The Christian comic book and the Manga Messiah

It is not unusual to see a grown man read a comic book in France. While  the graphic novel and the manga cartoon are a burgeoning part of our subculture and comic books are the demesne of children, our friends on the other side of La Manche have had a passion for the Bande Dessinée for years.

A few of course have made it over: the (Belgian) reporter Tintin, Asterix and Obelix and Lucky Luke are among the more famous BDs to come from the Continent, but there are many many more. In a culture where the comic book is mainstream it is hardly surprising then, that Christian churches have organised a festival of “la bande dessinée chrétienne” which goes from January 28 to 31.

And the prize for the Christian comic book was awarded to Manga Messiah, a collection of 14 books which take stories from the New Testament. They were drawn by Kozumi Shinozawa who was born in Japan in 1970. She moved to the United States and was baptised in June 2004. Her conversion has deeply influenced her work.