For Ajinbayo Akinsiku, aka Siku, Jesus is the samurai stranger come to town to shake things up.
Siku is an Anglican who grew up in England and Nigeria in a family of Nigerian descent who is studying for ordination in the priesthood. He has published a Bible in the style Japanese graphic novels called Manga. Intended as a “first taste” to the Bible for young adults and teenagers, the rendition is long on action and drama.
Manga uses a strong visual style with a cinematic flair to tell stories that are once dramatic and action oriented and highly textured. These books are popular with teenagers and young adults.
Neela Banerjee writes for the New York Times that:
While younger adults and teenagers are the most avid consumers of manga, Mr. Akinsiku said he had heard from grandmothers who picked up the book as a gift for their grandchildren. The book is meant to be a first taste of the Bible, which many feel too intimidated to read, Mr. Akinsiku said. Every few pages, a small tab refers to the biblical verses the action covers.
“For the unchurched, the book is to show that this thing, the Bible, is still relevant,” he said, “because it talks about what human beings do when they encounter God.”
And…
Mr. Akinsiku says his Son of God is “a samurai stranger who’s come to town, in silhouette,” here to shake things up in a new, much-abridged version of the Bible rooted in manga, the Japanese form of graphic novels.
“We present things in a very brazen way,” said Mr. Akinsiku, who hopes to become an Anglican priest and who is the author of “The Manga Bible: From Genesis to Revelation.” “Christ is a hard guy, seeking revolution and revolt, a tough guy.”
The Art Blog of the Episcopal Cafe has much more including details of the four volumes (The Manga Bible – Raw, The Manga Bible – Extreme, The Manga Bible – NT Raw and The Manga Bible – NT Extreme) and how you can buy them. The Extreme Editions include both the graphic novels and full-text Bibles in the New International Version.
A link to purchase The Manga Bible is available here with the convenience of one-click purchase through the Amazon.com Associates program. All purchases referred from visio-divina.com support Episcopal Cafe Art Blog, Episcopal Church and Visual Arts, and Visio Divina programming.
Read: The New York Times: The Bible as Graphic Novel, With a Samurai Stranger Called Christ
See also: The Art Blog: The Manga Bible (and check out the artwork above!)
This is Siku’s web site.