Evangeline (comics)

Evangeline is a 1980s comic book co-created and written initially by then husband and wife team Chuck Dixon & Judith Hunt with pencils and inks by published professional illustrators Judith Hunt & Ricardo Villagran. Letters were by cartoonist and letterer Ed J. King of the "Star Wars" comic strip. The art for the first few issues of "Evangeline" were unusual for this time period, in that they were not printed using process color but instead each page was handpainted by Judith Hunt and then color separated. This method was introduced by the newly formed independent comic companies and was encouraged by the cheaper printing methods of the 1980s. Cover paintings were also illustrated by Judith Hunt and Ricardo Villagran.

The title character has been described as "a sexy killer vigilante nun" taking her instructions directly from her mentor, Cardinal Szn, a politically powerful figure in the hierarchy of the Roman Curia/Vatican during the 23rd century. However co-creator, Hunt, would describe her skilled but naive, feminist character, as created "to explore the infinite conflict between good and evil and the powerful religions which would be involved in manipulating the politics and economics of the future". A short introductory story in Comico's "Primer" and two issues, "Guns of Mars" (loosely based on the spaghetti western film genre) and "Hate Boat", were published by Comico Comics in 1984. This was followed by a 1986 special from Lodestone Comics and then a 12 issue run from 1987 to 1989 published by First Comics, of which Judith Hunt co-created and illustrated only the first few, leaving to pursue her design and illustration licensing work for HA! Henson Associates and MacMillan Publishing on Raggedy Ann and Andy. During her interview with the "Comics Buyer's Guide", Judith Hunt said that (after she left), "The comic [Evangeline] lost its original complexity and feminist standpoint and became just another excuse for depictions of gratuitous sex and violence."

Evangeline the comic is to be continued on December 25th, 2008 as an online comic written by Ben Dixon, son of Chuck Dixon. The original art embellished in Photoshop of issues #1-#3 are currently being uploaded to "http://www.evangelinethecomic.com" with the series continuing after the original 3rd issue, Dinosaur Farm. Art for issue #4 will be by Judith Hunt.

Matthew Sweet's 1990 album Girlfriend featured a song titled Evangeline, sung from the point of view of the character Johnny Six.