being lifted up by God and raised up on his feet. The scripture from 3rd Nephi 27:14 comes to mind where the Savior says.
14 And my Father sent me that I might be alifted up upon the bcross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the ccross, that I might ddraw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be ejudged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil.
Joseph is being lifted up by the Father to stand before Christ.
We also wanted to show that Joseph was experiencing healing, and also the process of transfiguration that had to have happened for Joseph to endure the presence of God. This is not really ever referenced in the films. But Joseph had to have gone through this process.
Joseph experiences feelings of comfort, peace, and unspeakable joy, the opposite of the fear and despair from Satan. Again, the whole vision shows the opposites again and again.
21. Page 19. The appearance of the Father and the Son
Joseph’s feet come to rest on the ground. He is now transfigured and ready to endure the presence of deity.
The Pillar completely surrounds him. He is inside the Pillar, which is not usually shown. Joseph stated in the 1842 account that his mind was taken away from the objects with which he was surrounded. It’s an immersive experience.
Several accounts state that one being appeared first, and then the second after a time. So we show this process, and that they exactly resembled each other in form and likeness. We intentionally avoided showing a specific skin color since Glorified beings appear brilliant and shine, so color is 2nd to the light.
22. Page 20. The condescension.
Here we have the personal nature of the visit. Joseph is called by name by the Father. God does know this farm boy. He knows him personally, he has heard his prayer. The tongues of fire and glory surround him. The Father introduces the Son. “Joseph, Behold, this is my beloved son, hear him.” Which is combined text from the accounts which adds the word “Behold”.
The Savior is“descending down to speak.” This is meant to be another symbol of the condescension of God. Christ is condescending to speak with Joseph at his eye level. It’s also symbolic of the reality that God is willing to speak to all of us.
23. Page 21. A personal view of the Savior’s hands
As the Savior speaks we are using a subjective camera angle here and the following page so that the reader will feel like Christ is speaking to them. We hope this makes the vision feel very personal.
Christ testifies of himself. Answers Joseph’s question about forgiveness, even before Joseph asks it. “Thy Sins are forgiven thee.” Christ speaks to the reader. The First Vision is really a vision for all of us. It’s a message from the Father and the Son to all of us. They know our names, they love us. They want us to repent.
The Father is shown with His hand on the Savior’s shoulder. They are one. This underlines the idea that the Son speaks for and represents the Father.
The words “I was crucified for the world, that all those who believe on my name shall have eternal life” are underlined by the marks of the nails in the Savior’s hands and wrists. This is a very personal moment, almost like when Christ appeared to his apostles and to the Nephites after his resurrection. We brought this very close to the viewer, again like the viewer is having the vision.
Joseph’s words “As soon as I was able to get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak” take on more meaning to me in the context of what he has just been shown.
Now that the question of his own forgiveness has been answered the question of which church to join remains, which he asks.
24. The Savior’s Face and message.
Here on we combined the text from all the First hand accounts to try to recreate everything Joseph says was said to him. We also added the line from the 2nd hand account by Levi Richards where he mentioned that the everlasting covenant has been broken.
“Join none of them. They are all wrong. None of them is acknowledged of Me as My church and Kingdom. All their creeds are an abomination in My sight. Those professors are all corrupt. They have all departed from the right way. You must not go after them. Behold the world lieth in sin at this time and none doeth good, no not one. They have turned aside from the Gospel, broken the Everlasting covenant, and keep not my commandments.They have forsaken God, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.They teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”
Slide 2. These seemingly harsh words from the Savior about his people forsaking him and his doctrines are delivered by the Savior with tears of love and compassion. We learn along with Joseph that even though God is a God of justice, he is also a God of mercy and He is able to extend it to us through the Savior.
25. The Mercy seat.
A. As the conversation continues we read, “Mine anger is kindling against the inhabitants of the earth, to visit them according to this ungodliness, and to bring to pass that which hath been spoken by the mouth of the prophets and Apostles. Behold and lo I come quickly, as it was written of me, in the cloud, clothed in the glory of my Father. Be faithful, and the fullness of the gospel will at some future time be made known unto you.”
B. The tongues of fire begin to transform into wings of fire, which is meant to recreate the Mercy seat on the top of the arc of the covenant in the holy of holies. The colors of blue, red, and gold again are the same colors found in the sanctum sanctorum as described in the old testament.
26. Apotheosis
Here’s our grand finale. The apotheosis of Joseph Smith. Isn’t this fantastic? Sal really outdid himself on this image. As Steven Harper wrote in our forward “Pillar of Light is the best thing I have seen at describing what defies description.”
We waited until the last scene to show the detail that he mentioned seeing many angels. We didn’t want to show the angels earlier because we didn’t want to distract from the Father and the Son, which are obviously more important and more glorious than the angels. This is something that has been written about by others as a consistent event for Prophets to see the vision of the divine council at the same time as seeing the vision of God. Pearl of Great Price Central has a great article on this subject.
We decided to show angels that would play a role in the upcoming restoration. Moroni holding the plates, John the Baptist, Peter, James, John, Elijah, Elias, Moses. We also gave some indications of some angelic women as well. Each of the specific angels holds a key or has a key on their person indicating that they would be restoring keys.
We also show the full cherubim from the top of the Arc of the Covenant, again indicating the mercy seat.
27. Full circle
In the final page we come full circle and acknowledge that Joseph has been narrating these accounts as an adult. He is looking back on his experiences in his telling. Joseph is holding a copy of an 1842 “Nauvoo” version of the Book of Mormon (5th edition), the last to be published before Joseph’s death (1844) and after all the accounts had been given ( Last being Neibaur 1844)
I always find these words stirring “I had actually seen a light. and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me and though…..I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it!”
28. Conclusion.
We hope you have enjoyed our visual testimony of the First Vision and that you have been inspired in some way. We hope you will share the book.
It’s FREE.
We know that Joseph Smith’s First Vision is true and we hope this project helps to strengthen testimonies and be a catalyst for the Holy Ghost to testify of the truth of the Vision.
Q&A
Q 1: Most people think when you are talking about gospel subjects it should be in a dense, lots of words, scriptural-like words, Church history, 300 or 400 page book. How do you feel about that? Do you have any thoughts on that?
A 1: [Sal] I say the answer is “yes”! You see all those words. Very dense words, but many of them are pictures. Each of those pictures is 1000 words, so we have three million, four hundred thousand words in there. The words are there. The information is there in the pictures.
Q 2: As the Church becomes increasingly multicultural and international, Latter-day Saint artists like yourselves should also anticipate and adjust for such. What current or future projects do you have that appeals to this growing demographic? What future projects?
A 2: [Sal] I am involved right now in a very interesting project for the values [?] market, which is a Western story, which is set in Lehi, Utah, 1870. It portrays a famous historical figure that we all know and love, Orrin Porter Rockwell. He is coupled with a very famous comic book character in Italy which is called Tex Miller [?]. That has been one of my dream projects. Joseph Smith’s Vision was another among many others that I have had the opportunity to do.
That is the one in the works. It is very interesting. In regular comic books for the first time we are going to show Joseph Smith giving Porter Rockwell his blessing to become the modern Samson as a defender of the faith.
Q 3: Interesting. So going on with the international theme on this, you mentioned it a little bit in your talk already, Andrew, but how can we get this comic to a broader audience? What languages are we thinking of moving this to?
A 3: [Andrew] Right now Italian is almost done; German is being worked on; Spanish is being worked on, and the French translation. There are great stories all over the world from members of the Church, and their pioneering in their lands.
Joseph Smith is our story, no matter where you live, no matter what country you are in, the story of Joseph Smith’s First Vision is the world’s vision. Even though it did have to happen in one place, to one ethnicity, and one culture, and one time, it doesn’t mean that it is limited in its scope. That is what we hope appeals about this project is that the truths that Joseph experiences and the things he learned, they are not limited to one culture. They are not limited to frontier America, which none of us in America now live in that. We don’t live in frontier America, so it is a foreign culture to us, in many ways as well.
[Scott Gordon: That is very true. I don’t see a whole lot of cowboys scurrying around, although there are a few.]
Q 4: This is incredible!!!! From your summation points that there was clearly a lot of work and thought that went into this. What was your favorite part of creating this expansive work of art in history?
A 4: [Sal] The creation process itself was a surprise. It was something that we learned not to take for granted. When we first started this project we didn’t even know how many pages it was going to be, and how we were going to show certain things. We had to kind of labor through stages in order to get the one thing taken care of, and then have the next come to the fore and be explored. We did a lot of sketches and stuff for each of those pages, the conversions.
There was a point in time when we could tell “this is what we need.” Even at that point, from the sketch to the finished page there are many, many other steps that you have to take. Going through all those steps you receive the inspiration necessary to convey. You get the confirmation that this is what it needs to be there. We were trying not just to tell a story just from a visual point of view, but also from a spiritual point of view. We were trying to put symbols there, and then the story could be read on a symbolical value. It is something that you read it many times, and you are going to read it a different way. That was one of our favorite things, to get to that point.
In my experience, in my career in comics, (I have been doing this for more than 30 years) those moments of illumination, I have had them, but not as frequently as this. Also the opposite part, there were moments of frustration where you couldn’t get it, you couldn’t get it. You had to tune yourself, get yourself in the right behavioral pattern in order to produce that. It was not just a page or two; just the whole process, every page was like that. What we ended up with, looking back, we did not even know we were going to get there. It has been a pleasant surprise for us.
Q 5: Did you find this to be more difficult or less difficult than doing your traditional Black Panther comic, or some other comic like that?
A 5: [Sal] I can tell you, just the page of depicting the face of Christ was a huge challenge. I think, for an artist who believes, that’s always something. How do you face that?
At the beginning we were talking together, musing to each other. How do you represent perfection?
We were talking about the Golden Mean, and divine proportions, and all that stuff and how they should reflect, even symbolically, with the figure, the features of Christ’s face.
But even that was not satisfactory. It had to be something that reflected the idea of compassion. Only when we were getting close to that expression, no Golden Mean, no nothing, that was the fulfillment of that search, of that struggle.
Q 6: I am sure that there were times when you felt the Spirit when you were doing this as well.
A 6: [Sal] It was scary! I felt kicked in the rear many times for things that I should have done, and that I didn’t.
Q 7: Did you, Andrew and Sal, have a favorite scene in the book?
A 7: [Andrew] The end scene was amazing. Sal had been thinking about how to do that as we were getting closer. We were looking at these pictures of videos of wormholes and space, trying to get inspiration from these things. When that last page came together, (we had finished the final page, page 26, earlier) but we finished that last page on March 26; [that] was the day we finished that.
That was just “WOW!” I have a framed print of that up on the wall in my office. So that is my favorite page.
Q 8: The division of labor, (you talked about this a little bit in your talk) could you reiterate again, identify who did what?
A 8: [Andrew] Sal did the penciling, the drawing and the inking, which is turning the pencil into pen and ink, black and white.
The art director decided the colors. I did the coloring of the images. The art director had an idea in mind of how he wanted the colors to look.
I had written the script adaptation from the different accounts, but Sal also was reading those accounts and he would occasionally mention something that he had read and we would add that in.
This was very collaborative on all the elements
I would do the lettering, which is placing the words, and Sal would say, “Probably move it here.”
Very collaborative, but we had a breakdown of the work.
[Scott Gordon:This certainly wasn’t an on-the-fly project. This is definitely a lot of thought and hard work went into this.]
Q 9: How on earth did you approach depicting the indescribable? It is hard to articulate. I feel like the apotheosis scene should be framed in a museum. It is remarkable. [So just a comment.]
Q 10: Will this be available as a printed book? Is Pillar of Light available in a hard copy?
A 10: [Andrew] Yes, you can get it at the FairMormon bookstore! We can’t give away, obviously, the printed book for free. But it is available in print that way. We don’t have a hard-back out yet; we might. We will see how that goes.
Please support FairMormon and buy it at the FairMormon bookstore!
The online version is free. I like having a physical book in my hand, myself. But we also knew that across the world on the Internet we could share it digitally that way.
Q 11: Are there any final thoughts that either of you would like to give?
A 11: [Sal] This has been the culmination of many years of work, and dreams. Looking back at what each of us has done before this, my career, except for a few years when I worked for the Church illustrating the lives of the prophets, has always been into the field of superhero comics; but all of that, looking back, looks like it has been a preparation for this.
Comics are a great way to communicate, incredible way to communicate, but they are disposable. This was not.
Andrew can talk for himself, in his career as an illustrator, he has been prepared for this as well.
[Andrew] I had the original idea all the way back in 2003 of doing this, but I couldn’t pull it together. I didn’t have the skills that Sal has, but it was geling on my mind.
When I had approached Sal about doing it several years before we started, he was busy. His schedule was full.
He had had a pretty serious medical issue that he was overcoming. I feel like part of the reason why he is still here, (only part of the reason) was to do this project. Very unique to have someone of his skill level be able to do a project like this.
We knew that this was important. The First Vision belongs to the world, specifically the Latter-day Saints. We all had very strong feelings about this.
I have strong feelings. When I see art, being an illustrator, I am probably a little more critical. I didn’t want to do a project that we couldn’t do right. If we couldn’t do it right, I didn’t want to do it at all.
I didn’t have the skill and the drawing and the story telling that Sal has from his years of experience.
When he agreed to do it, and it came together, we actually didn’t know when we started in February of 2019, we hadn’t actually realized that the 200th anniversary was the next year. That was not a coincidence.
As we started going, we realized a couple of months in, that “Wait! Next year is the 200th anniversary of the First Vision! Wow!”
We felt the inspiration. I felt that different times when we were working on it, we had ideas that came to us, ways of portraying and telling and changing the way we were doing things.
We did feel inspired and we hope that that communicates to any who see the project, that it lifts and becomes a vehicle for the Holy Ghost to testify that this experience of Joseph Smith is true; it’s real.
[Sal] We think we finished on the day of the First Vision. Tell them about it!
[Andrew] We don’t know what the actual date was, but we like to think that March 26 may have been a strong candidate for that. We were working very hard. I was up until 1 oclock the day before, on the 25th. He was up until 3 o’clock and was still working into the evening of the 26th, but we did finish the art on the 26th and we posted it.
The important part is that the First Vision happened.
We ended up, as Sal said, we didn’t know how many pages it would be until we were part way through the project. We didn’t know how long each page was going to take. We didn’t want to do a rush job on anything. So we didn’t ever say, “Well, we can’t spend any more time on this page. We just have to move on.” We were going to redo it until it is our best.
That made each page take quite a while. For each page, by the time you count the number of panels on the page, it ends up being five or six individual paintings per page by the time you do each one of the images.
[Scott Gordon]: What I like about the project is what Sal said, a picture paints a thousand words. What it does is it gives into the hands of people who may not be English proficient, or may be younger, or may just need a different way of looking at things, it provides a different learning opportunity for them. So I really appreciate the project you have done.
I can finally say to my Mother, “See, reading comics isn’t all that bad.” That’s from my youth!
Note: lightly edited for clarity and readability
