Bears fans have grown accustomed to seeing Lance Briggs as an aggressive tackling machine. The six-time Pro-Bowler leads the team this season with 84 tackles.
There is another title that Briggs is comfortable with: comic book nerd.
The linebacker has been a comic book fan since he was a young child, when he said he would read comic books by choice. Since then, he's happily embraced the fanboy label, though he sometimes has to prove himself among the subculture of comic book fans.
"When I meet someone who is into comics, they want to test your knowledge and see if this guy is for real, see if I'm for real or not. After a conversation, they say, 'OK, you like comics.'"
Now, he is not only a comic book fan, but the creator behind the new book, "Seraph." Briggs came up with a world for Seraph, a superhero who leans on his faith, and worked with an artist and writer to make the book come to life.
Though Seraph is not a football player, Briggs finds his main character easy to relate to because he also is a person of faith.
"Everyone has a lot of issues and problems in their lives, and a lot of things you've got to work through. A lot of times where you have to find reasons to believe in life and in living. He relates to us."
To keep Seraph's world around, Briggs needs the help of Bears fans. "Seraph" is a pilot, but to get a full order, it needs to win the most votes of a contest going on right now at Top Cow.
"I created a whole universe. There are 100 pages of material, but we're only able to tell the story if we win."
Briggs also wants to share his love of comic books with Chicago. Working with Challenger Comics in Bucktown, Briggs held a comic book drive. 20 boxes of comic books were collected, and they will be shared with different groups from around Chicago. One of those groups is Tilden High School, who will use the donated comics in their creative writing program.
Vote for Seraph and buy a copy for $1.99 here. Digital copies and more on Lance Briggs' comic book nerdiness can be found at his website Lance's Comic World.
