Here's an interesting look at a new trend in Christian publishing capitalizing on the popularity of Japanese manga and anime: Christian comics, illustrated in a manga style. The article looks specifically at Zondervan's Z Graphic Novels line, which includes manga versions of Bible stories and superhero comics. It also touches on the challenge of repurposing pop-culture art forms for evangelism without also incorporating unhealthy excesses associated with those art forms--in this example, the exaggerated and sometimes bizarre sexuality that crops up in manga.

I've been aware of the Comix35 ministry (mentioned in the article above) for some years now--they host Christian comics competitions and training with the goal of showing Christians just how important comics are as a medium worldwide.

And I can't let a mention of Christian comics go by without mentioning Dust Press, a small comics publisher that has put out some striking comic retellings of Old Testament stories. I recently picked up a copy of their Fire From Heaven, which tells the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal, and was seriously impressed.

Can anyone speak to the quality of Zondervan's new comics line (or any of the other Christian forays into comics)? Are these solid pieces of Christian art, or is this a too-little-too-late mimicking of pop culture? I'm all for well-done Christian comics, but I think the sight of famous Old Testament characters with gigantic manga-style eyes might scar me for life.