On September 9th, Word for Word Bible Comic launched.

What’s that? You don’t know what Word for Word Bible Comic is?

Stop for a moment and imagine the stories contained in the Scriptures being presented in a graphic novel format in a way that is “historically accurate, unabridged, and untamed”.

The key here is that these novels are unabridged. You are reading the words of Scripture and only the words of Scripture. There is no commentary or added text.

But what you do get is an amazing way to experience these stories.

Simon Amadeus Pillario illustrator of the Word for Word Bible Comic (link), has managed to bring out the intensity and vividness of the stories of the Bible with his incredible story boarding and full color images. Choosing the exciting era of the Judges (reviewed last year) and using KickStarter to fund its creation, Pillario has just launched the series making the Judges novel widely available (Amazon).

True to the text, Pillario also worked hard to be true to history. He chronicles the process of studying the historical time periods of his blog grappling with everything from clothes to architecture. When you read the story of Judges in the graphic novel format you are seeing things as accurately drawn as possible.

Of course some things are left to the imagination. We don’t know what the characters in the stories looked like. One of the things to figure out in the book of Judges was how to draw the hero Sampson. He is known for his strength. But should he be drawn with bulging muscles like the Hulk or perhaps more ordinary. You can read through the thought process on his blog (link).

You may be asking, doesn’t a series imply more than one novel? It does. The prequel to Judges – Joshua is also part of the series. Funded on KickStarter, it is still in progress.

However, you don’t have to wait, once you have read Judges you can grab the second novel available in the series. It captures the  story of Ruth. Before there was Katniss of the Hunger Games, the Divergent Tris, and Force Awakens’ Rey, we find a strong female hero who leads with her loyalty and humility .

To celebrate the launch the Book of Ruth is available for free on the Kindle (link). But only until Sunday.