Religious Comic Sells Out In 24 Hours - Offers Download To Fill Demand

'Flying Friar', the fantastical comic book retelling of the life of St, Joseph of Copertino, a 17th century Italian saint has proved a huge hit in America's comic book shops. That St Joseph could reportedly fly, had super strength and microscopic vision may have had something to do with it.

After news of the comic appeared last week in the London Times, The Guardian, Media Life, The DC Examiner and BBC News, many blogs began repeating the story. When the comic went on sale across the USA on Wednesday lunchtime, it was an instant sellout.

Rich Johnston, the writer of 'Flying Friar' said "I don't think anyone expected the book to catch on so fast. The media interest the week before the book went on sale in comic shops gave me an inkling that there may be more interest in this comic that I'd thought, but now I'm receiving emails from all over the world begging me for copies - copies I don't have."

In order to meet this sudden demand, Johnston has made the comic book available online as a paid download, from the site http://www.richjohnston.com. This is the first time a work like this has been made available so soon after its publication. A second printing may take weeks or months to organise, but the Internet has enabled Johnston to reach that audience instantly.

This is a rare example of print and online supporting each other and supply what the other could not. The print version gave hard copies in people's hands and created interest, while the online version is there to help catch an audience the print version could only dream of.