On a shelf in the back of a little Christian bookstore on Valley View Boulevard, an epic war between heaven and hell, God and the devil, righteousness and depravity, conservatism and extremism spills onto glossy, stapled pages in bright colors.

There are guns, muscles, giant magical swords, women with remarkable physiques, and then there's God -- and he's not pleased.

It's the framework for "Archangels," a comic book series that's part of a growing number of Christian series like it nationwide. The violence is honorable and necessary. The dogma is heavy handed. The subject matter, epic.

"The demons really scared me. I was like, 'Wow, these things are really vicious looking,' " said Luke Campbell, a ponytailed 18-year-old from Vinton who read the comics as a preteen. "I enjoyed that stuff as a kid. I still do. I think it's really realistic, really believable as far as the battles go. You can't really lighten the subject of spiritual warfare because that's what it is -- warfare."

Piggybacking on a nationwide resurrection of superheroes such as Batman and Spider-Man who have discovered newfound profitability at the box office, Christian comic books are claiming new readers whose numbers grow in uncharted clusters beneath the mainstream in Roanoke and nationwide, experts said.

Although reliable Christian title sales numbers don't currently exist, Christian comic books still remain an almost microscopic sliver of the larger comic industry, which amounts to about $380 million in book sales each year, not including uncountable billions in movie rights, toys and additional products, according to Comics Buyer's Guide, which follows the industry.

Steve MacDonald, perhaps one of the few experts on the subject, runs a Web site called christiancomicbooks.net -- a comic book directory borne out of his obsession with what he calls "the movement."

Five or six years ago, MacDonald remembers, only about a handful of Christian comic book series were successful enough to publish a second issue before folding. Today, he says, there could be as many as 50 or 60 continuing titles, and at least a handful of them are slowly transforming from obscure religious pulp into stylized, professional-looking brands.

"Now that you have graphic novels making a comeback and superhero movies coming out -- now that you have that in the limelight with people, they see that superheroes make money," he said.

Christians who once read mainstream comic books but were unsatisfied with their lack of "spiritual nourishment" are turning to Christian titles, he said. Although "Archangels" is sold primarily in Christian book stores, several Christian comics have found their way into mainstream comic book shops. One is "David's Mighty Men," an adventure about the biblical David and three fellow fighters.

Terry Baucom sells "David's Mighty Men" and a host of other comics with strong religious subject matter at B&D Comic Shop, 802 Elm Ave. S.W. in Roanoke. They sell pretty steadily, she said. She used to sell "Archangels" comics several years ago, too, but for some reason they didn't sell well.

"The story line is not different enough for me to say, 'Oh, this is really great,'" she said. "But it's the eternal battle: good against evil."

Comic books or graphic novels with Christian themes aren't new. Marvel Comics published comic book biographies of Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa in the 1980s, and comic book shops often carry comic book versions of the Bible and other religious stories. But they've never been published with the same quality and in the same quantity that readers are seeing now, MacDonald and several creators said.

It's the entertaining portrayal of spirituality that attracts people such as Lindy Mann, who oversees a youth group at Central United Methodist Church in Radford. After picking up a few of the "Archangels" books at a youth ministry conference in Nashville in 2003, she tried to get her youth group interested in them. Her first thought?

Scary.

"There was something portrayed as The Devil and there was maybe a celestial war in the comic books and things we're just not really used to seeing" in Christian entertainment, she said.

In the world of "Archangels," salvation can be brutal. Demons from hell carry heavy axes and swords as they battle for the souls of innocent humans. All the characters look like they should be testifying in Congress for steroid abuse. Heaven's archangels can leap buildings and fly while wearing incredibly flashy metal armor.

After flipping through some of the comics, Mann tried to incorporate them into her youth group.

"I thought, 'If there's kids who enjoy comic books, well, all the better to enjoy something positive out there for them,' " she said.

Her students didn't bite, however, perhaps because comic books in general still carry something of a dork stigma in mainstream circles. Luke Campbell, for instance, lives in his self-described "dorky" basement, replete with Spider-Man, Batman, Superman and Stars Wars posters. A plastic Darth Vader head rests atop his computer. A neon green alien statue stands in a nearby corner.

Although he's moved on to Japanese manga and "Lord of the Rings," he said, "Archangels" were awesome when he was a preteen.

"You really can't tell it apart from other comic books from the way it looks," said Campbell, who is a member of the staff of The Roanoke Times' weekly Edge page for teens. "It's very well done as far as every aspect of it. The art is amazing."

That's what Patrick Scott, the creator of "Archangels," likes to hear. Tired of Christian entertainment that was poorly made or cheesy and preachy, Scott and several friends set out to create "Archangels" in 1995. In 10 years, they've turned the comic line into somewhat of an entertainment brand, including a soon-to-be-released animated movie and a strategy card game.

In 10 years, he said, he's sold more than 700,000 comics -- a small number compared to top comics that sell millions each year, but not bad for a title independently inked in a Houston office suite.

"Word-of-mouth just sort of spread us all over the place in the Christian market," he said. "It's not cheesy, in other words, it was reaching kids where they are, basically presenting the Gospel in a way that was not yelling at them or condescending."

"We want to plant a seed of hope, and let God water it."

Tim Shoemaker is store manager at Lifeway Christian Store on Valley View Boulevard. "Archangels" and two other Christian comics, "Hero" and "PowerMark," are popular sellers there, he said.

"This is a way to appeal to kids without sacrificing integrity from a Christian viewpoint," he said. "It talks about spiritual warfare, which is a real thing."

Regardless, Shoemaker said, "Archangels" isn't about Archie and Betty and malteds at Friendly's. It's epic stuff.

"As Christians we're here on this earth to serve the Lord, and there is a battle for man's soul here on the earth between Satan and God," he said. "This is a way for kids to relate to that."

Aerin Toler, a clerk at B&D Comics, reads "Lucifer" and "Preacher," two comics that incorporate religious themes and classic Biblical stories into sometimes gritty and aggressive narratives. Heavenly archangels often appear in "Lucifer" stories.

"I do like the questions in it," she said. "The moral issues it raises. It creates its own mythology."

But they aren't suited for strict readers of the Bible or other religious doctrines -- most comics aren't, she said.

"A lot of people that are traditionalists would probably be like, 'Oh, my God.' "