Gene Dalton | The Roanoke Times

Radford University cartoonist Christian Keesee created a lot of controversy in February with his cartoon “Christ on Campus,” but Keesee said it was never his intention to make people angry about his work.

RADFORD -- The avalanche of attention that came down on Christian Keesee late last winter ended as suddenly as it began.

The Radford University junior and creator of the online cartoon "Christ on Campus" heard the support and criticism. He spoke with administrators, television and newspaper reporters. He received threatening e-mails and spoke at a forum on media and religion.

Everyone, it seemed, had an opinion about his weekly feature about Jesus Christ living in modern times -- something that Keesee refers to as "just a cartoon to entertain myself and my friends."

It went back to being just that after a three-week period in which the RU Whim Web site saw its daily audience grow nearly tenfold.

"It came, and then it just disappeared," Keesee said. "People got offended really quick and in a hurry, and then everyone just shut up."

And that's just fine as far as Keesee is concerned.

"I'm not the kind of guy who tries to go out and get attention," he said.

The attention almost led him to stop doing the cartoon, but he changed his mind over the summer and the cartoon is still a regular feature in the magazine. He hopes to continue drawing it until he graduates.

Last year's cartoons created a stir with images such as Jesus punching a heckler, playing poker and wondering if he has the requisite male body part during a sexual encounter with a woman. This year's cartoons have featured trick-or-treaters mistaking Jesus for a pedophile and Jesus becoming addicted to a computer game.

Keesee said the criticism he received hasn't caused him to change the cartoons, but it was never his intention to make people angry in the first place.

"It's one of the easiest things to do," he said. "Anybody can be a controversial artist."

He laughs when mentioning recent criticism he's seen on the comment section below his cartoon. One posting reads, "Dull and boring. This series has seemingly lost any thought and fresh ideas."

"I laugh, because, to me, that's how they've always been," he said. "Everyone's reaction last year was quite a shock to me."

An advertising major, Keesee would like to use his creativity in his career. To help make that possible he's considering minoring in art. Last spring he attended The Writing Show, a monthly workshop for authors held in Richmond. Receiving an invitation to the event, which featured professional cartoonists, was probably the best thing to come out of his 15 minutes of fame, he said.

"Some of the people there, they did this for a living, and I'm just some college student who draws cartoons for a Web site," he said.

Keesee is working on another cartoon for a new Web site from The Roanoke Times. The cartoon, "Hometown USA," will appear in Big Lick University -- a Web site designed for college students that is scheduled to debut in February.

The cartoon will focus on society's shortcomings through the actions of regular people, rather than Jesus Christ.

"It points out people's flaws, like PTA parents taking dope," he said. "No one's sacred, you know what I mean?"

Original story from Feb. 25: Cartoons depict Jesus, cause stir at Radford University