The Action Bible Author: Doug Mauss | Language: English | ISBN:
0781444993 | Format: EPUB
The Action Bible Description
About the Author
Sergio Cariello was born in Brazil in 1964 and started drawing as soon as could hold a pencil. At the age of five, he already knew that he wanted to be a cartoonist. And so did everyone else--he drew on church bulletins, napkins, and every surface wtihin his reach. He currently resides in Holiday, Florida.
Sergio has worked for Marvel Comics and DC Comics. He attended the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art as well as the Word of Life Bible Institute in upstate New York.
In February, 2006, he was contacted by David C. Cook to gauge his interest in a new project; completely re-illustrating Cook's classic Picture Bible. What David C. Cook couldn't know is that Sergio had grown up in Brazil with a Portuguese translation of that very same Picture Bible. He was reading the Picture Bible before he learned to ride a bike! Even though he knew as a kid that he wanted to be a comic artist, he never would have dreamed that he would one day get to work on the Picture Bible itself!
- Age Range: 9 - 15 years
- Grade Level: 4 and up
- Hardcover: 752 pages
- Publisher: David C. Cook; New edition (September 1, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0781444993
- ISBN-13: 978-0781444996
- Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 6.8 x 1.3 inches
- Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
I grew up in the 70's and 80's with David C. Cook Sunday school curriculum and the Children's Picture Bible as a staple of every Sunday school classroom. The Picture Bible is finally upgraded in full-comic format (previous version had pictures with lots more text) making this item worth it for the following reasons:
1) Everyone -- and I mean everyone -- I showed this to at work wanted to know where to get one because they could think of at least one child, grandchild, nephew, niece, cousin or themselves to get it for.
2) Everyone is impressed with the art, inking/color, and overall presentation of this book
3) Anyone who knows anything about collecting comic books will attest that the less than $17 price is a steal! Trying to get an equivalent number comic book pages for any secular work (Marvel, DC, Image, etc) would run easily three times that price.
4) Much of the difficulty people have with reading Old Testament parts (such as Numbers) is now accessible to the masses
5) I've had Non-churchgoers who like comics want one. One guy said he'd actually read the Bible for the first time if he had this.
6) This is no specific translation of the Bible, making it more accessible than a favored translation by a few
7) The stories cover:
- Genesis through 2 Chronicles
- Jeremiah
- Daniel
- a few other choice stories of the Old testament from books like Jonah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Michal, Daniel, Ezra
- Matthew through Acts
- some other New Testament stories and finally Revelations
NOTE: Some people may complain that the stories and dialogue are "too loose" of an account on actual Biblical text.
First you need to know that the art is fantastic. Top notch work! It must have been a labor of love because all the character design, costumes, sets and color schemes must have taken forever to do. The book is worth buying for that reason alone. Also, the variety of stories included are fantastic and I think give you a great overview of Biblical narratives. The author also took pains to put the stories in chronological order (many are not in correct order in the Biblical text).
I think the project could have been a master work if someone else had written it. I understand that the writing is, by necessity, succinct but it is the author's understanding of some of the stories that keep me from wanting to just let my kids read it.
There are a number of examples (most of which are in the Old Testament portion). Some of which, I admit, are personal interpretation issues. I feel that to miss the fact that Adam and Eve did in fact become as God (in that they now knew good from evil) when they partook of the fruit was to miss an important aspect of the story. I disagree with the author's portrayal of Gideon as a coward initially. It is completely at odds with how I see a man who is overwhelmed with the responsibility of his calling (not unlike Moses or Isaiah). But I'm willing to dismiss those as matters of personal opinion.
Some of the stories are flavored is such ways to make them more palatable to lay audiences but misrepresent the events in so doing. The author has portrayed Absalom as conniving and greedy - that he was just after the throne when he murdered is brother Amnon. He unfortunately missed the fact that Absalom killed Amnon because Amnon rapped his sister Tamar and David (their father) did nothing about it.
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