Cartoon greeting card line "Inherit the Mirth" is to be relaunched at the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) in Atlanta, next month.

Created by youth minister Cuyler Black, the humorous series, previously available to some independent stores, is to be introduced to its 2,000 accounts nationwide by Artbeat of America.

Rick Tocquigny, CEO of Artbeat, said that his company's new strategic partnership with Inherit the Mirth will see it handling production, logistics, sales and marketing. "There is a definite gap in the market for really funny cards," he said. "We see Inherit the Mirth as 'one of a kind' in this genre."

Autographed calendars and books from the line will be given away to retailers placing orders at ICRS. The line of cards includes birthday, Christmas, thank you, friendship, get well, anniversaries, congratulations, weddings, blank and all occasions.

Formerly a newspaper comic strip cartoonist in Canada, Black told the Winnipeg Free Press—which said his work has been described as "The Far Side meets the Bible"—that he was inspired to create his cards because those he saw in Christian stores were often "sappy, sentimental, with a Bible verse attached."

Not everyone will find his work funny, he said. "I'm not making fun of faith, and I don't want people to think I don't take church seriously," he told the newspaper. "I consider my cartoons to be playfully reverent, or reverently playful. ... I love God. I'm excited to help emphasize an often under-appreciated facet of His personality—His humor."

Click here for more information on Inherit the Mirth.

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