Post by Sucosa on Aug 17, 2008 16:24:43 GMT -5
I saw these Biblical mangas at wally world and I was like WTF? lol
Here is some info on them (Courtsey of: www.modbee.com/life/faithvalues/story/343363.html )
The big picture on biblical manga
By TOM BAKER
THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
last updated: June 28, 2008 03:54:56 AM
TOKYO -- The Archbishop of Canterbury is not generally known for making comic-book recommendations, but Rowan Williams, the current holder of that office, has called "The Manga Bible" an "exciting new venture, in completely up-to-the-minute style and speech. It will convey the shock and freshness of the Bible in a new way."
"The Manga Bible" (Doubleday, $12.95), by a British artist named Siku, is one of several Christian scriptural-themed works to appear in manga format recently. It condenses everything from Genesis to Revelation into one action-packed volume.
"Manga Messiah" (Tyndale, $12.99), written by Hidenori Kumai with art by Kozumi Shinozawa, is also a single volume, but it sticks to the life of Jesus. The right-wing Christian activist organization Focus on the Family endorses this book on its Web site, calling it "an edgy rendition of the Gospel accounts (that is) both compelling and highly engaging."
A third work, "Manga Bible" (Zondervan, five volumes and counting, $6.99 each), has its origins in South Korea. Written by Young Shin Lee with art by Jung Sun Hwang, it aims to be much more comprehensive, covering almost all the major biblical events and plenty of minor ones, too.
Each of these books marries style and content in ways that raise two big questions: Do they work as Bibles? And, do they work as manga? In contrast to the religious raves from Canterbury, England, and Colorado Springs, Colo. (where Focus on the Family is headquartered), the books' reception on the artistic front has been lukewarm.
"I think the whole concept is really strange, since Japan is such a secular country," Notre Dame University professor Deborah Shamoon, a specialist in Japanese popular culture, told The Yomiuri Shimbun in an e-mail, noting that at least two of the books originated outside Japan. "But I don't think these are aimed at a Japanese audience -- they are aimed at U.S. teens who are manga fans. ... Christian publishing has become a huge industry in the U.S., so I'm not surprised the current popularity of manga in the U.S. has been reflected there as well."
Roald Lidal, general director of the Saitama Prefecture-based New Life League, Japan, where the "Manga Messiah" project began, gave an explanation that matched Shamoon's theory. "We have seen how Japanese manga has conquered the world market, and we wanted to produce a series of books that tell the story of the Bible. While Japanese artists produced the artwork and the text was first written in Japanese, we decided to publish the English version first. While we want to see as wide a distribution in Japan as possible, our goal was and is the whole world," he said.
Manga critic Jason Thompson, author of "Manga: The Complete Guide" (Del Rey, $19.95), said in an e-mail that "Manga Messiah" has "better narrative flow (than Siku's 'Manga Bible'), and I think it's the more engaging of the two adaptations. (However,) 'Manga Messiah' is fairly bland, despite, or because of, including practically every one of Jesus' recorded acts. Simply put, 'Manga Messiah' includes so much that no one event stands out; it reads as sort of a grab bag of Jesus-related information and stories."
As for the artwork, "Manga Messiah" has the most recognizable manga traits, but Shamoon said: "While there is no one way to draw manga, and there are many styles and genres in Japan, it's a lot more than just characters with big eyes and pointy hair -- a lot of what makes manga distinctive has to do with pacing and transitions between the panels." While Jesus and his disciples have that cute manga-character look, the Pharisees -- members of a fundamentalist Jewish sect with whom Jesus, a fellow Jew, was often at odds -- are depicted in "Manga Messiah" with bigger noses, jowly jaws, squinty eyes and spotty complexions. "I think the representation of Jews is appalling," Shamoon said.
Thompson said: "I don't think this is anti-Semitism, it's just the standard manga stereotype that minor evil characters look ugly (or in the case of Judas, they look like androgynous bishonen with feminine features and earrings). It reflects a lack of originality and skill by the artist, not an ethnic or religious prejudice."
The same issue appears more subtly in Siku's "Manga Bible," with the very word "Jew" rarely if ever appearing in the Old Testament section, and then popping up all over the New Testament -- usually in a negative context.
Siku's treatment of women is even weirder than his treatment of Jews, as almost every woman in his book is a prostitute or a sexual opportunist. While such characters do exist in the Bible, Siku has omitted more admirable biblical women, such as Queen Esther and even Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Siku revels in the bloodier aspects of the Old Testament -- and he has plenty of battles, assassinations, massacres and atrocities to choose from. But he also makes effective use of light comic relief, such as when the prophet Jonah, lost at sea, sighs, "Now what?" A moment later, about to be swallowed by a giant fish, he exclaims, "Sorry I asked!"
"The Bible has humor, and it is important that this comes through in the manga rendering," Lidal said. "The Bible is full of drama and conflicts, and it is important that the manga product correctly includes all of the different aspects of life and God's plan."
According to a Web site promoting "Manga Messiah": "A 2004 U.S. survey indicated that 2 out of 3 born-again Christians (64 percent) accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior before their 18th birthday. Clearly the period of life between puberty and maturity is a key time of development for young people, marked by questions of self-identity and world-view." Just as clearly, the creators of manga adaptations of scripture hope to influence teens' developing personalities.
But in Shamoon's view, "these (manga) are mainly preaching to the choir -- I'm skeptical that these could be used to convert teens who were not already religious."
****************************************************
So who said that you can't cosplay as Moses?
Here is some info on them (Courtsey of: www.modbee.com/life/faithvalues/story/343363.html )
The big picture on biblical manga
By TOM BAKER
THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
last updated: June 28, 2008 03:54:56 AM
TOKYO -- The Archbishop of Canterbury is not generally known for making comic-book recommendations, but Rowan Williams, the current holder of that office, has called "The Manga Bible" an "exciting new venture, in completely up-to-the-minute style and speech. It will convey the shock and freshness of the Bible in a new way."
"The Manga Bible" (Doubleday, $12.95), by a British artist named Siku, is one of several Christian scriptural-themed works to appear in manga format recently. It condenses everything from Genesis to Revelation into one action-packed volume.
"Manga Messiah" (Tyndale, $12.99), written by Hidenori Kumai with art by Kozumi Shinozawa, is also a single volume, but it sticks to the life of Jesus. The right-wing Christian activist organization Focus on the Family endorses this book on its Web site, calling it "an edgy rendition of the Gospel accounts (that is) both compelling and highly engaging."
A third work, "Manga Bible" (Zondervan, five volumes and counting, $6.99 each), has its origins in South Korea. Written by Young Shin Lee with art by Jung Sun Hwang, it aims to be much more comprehensive, covering almost all the major biblical events and plenty of minor ones, too.
Each of these books marries style and content in ways that raise two big questions: Do they work as Bibles? And, do they work as manga? In contrast to the religious raves from Canterbury, England, and Colorado Springs, Colo. (where Focus on the Family is headquartered), the books' reception on the artistic front has been lukewarm.
"I think the whole concept is really strange, since Japan is such a secular country," Notre Dame University professor Deborah Shamoon, a specialist in Japanese popular culture, told The Yomiuri Shimbun in an e-mail, noting that at least two of the books originated outside Japan. "But I don't think these are aimed at a Japanese audience -- they are aimed at U.S. teens who are manga fans. ... Christian publishing has become a huge industry in the U.S., so I'm not surprised the current popularity of manga in the U.S. has been reflected there as well."
Roald Lidal, general director of the Saitama Prefecture-based New Life League, Japan, where the "Manga Messiah" project began, gave an explanation that matched Shamoon's theory. "We have seen how Japanese manga has conquered the world market, and we wanted to produce a series of books that tell the story of the Bible. While Japanese artists produced the artwork and the text was first written in Japanese, we decided to publish the English version first. While we want to see as wide a distribution in Japan as possible, our goal was and is the whole world," he said.
Manga critic Jason Thompson, author of "Manga: The Complete Guide" (Del Rey, $19.95), said in an e-mail that "Manga Messiah" has "better narrative flow (than Siku's 'Manga Bible'), and I think it's the more engaging of the two adaptations. (However,) 'Manga Messiah' is fairly bland, despite, or because of, including practically every one of Jesus' recorded acts. Simply put, 'Manga Messiah' includes so much that no one event stands out; it reads as sort of a grab bag of Jesus-related information and stories."
As for the artwork, "Manga Messiah" has the most recognizable manga traits, but Shamoon said: "While there is no one way to draw manga, and there are many styles and genres in Japan, it's a lot more than just characters with big eyes and pointy hair -- a lot of what makes manga distinctive has to do with pacing and transitions between the panels." While Jesus and his disciples have that cute manga-character look, the Pharisees -- members of a fundamentalist Jewish sect with whom Jesus, a fellow Jew, was often at odds -- are depicted in "Manga Messiah" with bigger noses, jowly jaws, squinty eyes and spotty complexions. "I think the representation of Jews is appalling," Shamoon said.
Thompson said: "I don't think this is anti-Semitism, it's just the standard manga stereotype that minor evil characters look ugly (or in the case of Judas, they look like androgynous bishonen with feminine features and earrings). It reflects a lack of originality and skill by the artist, not an ethnic or religious prejudice."
The same issue appears more subtly in Siku's "Manga Bible," with the very word "Jew" rarely if ever appearing in the Old Testament section, and then popping up all over the New Testament -- usually in a negative context.
Siku's treatment of women is even weirder than his treatment of Jews, as almost every woman in his book is a prostitute or a sexual opportunist. While such characters do exist in the Bible, Siku has omitted more admirable biblical women, such as Queen Esther and even Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Siku revels in the bloodier aspects of the Old Testament -- and he has plenty of battles, assassinations, massacres and atrocities to choose from. But he also makes effective use of light comic relief, such as when the prophet Jonah, lost at sea, sighs, "Now what?" A moment later, about to be swallowed by a giant fish, he exclaims, "Sorry I asked!"
"The Bible has humor, and it is important that this comes through in the manga rendering," Lidal said. "The Bible is full of drama and conflicts, and it is important that the manga product correctly includes all of the different aspects of life and God's plan."
According to a Web site promoting "Manga Messiah": "A 2004 U.S. survey indicated that 2 out of 3 born-again Christians (64 percent) accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior before their 18th birthday. Clearly the period of life between puberty and maturity is a key time of development for young people, marked by questions of self-identity and world-view." Just as clearly, the creators of manga adaptations of scripture hope to influence teens' developing personalities.
But in Shamoon's view, "these (manga) are mainly preaching to the choir -- I'm skeptical that these could be used to convert teens who were not already religious."
****************************************************
So who said that you can't cosplay as Moses?