This site also has a page on Comics by and for Catholics and long form sophisticated comics called graphic novels which support the Christian faith I also have an index page on comics for Catholics, a page on how to convince your public library to include religious comics and other media in the collection, and two successful letters which got ten comic book Bibles in public library branches.

The Picture Bible

It does have one page which deals with what they call the inter-testamental period. 1st and 2nd Maccabees, which are part of the Catholic Bible, are in this inter-testamental period. So this implies that 1st and 2nd Maccabees are not part of the Bible. The fact that the other Deuterocanical books are not included might imply the same thing. But as this is for children who probably would not notice this. Most Catholic parents would probably see this as only a slight problem.

People have objected because The Picture Bible includes a couple of very short pious tales about Abraham that are not in the scripture. These are a bit aggravating, but the message is usually something uncontroversial like trust God. The Picture Bible originally came out in installments. I suspect they got complaints. In the rest of the book they stuck closely to the actual text of the Bible.

It was also pointed out to me in my guest book that the Picture Bible gives the ten commandments in their Protestant form, combining the two covet commandments. Same commandments just a little different numbering system.

As The Picture Bible has been such a big success it is not surprising that it comes in many different formats which you can find at Amazon, and that are frequently available at Bible bookstores. It is 800 pages long, the pages are in color and a little smaller than a normal comic. The list price for a hardback is about 20 dollars, 14 at Amazon. The list price for paperback is about 18 dollars, 12.60 at Amazon. This is an amazingly cheap price per page. Comics these days are averaging more than ten cents a page the Picture Bible in its cheaper forms is about a cent and a half per page.

Heroes of the Bible

Heroes of the Biblewas done by Evangelical Protestants and goes out of its way to say that Mary had other children and interprets the feast of Canna as a conflict between Jesus and Mary. There are two objectionable pages out of about 400. For home and church use you could simply felt tip over a few words.

Heroes of the Bible is not aimed at children, and Catholic parents who are trying to reach children would have little reason to choose it over Iva Hoth's The Picture Bible. The style of Heroes of the Bible does appeal to older teenage boys and young adults. In my local public library Heroes of the Bible is very successful in the young adult, read teen, section. The Picture Bible was not so successful in the young adult section, but was very successful in the children's section. It could be argued that Catholic teens are able to understand that other Churchs believe different things about the Virgin Mary.

We can complain about how other churches treat our theology, but it does bring us back to the point of why we have not produced our own Bible. After all, half the world's Christians are Catholic, but the Protestant minority has produced many comic book Bibles while we have produced none. We prefer to use theirs and produce comics on the Saints and other specifically Catholic topics.

Heroes of the Bible retails new at Amazon for 10 to 11 dollars and is about 400 pages long in full color. The pages are a little smaller than an ordinary comic. It is not quite as cheap per page as The Picture Bible but it is much cheaper than most other comics secular or religious.

The Comic Book Bible

Manga Messiah

I bought the Manga Messiah. The Manga Messiah is 288 pages long and has a recommended retail price of thirteen dollars.

While Heros of the Bible may be oriented toward the male teen, this is perhaps slanted toward the female teen. Manga and anime are particularly popular with teenage girls. I polled a number of children at church and they liked this style of drawing.

I have read about 75 pages of the 288 so let me provide a preliminary report. The traditons of Manga at times provide a vibe that is a bit different from what we might normally expect with a Bible story. Mary is shown as a really cute, chipper teen. She is a lot like a typical anime good girl. Joseph is a cute teen also.

Also in line with Manga traditions people have a wide range of emotions. When they get excited a picture is shown that does not look much like the character, just a face screaming.

While some may object to these manga conventions, the more evangelical Catholics will probably accept these things because the Manga style is very popular with many young people and this might well be read where other Bibles, even other comic book Bibles will not.

What follows is some short notes on Comic Bibles I have not bought.

Other Manga Bibles

The Illustrated Bible

The Lion Graphic Bible

Picture Stories from the Bible: The Old Testament in Full-Color Comic-Strip Form

There are various other comic books that cover part of the Bible, perhaps I will get to some of them at a future date.