‘Manga Bible’ presents Scriptures comic book-style

Chris Wilson is crazy about comics.

So when he came across “The Manga Bible,” a comics-style adaptation of the Scriptures, he was definitely interested.

He persuaded his pastor at South Street Christian Church in Springfield, Mo., to hold a manga Bible study. Through that, he not only learned more about the Bible but was further convinced that comics provide a unique pathway to literature.

“I have never enjoyed reading the Bible as much as I did with that,” he says of the manga Bible study. “I can see the images and understand the story better.”

Despite the unconventional presentation, the Rev. George Latimer found “The Manga Bible” (Galilee Trade, January 2008, $12.95) to be theologically sound and a genuine learning experience, even for him.

“One thing I found, as a visual learner, some of what I was reading was much easier to remember because of the format,” he says. “You can remember places and events.”

Siku, the author of “The Manga Bible,” expects the work to interest “those who get it and those who don’t.”

“It’s for people who know the Bible but could benefit from a creative interpretation,” says Siku, who was born in London with the Nigerian name Ajinbayo Akinsuku.

“It is also for those who don’t know the Bible stories. It introduces them to the grand biblical narrative.”

Siku’s “The Manga Bible” isn’t actually the whole Bible. It is an overview, with stories selected that provide an understanding of what the whole thing includes.

Not everyone has been pleased. Some have called it a “watered-down rendering of biblical truth for children,” says Siku.

He disagrees. “If we are not addressing issues contemporaneously, we should all just go home and hope for the best,” he says. “On the other hand, the authors of the Bible were always ingeniously contemporary.”

Responding to accusations that he is “dumbing down” the Bible, he uses Jesus as his example: “Did Jesus dumb down the entire book of Deuteronomy by his condensation of the law into a phrase, ‘Love the Lord with all your heart, might and strength … Love your neighbor as yourself?’

“Or did he dumb down the entire Pentateuch (first five books of the Old Testament) with his ‘Good Samaritan’ parable?”

Aaron Scott, 26, who participated in the manga Bible study, was surprised at some of what he found in “The Manga Bible,” especially the level of violence in the Old Testament.

“There’s a lot of blood and guts and scorched earth,” he says. “It got kind of tiresome after a while.”

There were also surprises in the New Testament.

“I’ve grown up in the church,” Scott says. “But as familiar as I am with Jesus and his stories and teachings, I never really had a grasp of the personality. … I never had any insight on the emotional aspect of Jesus.”

Siku, who created his version of the Bible as part of his theology dissertation, is working on a three-volume manga work on the life of Jesus.

“It threatens to be a grittier, more cinematic story,” he says.

In “The Manga Bible,” Jesus has the unmistakable look of a hero: broad shoulders and a brooding darkness. His anger when he tosses the money changers out of the temple, his intensity when he faces off with the devil and his empathy when he heals – all are clearly shown through Siku’s art.

“The Manga Bible” provides tabs that direct the reader to the actual Bible passages reflected on the page. In fact, the entire Bible is included in the back section of the “Extreme” version.