Siku

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.

As I said in the Manga Jesus V:1 review, I'm not sure how well the story of Jesus translates into Manga. The book has been well researched and the artwork is extremely dynamic but I feel the essence of Christ has been lost or dulled down. In some ways The Christ has become some kind of Biblical superman, and to me the colloquialisms sit at odds with the very real messages that Christ conveyed.

I suppose these are the modern day equivalent to the old Cecil B De Mill Epic's. The artwork is very dynamic and the action flows, even though the dialogue is sometimes sporadic and at odds with itself (see previous reviews for more). This last volume speaks of the Crucifixion and subsequent resurrection and manages to give a lot of socio-political context to it. We understand a little more of just who Pontius Pilot was and why he was so reticent to pass judgement on Jesus.

This is the first time I've ever read a manga book and especially not a bible. I found myself absolutely fascinated by the drawings which are quite spectacular. Graphic artist Siku very definitely brings to life, in a very stylised way the biblical stories. A book to interest any teenager who's not into reading The Bible but who may be interested in the stories. 

This is the full manga version of both the Old and New Testament of the Bible with the TNIV written version attached. Whilst I was very happy to see the art work of Siku I was not at all happy with the TNIV - I feel it is an unecessary update of the NIV and for me it just doesn't work. For instance changing the word expanse for vault - to me that means a closed in box.Why not use the word void, it too begins with a V and means an open space or emptiness. ..read more