The Third Day: The Gospel of Luke 22-24

The Third Day: The Gospel of Luke Chapters 22-24 by Alex Webb-Peploe and Andre Parker (Scripture from the HCSB)This new comic book, The Third Day, by Alex Webb-Peploe and Andre Parker, taken from Luke 22-24 (HCSB) is a wonderful depiction of the world, the characters, and the events leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection. The opening prologue brings us face to face with Luke’s narrative eyewitness accounts of the events of Jesus. Taken in a series of snapshot artistic frames, these opening scenes portray well the faces of the apostles, the chief priests, and the events that took place in the ministry of Jesus. What you get as you read through this is an intimate portrait of the moving events and characters of the story and their emotions as the death of Jesus nears and his resurrection comes to take place. The illustrations provided in the book are worth every penny and even were captivating to my young daughter. You really won’t want to miss this illustrative rendering of Jesus’ last days.The emotions upon the faces of the high priests and of Judas revealed the extreme nature of the plot to kill Jesus. Dressed in the garb of holiness but putting on the face of ruthless enemies of Jesus, these leaders sought nothing less than to erase Jesus from the annals of history. The story takes us into the meeting with Judas as he plots to betray Jesus with the reward of silver at his hands. We see the grimace of Judas change as Satan enters him and he meets with the chief priests. We also see the action of Peter in cutting off the ear of the guard. Peter is shown as seeking to do anything to protect his Lord but acting in a manner out of step with Jesus’ command. The depictions take us right into the heart of the apostles who run the gamut of emotions from despair and sadness to jubilation.The portrayal of Jesus in the book was done very well. Without being relegated to Caucasian status or any one specific ethnicity, we see Jesus as bearing up under the weight of betrayal, enduring suffering, and walking toward the cross. One of the things we see in the book is Jesus’ compassion for his people evident in his ministry to them and his plight toward the cross. It seemed to me that the authors very much wanted us to be reminded of the Isaiah’s Suffering Servant as we looked upon Jesus and his road to the cross. Pilate is also seen in these pages as a man with his own reputation to keep intact, rather than to free Jesus. The only thing I thought was a bit misleading is the panel in which Pilate is seen hands cusped in his head regretting full well the decision to hand Jesus over to die. But, you can imagine how it might have felt freeing a guilty man and dooming a man to die who had done nothing wrong.I think many people especially young readers will find The Third Day a very compelling and illuminating work.Thanks to Cross Focused Reviews and The Good Book Company for the review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Know anyone who is a graphic novel / comic book fan ? We have a couple of them in my house. My guys love to pick up a good graphic novel or comic book when they can. They were delighted when we had the chance to review The Third Day, a new graphic novel style book from The Good Book Company. This book is different from other graphic novels in that the authors took direct Scripture from the Gospel of Luke 22-24 (Holman). We know the scenes depicted best as the Last Supper, the Betrayal, the Crucifixion of Jesus, and the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. Yes, the events of Holy Week in a book reviewed during Holy Week! Imagine that!Since they are such graphic novel fans, the Tiede boys were happy to help with the review!The Bottom LineCaleb- Age 11I thought this book was pretty good. I especially liked the scenes which showed the crucifixion. I liked how close these scenes were to the Bible. I like graphic novels because there are fewer words and expressive pictures. Usually graphic novels have bright colors, but these illustrations feel like they are more realistic colors that match the mood and the time period. I think the illustrations were really well done. Most graphic novels have a lot of dialogue and this one doesn't. I missed that a little.Ben- Age 13I think it was really neat that the book uses the exact words from the Bible. Some people who might not be willing to read the Bible, may be willing to read the gospel story in this format. That makes this a great book! In my opinion, the crucifixion wasn't as realistic as it should have been. The illustrators showed more blood during the part when the soldier's ear was cut off. In contrast, Jesus's crucifixion didn't show any wounds or blood. I think it misrepresents what Jesus went through for our sins. He suffered, but we don't get that from the illustrations.The Final Verdict!The book is wonderfully illustrated and so captures the emotion behind the scenes and passion of the week. I love the idea of this series. I think that there is a definite group of teens and even younger or older kids (aka adults) who will be intrigued by this series. The tough part of this project is getting it all to come together--the visual with the actual Word of God. It must not have been an easy feat! I think that there are areas it really shines. There are other areas it was harder to get the same feel as what a regular reader of a graphic novel expects. In all, I think this was worth reading and checking out. I hope that they have success in this project and that additional title will be released.

Great.