ZIMBABWE — “My son never read a book uninterrupted – until he got hold of the Graphic Bible!” This is typical of the reaction of parents who have bought copies of the Lion Graphic Bible from the Bible Society of Zimbabwe.

Sub-titled ‘The Whole Story from Genesis to Revelation’, the book is a retelling of Bible stories in strip-cartoon format for children ranging from 10-year-olds to teenagers.

“The visual presentation is appealing to kids and once they got wind of this product many rushed to purchase their own copies,” says Edward Mutema, the Bible Society’s General Secretary.

To start with, marketing the Graphic Bible was not easy – perhaps because there was some doubt among parents about the suitability of the cartoon strip as a medium for God’s Word.

Fortunately, Mr Mutema spotted an opportunity in a major meeting of Zimbabwe’s churches jointly organised by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe. “We gave out copies of the Graphic Bible to about 50 heads of denominations at the meeting,” he says. “And after that, we were inundated with inquiries.”

“My son hardly ever reads through a book in one sitting,” the General Secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Rev A Muchechetere, told Mr Mutema later. “But when he got hold of your Graphic Bible he just read through it, and his brother insisted that I also buy him a copy.”

The Lion Graphic Bible is the work of an English illustrator, Jeff Anderson, whose work includes the Judge Dredd comics, and Mike Maddox, a Christian writer who has worked on titles published by DC Comics, publishers of the Batman and Superman comics. The book, originally produced in the 1990s, has been reviewed very favourably in the United Kingdom. The daily newspaper The Guardian said, “Jeff Anderson’s stunning pictures literally cover every page with glorious images, while Mike Maddox’s text successfully preserves the epic tone.” When the book was first published, Mr Maddox was asked on a religious television programme what he thought about turning the Bible into “a cartoon with bubbles coming out of people’s mouths”. “I think comics can handle serious subjects quite easily,” he replied. “There’s no problem getting across an adult or serious thing in a comic… The medium itself doesn’t necessarily lend itself only to children’s stories… You can use a comic to tell a more adult story quite well. We’ve made an effort to be as accurate as we can to the historical facts.”

Another customer said, “It is easy to read and keeps you wanting to read more.”

Mr Mutema says that the highly illustrated and reader-friendly presentation of the large-format paperback makes it ideal for young people. After the distribution of the 50 copies at the churches’ meeting, sales picked up and the Society’s consignment of 900 copies rapidly sold out.

“Our challenge is to make it available in the two other major languages, Shona and Ndebele,” says Mr Mutema, “in order to ensure wide readership.”

Some 70 per cent of Zimbabweans are Christians and more than half are under the age of 18, so the Society is confident that the Graphic Bible has a ready market.

“Judging by the response we have received so far,” says Precious Mafuba, the Personal Assistant to Mr Mutema, “we can easily distribute 3000 copies, if funds become available.” (WR 408/11 - 01/02.07)

For other stories about Bible stories in cartoon form, see Superman with the temperament of the Hulk: it’s the graphic Samson! in World Report 371/19