The Manga Jesus V:1

I'm not sure how I feel about a Manga retelling of the stories surrounding Jesus. I've learnt that Manga can be used to tell the most heartfelt and beautiful stories (as in the With The Light series) but I'm not sure whether the Jesus fables have transcribed well.

Let me start with the pro's - the artwork is very dynamic and detailed - Siku's style is very reminiscent of Larry Stroman in many panel's especially in the action sequences, but the detail in the architecture is precise and well researched.

I understand Siku's reasons for adapting the story of Jesus into a format that can be understood by younger generations and I think it's an admirable idea. I've not even got a problem with him using comics as a medium (in fact, I applaud it!) - it's the dialogue that doesn't sit right for me.

Comic's are a visual medium and there is a very definite balance between words and action - it's a very complex relationship between panels on a page; pacing and dynamics. Siku has made the Manga Jesus very dynamic - the action sequences are like something out of a superhero comic (in fact, that is what, I think, Siku has tried to make Jesus into... another superhero) but the main problem for me is that the Bible is not an action epic -and as he's made the action dynamic Siku has had to keep the dialogue contemporary as well, so there's a lot of "dude's" and various "Bill & Ted-ism's".. But this, to me, doesn't sit well with the serious elements, such as the sermon, which Siku simply paraphrases. These elements are at great odds with one another, and although the colloquialisms actually highlight the sermons and make them stand out more they actually detract from them too as they rob them of their context.

One hundred pages is not much, either, to tell the story of the first few years of Jesus's life - very little is made of his 40 days and nights in the desert, or of his baptism. To me they would have been crucial in his back story -more is made of Herod, as a character, and of Jesus's childhood.

This book has been very well researched - the reader now has more of an insight on Herod's character, and of some of the political machinations surrounding John The Baptist rise to being a prophet - and, as I said, the artwork is swift and dynamic and for a whistle stop tour of Jesus's life these books are a great starting point!