Book review: Messiah: Origin

★★★★★

Are you into graphic novels? I’ve never considered them my thing, always picturing such texts as little more than a comic book. So I was surprised to enjoy this one as much as I did.

A graphic novel attempts to communicate on a different level, with penetrating images. The artistic lines and colors, at least in this book, are vibrant, stark, evocative, powerful … this is a visual journey with a serious tone.

Messiah: Origin is the beginning of the gospel story, from the birth of Jesus through the ministry of John the Baptist. I presume it’s the first publication of a series. What sets this “novel” apart is that it contains no words except as translated directly from the Greek of the New Testament. It is a narrative harmony of the four Gospels, translated by Mark Arey, a Greek Orthodox clergyman, arranged in story form by Matt Dorff, and illustrated by Kai Carpenter … an effective partnership.

Definitely recommended as an enjoyable and moving story, though anticlimactic … I do wish I had more of the story of Jesus to read.