(no subject)

[ivyfic]

These words should never be put together in a sentence: faith-based manga. And yet that is exactly what is on the horizon. First there was Harlequin's manga line, now this.

Comments

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

Actually, I had the idea of a shoujo manga based on Megillat Esther (Book of Esther). It would work really well as a shoujo manga, I think, and I was working with an artist, but he bailed.

I feel prescient in that my notes say that Haman should be "Hot, but really skeevy and oily". Why? Baltar played Haman in a recent movie version of the story (which postdates my notes).

And why should the manga style not be used to tell religious/inspirational stories? They'll be what they are no matter what format they're in, so why not work in manga?

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

Can't say I'm surprised. Actually, one year at the Gift Exchange there was something that looked very much like Biblical manga--the rabbi and I had a great time pretending to translate the captions, as you can imagine.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I'm anticipating something chock full of Crystal Dragon Jesus tropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrystalDragonJesus)

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I agree -- manga is a style in which any story can be told. However, "faith-based manga" smacks of evangelicals saying, "these heathen young folk. How do you reach them? A-ha! We will speak to them in their own language! We will make...manga."

From the description, it was retelling of Biblical stories, but a series with a title like "Spiritual Journeys" or some such. I tend to be resistant to all these attempts to pop-ify Christianity. It's a bit too Buddy Jesus to me.