Coffee with Jesus

Jesus freaks and coffee freaks can unite over this book-length version of the Internet comic strip. A suit-and-necktie-wearing Jesus whose visage never changes listens to, counsels, rebukes, and tweaks any of five recurring characters who articulate common Christian attitudes and questions (“Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven. Right, J-Man?”)in a four-panel strip. Satan, resembling William Powell in the 1930s Thin Man movies, also shows up for an occasional round of sparring. (“It’s such delicious fun, messing with your silly, sleepy sheep,” he tells Jesus.) The stylized art, drawn from Sunday school and advertising clip art, makes for distinctive iconography. The book is very loosely organized around six themes, from “Getting to Know Jesus” to “Suffering, Temptation and Comfort,” and cartoonist Wilkie adds some exposition. But the heart is the comic collection and its humor, at once gentle and barbed and more thought-provoking than many a sermon. Buy this for a Christmas gift, to be read over a cup of strong joe.(Dec.)