The Manga Bible: Raw (Bible Tniv) [Paperback]

I looked forward to this book after being generally impressed with the New Testament edition that was released earlier this year. Overall it doesn't disapoint and I would recommend it, but there are some problems with it.

First off, the publishers misleading title: 'The Manga Bible'. Although the influence of Japanese drawing styles is detectable the book was written and drawn by two brits. Artist Siku describes his style in an interview in the New Testament edition as 'modern-British' and this is a far more accurate label (we're talking Gorillaz rather then Dennis the Menace btw). Manga is not just an art style and it employs several recognisable story telling methods, few of which appear in this book ( see Scott McClouds Understanding Comics for a comparrison of eastern and western comic book story telling methods. Manga fans expecting something authentic will be disappointed ). Where the book succeeds it does so on it's own terms and it's a shame the publishers felt the need to market it under such a misleading title.

The art itself is excellent. Siku has a bold and energetic style. His characters look great and he really nails some of the most epic moments. I've said in another review that I have used these pictures to do bible teaching with a group of teenage boys who LOVED the art style.

However, the story telling techniques are a little patchey. The Bible is full of different literary styles and I can appreciate that to cover all the essentials, to do them justice and keep to a managable page count is a tall order. Which brings me to my next point, they left out some of my favourite bits!
The introduction to the book makes it clear that the creative team were seeking to make an readable overview of the main themes in every book of the bible, and to provide an introduction to it that would direct people to the original text. The book does this very well with lots of side panels giving references to help you look up the full story of what you are reading ( and there's a nice little 'key scene commentary' and a glossary at the back too). It's inevitable that to fulfill this mandate they would leave a lot out. It's also inevitable that people like me will moan that good bits get missed out and glossed over.

My main moan is that the Manga Bible's version of events tends to lack the grey areas that make the character driven elements of the Bible so compelling.
Here's one example: Abraham's son Ishmael is dismissed as a bully and the whole episode in which his mother is bullied by Abraham's wife is left out. Whilst you do get the bible references so a casual reader can easily access the whole story, it niggles me to see such a complicated family reduced to goodies and baddies.
Another problem I had was with some of the language. There are brilliant bits of humour and charactization next to dull narattion like "and it came to pass" and stupid dialog like "You know this to be right". I thought bible characters stopping speaking like Yoda round about the time Hollywood stopped making those grave biblical epics? Has Eugene Peterson taught us nothing? ;-)
My last moan is that some of the characters don't look right; Abraham is an old man when we meet him in Genesis, here he looks about 30. Some of the significant baddies look a bit to dehumanised too (King David faught people, not monsters).

But that's enough nit picking, here's my conclusion:
This books deserves 4 stars for the art work alone. Whilst the story telling is patchey, a lot of it does justice to the source material and it does offer a good overview and introudction to the bible. As a book for readers I strongly recommend it.

As a resource for bible teachers it's a mixed bag. Overall I'd recommend the Lion Graphic Bible over this one as it covers the main events in more depth and strives for greater historical accuracy in things like clothing, customs and living environments.
That said, many young people and children will relate better to the style of drawings in the Manga Bible then the more realistic style of the Graphic Bible. So buy them both!

Bought a copy for my 16 year old son, who previously hadn't shown much interest in reading the Bible. Siku's fabulous artwork had him absorbed, and he kept bringing it over to show me the illustrations. The book is arranged so that you get the Manga-style section at the start, followed by a complete Bible text from Genesis to Revelation. The cartoon section tells you where to go in the Bible to read the full story.
Overall an excellent way to get younger readers to give the Bible a chance - the illustrations are dramatic and really capture the imagination. My only reservation (hence 4 not 5 stars) is that only the cover picture is in colour, all other illustrations are in black and white. If they publish a colour version it would be awesome.

This is the big complete collected version of the recent Manga Bible from Britih comic artist Siku, that has been so surprisingly relevant and high quality next to nay other contemorary manga graphic novels. It is like the biggest, most facinating manga in a long time, probably ever.
Really great stunning artwork, funny but thought provoking dialogue and narrative. Just amazing. for any kind of fan of comics, graphic novels, the Bible or just good stories. Try this now!