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Pilgrim's Progress: Marvel Comics
Graphic Novel
94 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
15 people want to read
About the author
Martin Powell
194 books22 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. This entry is for Martin ^ Powell.
Martin Powell is the author of hundreds of science fiction, mystery, and horror stories. He has worked in the comic book industry since 1986, writing for Marvel, DC, Malibu, Caliber, Moonstone, and Disney, among others, and has been nominated for the coveted Eisner Award. Martin also writes children’s books, and frequently contributes prose for many short story anthologies. He resides in Saint Paul, MN.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. This entry is for Martin ^ Powell.
Martin Powell is the author of hundreds of science fiction, mystery, and horror stories. He has worked in the comic book industry since 1986, writing for Marvel, DC, Malibu, Caliber, Moonstone, and Disney, among others, and has been nominated for the coveted Eisner Award. Martin also writes children’s books, and frequently contributes prose for many short story anthologies. He resides in Saint Paul, MN.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 27, 2025
In this review, I briefly address three retellings of The Pilgrim's Progress, which adapt Bunyan's Christian story (Part 1, anyway) and mostly succeed in overcoming the problems I mentioned that plague the original book:
(1) John Bunyan's A Pilgrim's Progress, an oversize book written by Geraldine McCaughrean and illustrated by Jason Cockcroft (1999).
American readers might not be familiar with McCaughrean, a British author who's written over 170 books (!) and won the Carnegie Medal twice (including for A Pack of Lies, which I like a lot) as well as the Hans Christian Andersen Award (which has been dubbed the Nobel Prize of children's literature).
In this retelling, she makes some reasonable changes, such as to the names (e.g., Mr. Worldly Wiseman is now Mr. Alec Smart). Christian's two companions are still called Faithful and Hopeful, but Hopeful has been genderswapped and is now a woman.
McCaughrean's storytelling is excellent, and Cockcroft's pointillist art – mostly B&W with a few color spreads – is breathtaking. If you want to read Pilgrim's Progress, this version – which won the very first Blue Peter Award for Book of the Year – is probably the best way to do it.
That is, unless you would prefer a graphic novel. Here are two of them:
(2) The Pilgrim's Progress, Volumes 1 and 2, adapted by Lee Tung & Johnny Wong and illustrated by Creator Art Studio (Kingstone Comics, 2011).
The art is good but isn't winning prizes. (Some of the word bubbles are confusingly placed.) The story is faithful to Bunyan – too faithful. It leaves in minor scenes that McCaughrean wisely omitted, such as the ones that trash other religions. (These include the has-been giants Pope and Pagan, and the deadly mountain called Sinai. When someone dashes up to Christian and beats him up, the guy is identified as none other than Moses.)
One clever depiction is Christian's heavy burden of sin. When he's freed of it by accepting Jesus (a scene that appears in all the versions), the burden is revealed to be a skeletal demon masquerading as a backpack. Interestingly, Hopeful has been genderswapped in this version as well.
(3) The Pilgrim's Progress, adapted by Martin Powell (who has written hundreds of stories for graphic novels) and illustrated by Seppo Makinen (Marvel Comics, 1992). [That's the book you clicked on which brought you to this review.]
This version is more abridged than the other two, but it still manages to squeeze in some of Part 2, about the pilgrimage of Christiana and her children. (They don't know how to fight, but Bunyan has them protected by a warrior named Great-Heart. By the way, in this version Hopeful is a man, but Great-Heart is a woman.)
Two aspects of this version stand out for me. First, the art is professional and looks exactly like a Marvel superhero comic. Second, some of the setting has been moved to the present. For example, the corrupt city at the start of the story is reminiscent of Gotham City (oops, that belongs to the other comic book company). Christian's lazy friend Iggy (short for Ignorant) looks a lot like Pee-wee Herman. In other words, the Marvel version is a hybrid of Bunyan's 1600s story and modern visuals.
(1) John Bunyan's A Pilgrim's Progress, an oversize book written by Geraldine McCaughrean and illustrated by Jason Cockcroft (1999).
American readers might not be familiar with McCaughrean, a British author who's written over 170 books (!) and won the Carnegie Medal twice (including for A Pack of Lies, which I like a lot) as well as the Hans Christian Andersen Award (which has been dubbed the Nobel Prize of children's literature).
In this retelling, she makes some reasonable changes, such as to the names (e.g., Mr. Worldly Wiseman is now Mr. Alec Smart). Christian's two companions are still called Faithful and Hopeful, but Hopeful has been genderswapped and is now a woman.
McCaughrean's storytelling is excellent, and Cockcroft's pointillist art – mostly B&W with a few color spreads – is breathtaking. If you want to read Pilgrim's Progress, this version – which won the very first Blue Peter Award for Book of the Year – is probably the best way to do it.
That is, unless you would prefer a graphic novel. Here are two of them:
(2) The Pilgrim's Progress, Volumes 1 and 2, adapted by Lee Tung & Johnny Wong and illustrated by Creator Art Studio (Kingstone Comics, 2011).
The art is good but isn't winning prizes. (Some of the word bubbles are confusingly placed.) The story is faithful to Bunyan – too faithful. It leaves in minor scenes that McCaughrean wisely omitted, such as the ones that trash other religions. (These include the has-been giants Pope and Pagan, and the deadly mountain called Sinai. When someone dashes up to Christian and beats him up, the guy is identified as none other than Moses.)
One clever depiction is Christian's heavy burden of sin. When he's freed of it by accepting Jesus (a scene that appears in all the versions), the burden is revealed to be a skeletal demon masquerading as a backpack. Interestingly, Hopeful has been genderswapped in this version as well.
(3) The Pilgrim's Progress, adapted by Martin Powell (who has written hundreds of stories for graphic novels) and illustrated by Seppo Makinen (Marvel Comics, 1992). [That's the book you clicked on which brought you to this review.]
This version is more abridged than the other two, but it still manages to squeeze in some of Part 2, about the pilgrimage of Christiana and her children. (They don't know how to fight, but Bunyan has them protected by a warrior named Great-Heart. By the way, in this version Hopeful is a man, but Great-Heart is a woman.)
Two aspects of this version stand out for me. First, the art is professional and looks exactly like a Marvel superhero comic. Second, some of the setting has been moved to the present. For example, the corrupt city at the start of the story is reminiscent of Gotham City (oops, that belongs to the other comic book company). Christian's lazy friend Iggy (short for Ignorant) looks a lot like Pee-wee Herman. In other words, the Marvel version is a hybrid of Bunyan's 1600s story and modern visuals.
May 15, 2025
Was my first ever experience of John Bunyan's classic, and it was life-changing for me. There are so many images in this graphic novel version that have stuck with me over the years. One example is how Christian begins the story as a skinny nobody and turns into a hulking chad by the end. A great choice to show the effect sanctification has on a person's inner self over the course of their life. I've read the actual novel yearly for the past fifteen or so years, and here is where it all started. It was given to me as a gift together with my first New Testament right around the time I became a Christian in high school. 4-stars for its nostalgic place in my life. Would have been 5, but I can't forgive that they turned Great Heart into a lady.
May 24, 2012
A marvel comics version of the alligorical book. Fairly true to the source (but very abridged), and exciting to read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews