MANGA MESSIAH

Nice! Got hold of my "Manga Messiah" comic book last night. Bought if it from Ebay. Ang hirap kase makaiskor sa mga bookstores dito.

Pina-c/o na lang sa sis ko sa Manila tutal e umuuwi naman s’ya every 2 weeks sa Pampanga. Here it goes….Tantananan…Straight from 2GO, hehe!

Straight out of the pack.

List Price: $12.99
Binding: Softcover
Page Count: 288
Trim Size: 5 1/2 x 8 1/4
ISBN: 978-1-4143-1680-2
CPC Sub Category: General
Release Date: September 2007

In fairness, I bought mine for P150 lang, hehe what a steal!  I just paid an additional P50  for the shipping. Overall, it’s still a good deal considering how the book looks. Mukhang "mint" pa rin.

Opened and all.

Features:

• Gives a unique presentation of the Gospel accounts
• Includes a map of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea
• Includes illustrated character profiles of key Bible people
• Features an illustrated page on the twelve apostles
• A great way to introduce anyone to the Bible

 Back cover.

To those who are not familiar with Manga Messiah or "Manga" for that matter, here’s a brief summary:

"MANGA (pronounced "mahn-ga") is the Japanese word for comics. It has become a huge hit with American teens and tweens. Manga has emerged as the most popular comics category and is one of the fastest growing genres in American publishing. Appealing to kids and adults, readers will find this edgy rendition of the Gospel accounts both compelling and highly engaging. This authentic, cutting-edge art style is combined with fast-paced storytelling to deliver biblical truths to an ever-changing culture that is often a challenge to penetrate. This is genuine Japanese manga style, unlike other Christian "manga" books in the marketplace."

Another intro from Wikipedia,  "Manga Messiah is a graphic novel (comic book) based on the Christian Bible. There have been other Bible based comics, but this is the first one written and illustrated by professional Japanese manga-ka, which makes this a true manga (Japanese comic). Made by a Japanese group called NEXT.

However, some things set it apart from traditional manga. All pages are printed in full color instead of the usual black and white format. Japanese manga is usually read from right to left, while this book was written to be read from left to right like American and European books. Although it was created in Japanese, it was first published in English.

Manga Messiah tells the story of Jesus’s life, based on the four gospels of the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The story starts at the birth of Jesus(Yeshuah) and follows his life until his death and resurrection.

Original Hebrew names are sometimes used instead of traditional English names, for example Jesus is called by the name Yeshuah, Mary is called Miryam and Joseph is called Yosef.

Originally written in Japanese and immediately translated to English. Currently the English version is the only version available. The Japanese version will be released in 2008. Numerous other languages are currently being translated including Chinese, Russian, Tagalog, Spanish, and Portuguese." (Uy, magkaka-Tagalog na! I wonder how the texts would look like). 

Additional info, the mangaka (or comic artist) is Kozumi Shinozawa, the creator of the popular anime Pokemon. No wonder, pagbukas ko ng book ko e nakipag-agawan pa sa akin ang 8yo niece ko na si Sandy. As in nauna pa n’yang nakita sa akin yung contents, hehe! 

Look how engrossed she is, hehe!  It fairness, the comic book appeals to both kids and adults alike. Lalo na siguro for kids kase, "easy reading" sya for them because of the graphics. As for me, I’ve always liked "Manga" naman. Type ko kase dina-draw yung patusok nilang hair at big eyes.

Nweiz, here’s the first page of the comic book.

In fairness, ang guapo ni "Yeshuah" (Jesus) noh?

Eto pa isang guapo pic n’ya.

Eto naman ang 12  Apostles manga-style.

Check out Judas Iscariot. Guapo din s’ya. Very striking pati coz red yung hair n’ya.

Here’s another shot of the suffering of Christ.

 Nakapila na nga si Sandy sa book ko. Pati s’ya, nare-review n’ya ang "Religion" subject n’ya.  May mga side comments pa s’ya na "The Penitent Woman", etc. while browsing the book. 

Currently, I’m looking for "The Manga Bible" naman. May 4 unique editions naman ‘to: Raw, Extreme, NT Raw, NT Extreme. Pahirapan naman sa paghahanap. Meron daw sa NBS priced at 529 plus pero the last time I checked, wala sa NBS dito sa amin, hay…Wala pa rin sa Ebay.  

Oh well, gotta finish reading my "Manga Messiah" muna. Tsaka ko na poproblemahin saan makaiskor ng "The Manga Bible" after.