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Picking up from The Manga Bible to The Rhyme Bible to The Manga Bible (8/19/2011) and More on The Manga Bible by Siku (8/20/2011) . . .

Three more pieces of The Manga Bible: From Genesis to Revelation by Siku/Akinsiku (Doubleday. 2007) which I appreciate are

• Read this first!
  • the disclaimer before one begins the text, which underscores Siku's heart for inviting others in the Biblical story
  • "The Manga Bible is an adaption of the Holy Bible. It tells the story of God's relationship with his people, from the creation of the earth and the early history of the Israelites, to the life of Jesus, his death, and the adventures of the first ever church, in graphic novel form. It does not claim to to tell all the stories or cover all the teaching of the Bible, but is intended to provide a helpful 'first step'; to give you, the reader, a taste of the most important themes and characters, and a basic idea of what it's all about. . . ."

• Key Scenes Commentary
  • Siku and Akinsiku (Akin) discuss the relationship between the art and the script.
  • One receives insight into how the Word speaks to and through both the artist and the scriptwriter as they seek "to provide a helpful 'first step'" into the Big Picture of the Word of God.
  • In the discussion of Exodus, Siku comments, "There's a question that I'm asking now: does God free slaves? If you look around today I'm not sure that he does." Akin comes back with, "So who does it?" Siku's reply, "We do. God doesn't come down in glory and BOOM! 'Here's my kingdom laid out on you all.' It's our duty to free slaves. It's our duty to feed the hungry." In the dialogue one realizes that this has been maturation for Siku, something about which he and Akin used to argue. He concludes his thoughts with, "I used to think that if we just had enough practicing Christians then there would be a kind of critical mass that would make poverty and oppression irrelevant. It might still happen, but now I've changed my mind. We need to work for it." Akin responds, "Exactly! If we'd just sat about and waited for things to improve we'd still have slavery." 
• Hello Humanity, This is your story
  • Siku lays out 'The Grand Story' and how we fit in it. His focus on hero and action is evident. He wraps up with this challenge, "We may look on . . . but God does not. He became human, got involved and got his hands dirty. We ask, 'If there is a God, why does he look on?' The question is, 'God showed us how it is done, so why do we look on?' This book is God's story, the story of Angels and the story of humanity. It is your story and and somewhere in your guts you've heartd it told to you before becaue God buried it here, a long, long time ago."

Note: Siku is the pseudonym of British/Nigerian artist and writer Ajibayo Akinsiku, best known for his work in 2000 AD (comic). He's quoted by various articles as stating, "As a Christian, it is my job to show others the work of God, whatever it takes!" May it be so. To God be the glory!

If you've read The Manga Bible, I'd love to read your thoughts/comments.

More on Akin coming . . .