In August 2007, Zondervan will introduce twelve graphic novels to launch six series of manga for three different age groups, including both biblically-based stories and contemporary fiction content.
Thereafter, each series will continue to release two books every spring and fall, for a total of four books per series each year.
Why Zondervan Is Doing This ...
Even more than sushi and soy sauce, the Japanese export manga (comics) has exploded in popularity in America—so much so that kids’ and teens’ love for this genre of graphic novels has tripled the market in the past three years! The year 2005 boasted graphic novel sales well over $250 million, with 2006 continuing the growth trend.
And manga’s popularity shows that comics are not just for boys and young men, as this rapidly growing category among tweens and teens claims a 60% female readership. Unfortunately, the current fare often exposes its readers to strong sexual imagery, gratuitous violence, and pagan worldviews. As a healthy alternative, Z Graphic Novels offers young readers six new series of manga graphic novels. Because manga and anime (Japanese cartoons) comprise a strong position in our young people’s culture, we want to meet them through this popular storytelling form to present biblical truth through exciting stories and cutting-edge art.
View Manga Sampler PDF with feature graphics.
FAQ's
The Manga Bible
Provides kids eight to twelve with Bible stories in a culturally relevant style.
The Manga Bible series–The Bible is larger than life, and kids will love reading its stories told through the graphic storytelling of Korean manga. Readers will enjoy learning the Bible’s characters and landscapes portrayed through this cutting-edge style of art now popular around the world.
Names, Games, and the Long Road Trip
(Genesis—Exodus)
From the creation of the world to Israel's rescue from Egypt, Volume 1 travels through the events of Genesis and Exodus, presenting heroic characters like Abraham and Moses.
Walls, Brawls, and the Great Rebellion
(Numbers—Ruth)
Israel survives the desert to take the Promised Land. Volume 2 continues the Bible's great story from the rebellion in Numbers to the romance of Ruth.
Series Editors: N. Averdonz and Bud Rogers
Vol. 1 Editor: Brett Burner
Vol. 2 Editors: Brett Burner & J.S. Earls
Written by Young Shin Lee
Illustrated by Jung Sun Hwang
Partner: Cross Culture Entertainment
Tomo
Provides kids eight to twelve with Christian fiction written in a culturally relevant style.
Hana would be like any other thirteen-year-old immigrant trying to fit into life at an American school, but she also battles hostile, animal-like warriors from the dimension of Argon Falls. In discovering secrets about her identity and her past, Hana bravely faces both her enemies and her destiny, tutored by her grandfather sensei, as well by a shape-shifting creature named Tomo.
I Was an Eighth-Grade Ninja
Moving from Japan to San Francisco to live with her grandfather is difficult enough. Now thirteen-year-old Hana must use her grandfather’s martial arts training to battle animal-like warriors from another dimension! And what is the secret of Tomo, her grandfather’s strange pet?
My Double-Edged Life
School bullies by day, battles for the Spirit Sword at night! Hana finds Tomo to be a worthy ally against the animal-like ninjas of Argon Falls as she discovers the truth behind the mysterious sword and the unique role she’s been called to play.
Series Editors: N. Averdonz and Bud Rogers
Created by Rob Corley & Tom Bancroft
Vol. 1 written by Andrew Simmons & Rob Corley
Vol. 2 written by Jim Krueger
Illustrated by Ariel Padilla
Partner: Funnypages Productions
Kingdoms™: A Biblical Epic
Presents biblically based stories for teens in a culturally relevant style.
1 & 2 Kings and 1& 2 Chronicles tell the history of Israel and Judah following the Davidic dynasty through the exile in Babylon. Against this historical backdrop of the rise and fall of maneuvering kings and warring empires, the fictional series Kingdoms traces the saga of the dedicated advisor Iddo and his descendants. As he remains loyal to the memory of the just King Josiah and labors to keep his nation faithful to the Lord, Iddo struggles to protect his own family—including his son, Berekiah, and later his grandson, a young prophet named Zechariah.
The Coming Storm
With Judah pressed between the surrounding empires of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, the faithful advisor Iddo seeks to choose a just successor to King Josiah, recently fallen in battle. Iddo’s power-hungry peers, however, succeed in placing their puppet on the throne, putting both the nation and Iddo’s family in crisis.
Scions of Josiah
King Jehoahaz ignores Iddo’s counsel against a failed plot to assassinate Pharaoh Neco, and so brings Egypt’s wrath on Judah. But when the balance of power swings from Egypt to the even more oppressive Babylon, Iddo and his family, along with the entire nation of Judah, find themselves caught up in the whirlwind of Nebuchadnezzar’s swift, harsh invasion of Jerusalem.
Series Editors: N. Averdonz and Bud Rogers
Editor: Brett Burner
Written by Ben Avery
Vol. 1 Illustrated by Mat Broome
Vol. 2 Illustrated by Harold Edge
Partner: Cross Culture Entertainment
Click here to take survey and help us create the best manga for you!
Hand of the Morningstar
Presents Christian fiction for teens in a culturally relevant style.
With the world watching, the opposing forces of super-powered beings clash in battles that reveal whether those who serve the elusive Morningstar, said to be a wise and powerful heavenly creature, fight for the cause of good or evil.
Advent
Having taken hostages on an oil rig, the wild and turbulent Tempest appears bent on violence rather than preserving the environment. But when the super-powered Titan leads the servants of the mysterious Morningstar to battle against Tempest, it becomes unclear whether the world should rejoice or despair.
Resurrection
For their victory against Tempest, the world hails Titan and his comrades as heroes while waiting to learn the identity of their mysterious master, Morningstar. But far from the public eye, the destructive power of an oncoming hurricane forces the defeated Michael Tempe to decide whether he will once again become the Tempest in order to protect his new love Elena, the daughter of missionaries who nursed him back to health.
Series Editors: N. Averdonz and Bud Rogers
Editor: Brett Burner
Written and Illustrated by Mike Miller
Partner: Cross Culture Entertainment
Son of Samson
Provides kids ten and up with biblically based stories in a culturally relevant style.
Samson’s mighty son Branan traces his famous father’s footsteps as he battles the Philistines. Throughout the different episodes, with both humor and action, he learns about God’s purpose for his life and inherited strength.
The Judge of God
Branan learns the stories, and then retraces the path of his heroic father, Samson. Branan's own skirmishes with the Philistines place him under the contempt of Lord Pathrus, a powerful enemy of Samson.
The Daughter of Dagon
Samson fell under Delilah’s betrayal. Will his son, Branan, suffer the same fate after he rescues Saphira, Delilah’s daughter?
Series Editors: N. Averdonz and Bud Rogers
Written by Gary Martin
Illustrated by Sergio Cariello
TimeFlyz
Presents Christian fiction for kids ages ten and up in a culturally relevant style.
Laurel’s ordinary life changes to extraordinary when cyborg flies shrink her down and take her on an adventure to save the world. Racing through and against time to famous places of the past, learning about history and faith, Laurel discovers that even an average girl like her can make a valuable contribution to a team.
Pyramid Peril
Believing she’s just a regular girl, Laurel escapes from cyborg flies who’ve taken her back in time to ancient Egypt to defeat the evil spider Darchon. She must decide if she will join the TimeFlyz to save her father from Darchon, and accept that they need her to help save the world.
Turtle Trouble
Laurel and the TimeFlyz chase Darchon in hot pursuit to 1775, the beginning of the Revolutionary War, to keep the spider from kidnapping the famous inventor Benjamin Franklin. Can the TimeFlyz outrun Darchon’s fly-eating super turtles and come to the rescue of Laurel, who’s trapped inside a submarine under British fire?
Series Editors: N. Averdonz and Bud Rogers
Written by Ben Avery
Illustrated by Adi Darda Gaudiamo
FAQs
What is Manga?
While the term ‘manga’ translates as comic, it reaches a wider audience in Japanese society than the limited comic book fan base of primarily of boys and young men in America. Manga’s stories usually appear as serials in magazines, and are later collected into the book form of the graphic novel. This Japanese storytelling form now resonates with fans across the world.
Suitable for readers growing up in a hi-tech age, a story told through manga flows in ‘real time.’ Fewer sentences and more sound cues allow the reader’s eye to move right along with the characters through both their actions and emotions, rather than having the story explained through lengthy speech bubbles and text boxes. Less text and stronger emotion also allows the quality of the distinctive art to stand out.
What is the difference between a comic book and a graphic novel/manga?
Just as their name states, graphic novels are ‘books in pictures’, with intricate plotlines and colorful characters. But while comics and graphic novels both tell their stories using a sequential art combination of text, panels, and images, graphic novels typically run longer than comic books, stretching out a story over one long volume or combined into several volumes. And instead of color print on glossy paper, manga runs black and white throughout the book. Manga often showcases adolescent heroes with whom young readers can identify.
Shouldn’t tweens and young adults read “real books”?
Graphic novels not only comprise one form of reading, storytelling, and entertainment, but they also communicate effectively in this hi-tech age, acting as a bridge between the image of a video screen and the printed text of a book. With as much emphasis placed on the art as on the story, readers enjoy not only getting to know the characters as they travel through an extended plot over the course of several books, but also appreciate the high quality artwork. The length of the serial format allows the reader to know the characters well as they journey with them through their conflicts and adventures, looking forward to more of the story’s answers in the next volume.
Are your graphic novels really manga if they’re not from Japan?
Some manga fans consider only that which comes from Japan to be true manga. But just as manga and anime (Japanese cartoons) have both shown strong American influences, they in turn are influencing popular forms of American entertainment, as many Western illustrators, writers, and publishers have begun producing what they call ‘manga’. Z-Graphic Novels are manga in the sense that they bear the influences of storytelling, art style, and action effects of this Japanese art form.
How is this different from the vast array of manga quickly filling bookshelves everywhere?
Many young customers will be unfamiliar with the Shinto (traditional Japanese religion that believes in spirits everywhere) or pagan worldview underlying many manga titles. Some of the most popular children’s manga and corresponding cartoons (anime) have kid heroes that either channel demonic spirits for power, or themselves are reincarnated spirits. In addition, many manga series also tend to celebrate violence and sexual misbehavior. So while Z Graphic Novels have the high quality art, features, and exciting action of manga, each line presents its story with a Christian perspective based on biblical values.
Where would I find these in a bookstore?
Most secular bookstores now have large graphic novel sections, and some Christian bookstores are beginning to develop sections for graphic novels as well. For those stores that don’t yet have a special section, you can find Z Graphic Novels either in the young adult or children’s areas.
Are there any theological issues I should be concerned with in these books?
Zondervan has had all of our Z Graphic Novels titles reviewed by persons trained formally in theology to ensure that each book’s content adheres to the highest Christian standards. The serial nature of these novels spreads the stories over multiple volumes, not revealing in full the underlying truth of some of the stories until well into the series.
