The Coming Storm by Ben Avery

Genre- Graphic novel, Juvenile fiction, Religious, Christian

The Coming Storm from the series Kingdoms: A Biblical Epic story by Ben Avery and art by Mat Broome

Published by- Zondervan

Copyrighted- 2007

Number of pages- 160

Age Group- 13-16

Description of book- softcover, list price $6.99, ISBN: 978-0-310-71353-1

Extra-  www.zgraphicnovels.com where you can learn more about all the books in the series and also different series.

Based upon 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles, the Kingdoms series is base upon an advisor names Iddo and his descendants.  Iddo does his best to stay loyal to the memory of King Josiah, keep Judah faithful to God, and protect his own family.

In The Coming Storm, King Josiah of Judah attacks the Egyptian army, which is crossing Judah on their way to help Assyria fight Babylon.  Iddo watches as a disguised King Josiah charges into battle.  Will the king die?  And what will happen to the country if he does die?

Please visit these links to learn more about the book and ZGraphic Novels.  Here is a Sample of chapter one.  Here is an Interview describing the Graphic Novels.

About the author-  Ben Avery teaches high school, writes comic and plays, and helps in children’s ministry.  He also writes the TimeFlyz series.

About the illustrator-  Mat Broome has illustrated many comic books such as Batman and X-Men.  He volunteers to teach kids and has won an award for his dedication. 

My thoughts-

I have always avoided reading the ever popular graphic novels, but when I learned that there were Christian graphic novels, I decided I would give them a try.

The graphic novels are in the “manga” style, which is Japanese term for “comic”  These books are unlike the comics I grew up with as they are published in black and white with strong artwork and emotions in a book format.

I would agree that there is strong artwork and emotions in the manga style, but I had a difficult time figuring out who each person was as they looked so much the same.  It would have helped if the person speaking would say the name of the person they were speaking to.  I did think the basic storyline was good

I would recommend The Coming Storm, because graphic novels are becoming more popular.  As graphic novels become more popular it will be more important than ever to have Christian graphic novels for people to read.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Zondervan. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.