The Action Bible: God's Redemptive Story by Sergio Cariello and Doug Mauss

The Action Bible: God's Redemptive Story

More than 200 stories adapted from the Bible into full-color comics, with an emphasis on drama. The stories are straightforward, told in a combination of contemporary and traditional Biblical language. The story of Elijah is particularly compelling, following his life as a prophet through difficult times (being blamed for a drought) and good times (ascending to heaven on a fiery chariot).

Appeal: Christianity, the Bible, history, short stories

Art: Colorful, realistic, cinematic

Text: A mix of traditional King James text and contemporary speech. The builders of the Tower of Babel exclaim "We rule!"

Other: An update of The Picture Bible. Sergio Cariello read The Picture Bible throughout his youth in Brazil. Cariello has illustrated for DC and Marvel, and attended the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art and the Word of Life Bible Institute.

Awards: In 2011 The Action Bible won the Evangelical Christian Publishers Christian Book Award in its children's category.

Cariello, Sergio and Doug Mauss.The Action Bible: God's Redemptive Story. Colorado Springs, Colo. : David C. Cook, 2010. Print.

Prince of Cats by Ron Wimberly

Prince of Cats

Romeo and Juliet is re-imagined in a futuristic, Afro Samurai-like Brooklyn, where the fashions are radical and the gang wars are fought with swords. Tybalt is the main character in this adaptation and the plot follows his role in the larger story, his part in the conflict between Montague and Capulet. The cast is largely black and the dialogue is occasionally, wittily, adapted to the setting.

Appeal: Classics, Shakespeare, action, black representation

Art: Chaotic, colorful, graffiti-like, with manga influences

Text: A stylized synthesis of the original Shakespeare and urban slang.

Other: Ronald Wimberly has also adapted Something Wicked This Way Comes into a graphic novel. He lives in Brooklyn.

Wimberly, Ronald and Ray Bradbury. Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Authorized Adaptation. New York : Hill And Wang, 2011. Print.