The Epic Bible is an abridged version of the 3-volume set published by Kingstone Comics. It presents the Bible as a graphic novel with Scripture quotations from the NLT. This is not a word-for-word depiction of the Bible. It’s a retelling that was designed for young readers. I think anyone that likes comics and graphic novels (like me) would enjoy reading it.
About The Epic Bible
This is a hardcover sewn edition. The paper is extra-thick and takes color perfectly. It’s glossy under direct light, but I had no trouble reading it. The size is Size: 6.5″ x 10.25″ x 1.5″ and it has 840 pages total with 824 pages of the Bible. The rest is an introduction and index. It weighs 3lbs, 15oz. This size and weight might be a touch large for small children. It’s aimed at ages 12-18. The ISBN is 9781414396675. It was made in China.
The artwork was done by Marvel and DC artists and it looks as good as anything I’ve seen from Marvel and DC. It gives the Bible a visual and cinematic feel with epic art and story-telling. It really does live up to the epic title.
The bottom of most pages shows the Scriptures that the content of that page is taken from. The clothing and architecture in the artwork seem to match the periods they take place in. They’re helpful when trying to picture the settings. Stories that are hard to imagine, such as some of the prophecies, are vivid and a lot easier to understand.
Thoughts on Reading The Epic Bible
Since it’s abridged it does skip some of the common and lesser-known stories, but most of the major stories are here. For example, the story of Samson, the handwriting on the wall, the Tower of Babel, and several others aren’t included. Some events within the books are skipped. For example, it includes Revelation through 5:14 and then skips ahead to 21. This is probably due to the abridgment.
Not everything in it is Scripture. It shows the deaths of several of the apostles. For example, the image above shows the upsidedown crucifixion of Peter. I wasn’t expecting this. To be honest, I’d rather have seen the rest of Revelation and Samson. This is only a few pages and it does make sense in the context. It is clear that it’s what some think happened in history.
I love the way the scenes are drawn. It works great with the large amount of text on each page. I also like the way the journeys of Paul are shown. It places a map in the background of a few panels to show the locations of the journey.
Stories are not labeled. The only way to know at a glance that the story has changed is to look at the references at the bottom of the page or by using the index in the front.
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Conclusion
The Epic Bible is fun to read. I’m a fan of most types of epic art styles including graphic novels. The artwork in this one is as good as any graphic novel I’ve seen. Since it’s abridged, I’d like to see the name changed to Epic Bible Stories. I would also like to see more of the major stories included. I do like those that it did include. Overall, I think the Epic Bible is an excellent graphic novel that young readers and comic book lovers will enjoy.
Tyndale provided this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.