AHOY Comics has been innovating comics since the publisher debuted in 2018 and they have shown they have no fear about protests as they are the new publisher behind Second Coming.

Written by Mark Russell with art by Richard Pace, Second Coming was to be published by Vertigo but the creative team and DC Comics imprint parted ways in February. Andy Troy joins the creative team coloring sequences not colored by Pace.

The story about a returning Jesus Christ saw protests from the religious right which found it blasphemous due to its depiction of Jesus. That protest was led by far-right leaders and controversy was stoked by clickbait channels who saw ratings in coverage. A petition against the series received more than 235,000 signatures. None have read the comic.

The series’ description sounds far from that and instead has a superhero forced to reexamine his use of violence when confronted by Christ, his new roommate. The series will focus on the change of Christ’s message of forgiveness and empathy to one of domination and power.

This isn’t the first religious focused comic by AHOY comics. Their series High Heaven is a satirical look at the afterlife.

The move to AHOY has allowed the creators to improve the series. The first issue will include six extra pages focused on Christ’s memories of a childhood friend during his first visit to Earth. Some changes requested by Vertigo, like less coarse language and adding fig leaves to Adam and Eve, will be undone allowing the comic to be closer to the original vision of the creators.