Good and Evil (Graphic Novel and Animation)
Summary
Good and Evil is a graphic novel and animation set designed to present and explain the entirety of the Gospel narrative, from Genesis to Revelation. With art from the late Marvel alum Danny Bulanadi and writing/formatting by Michael Pearl. It is not a true Bible, but more of a missionary tool to get the ideas and theology behind the Gospels to unreached people groups, such as those that ban Bibles — but not comic books — as well as those with limited literacy. Both are high-quality, and engaging, with excellent, Western-style artwork and an approachable narrative structure. The graphic novel and the animation can be enjoyed without the other or together as needed by the missionary.
Assessment
Good and Evil is meant to get the Gospel into places that outright reject anything labelled “Christian”. Using the immensely popular Marvel/DC comic book style as something of a disguise, this book aims to present the narrative of Jesus from Genesis, through a bulk of the Old Testament, through the Minor Prophets, and into the Gospels, touching only briefly on Revelation. This work has been translated into a plethora of languages — both written and spoken — and is available for missionaries around the world.
This is no replacement for the Bible. It is a Gospel narrative and, as such, does leave out portions of the Bible that are less necessary for that overall goal; for example, King David’s story is touched on briefly, but not explained as a whole. Likewise with Solomon. Additionally, there are some areas that go “off script” from what the Bible directly tells us, but this is usually limited to transitions and, typically, these narrative elements do still hold to the overall Gospel. It is somewhat comparable to things such as The Chosen, which do have extra-Biblical elements to help the story move along, but try to hold true to the intent and purpose of the stories laid out in the Bible.
Light-o-Meter (Book)
Artwork: 6 out of 7 Little Lights
Writing: 5 out of 7 Little Lights
Age-Appropriateness: Appropriate for most ages.
Theological Message: 4 out of 7 Little Lights
Overall: 5 out of 7 Little Lights
Light-o-Meter (Animation)
Writing: 6 out of 7 Little Lights
Animation: 7 out of 7 Little Lights
Acting: 6 out of 7 Little Lights
Cleanliness: 6 out of 7 Little Lights (plenty of action and some injuries, but little to no blood, gore, or sexual elements)
Theological Message: 7 out of 7 Little Lights
Overall: 6 out of 7 Little Lights
Talk
Okay, I am going to go ahead and say that I am not the hugest fan of this type of Gospel narrative from a theological standpoint. They are not heretical by any means (both the book and the animation hit all the important notes as far as I’m concerned), but I am overly cautious about narrative “reinterpretations” of the Bible that are not quite the Bible in its pure form but are not far enough away from Scripture to be considered a retelling. I think there is a lot of room for personal theology to creep in — which is not necessarily a bad thing depending on the situation. I tend to lean towards “we need to stick purely to the Bible [plus applicable historical context] and let the Holy Spirit do the heavy”.
All of this said, I am not a missionary and haven’t yet had the opportunity to serve as one, so I am going to rate this piece of work knowing my personal convictions may not apply to a more universal purpose, because sometimes that happens.
In terms of quality, both the graphic novel and the animation are at the very top of the game. The art is fantastic and really presents that super popular Western comic book style that was particularly en vogue during the height of the MCU. The animation is more of “the graphic novel, animated” rather than it’s own standalone series, but the voice acting is pretty good and I can see how that particular format would be incredibly useful in places with low literacy or with people who just don’t like reading comics. It would also be easy to integrate those videos into classrooms, whether in school or church.
Overall I do think that this product has a great use in missionary work as a highly visual aid to places where the missionaries are dealing with barriers in both language and literacy. After all, stained glass windows were originally designed to provide illiterate masses with a visual to understand elements and stories of the Gospel that they can’t read for themselves. There are still some concerns about people misunderstanding the parts of the narrative that are not necessarily found in the Bible, but I think for this particular graphic novel and the fact that it is meant to accompany missionaries, the risk is minimal.
Where to Enjoy
Amazon: Good And Evil (Revised Edition): Pearl, Michael, Bulanadi, Danny: 9781616440862: Amazon.com: Books
Christianbook.com: Good and Evil: The Bible As Graphic Novel: Michael Pearl: 9781616440862 - Christianbook.com
Good and Evil: Good and Evil Comic Book Bible