Athleta Comics's Israel Idonije Signs With the Detroit Lions

Israel Idonije, the longtime Chicago Bears defensive lineman and creator of The Protectors for [...]

By Russ Burlingame

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Israel Idonije, the longtime Chicago Bears defensive lineman and creator of The Protectors for Athleta Comics, has signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Lions. Before settling on Detroit, he had drawn some interest from both the San Francisco 49ers and the Tennessee Titans. The special teams standout, who joined the Bears' practice squad in 2003 after spending his rookie year with the Cleveland Browns, has moved on just months after Lovie Smith, his coach in Chicago, was fired by the organization. Back in January, he spoke with ComicBook.com about Coach Smith. "He's one of those coaches that you want to win for so it's heartbreaking to know that we as a team, as an organization, were unable to do enough so that he could do his job," Idonije said. "He gets a lot of flak from the media for not being this gregarious, loud, passionate head coach, but that's because those people don't know him. He's very passionate, but that's something that he keeps with us. As far as the media, he's very even-keeled, he's calm, he's focused. He says things intentionally, with definition." Besides football, Idonije is known for his charitable works. He founded Athleta Comics to publish The Protectors, a comics series that he co-writes with Ron Marz and which features art from Bart Sears.

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