The Plain Dealer ran an article yesterday about the release of a book called The Manga Bible. It’s part of what seems to be a new trend to present bible tales in manga form. According to the article, the authors call it the “first ever Manga adaptation of the world’s bestselling book.”

Mm. No.

Even if you don’t take into account the Tyndale book Manga Messiah and the Korean series of publications also called Manga Bible, both of which were released last summer, there’s another bible-in-manga-form that was released in Japan in 1998. I wish I had a color scanner handy, but here’s the cover in glorious black and white:

It’s the first of a two-volume set. The first volume, pictured here, covers the old testament, while the second covers the new testament. It’s an interesting book. Although I can’t read the Japanese, the art is quite good, and the stories are certainly clear enough. I’m pretty sure I was told that it was created in consultation with a Christian minister in order to insure accuracy, but memory doesn’t serve in this particular case. Of course, it’s a little surprsing it got made at all; Japan is primarily a Buddhist country, and Christians represent about 1% of its inhabitants.

Beyond that, the article goes into a lot of the traditional stuff you’d expect whenever manga or comics come up. Some examples:

“Superman may have been able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but for Christians, Jesus has always been the ultimate superhero. ” (comics = superheroes)

“What may surprise some is the association of the Bible with Manga — an art form typically connected with violence or erotica. ” (manga = porn)

Ah, well. Progress takes time.

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