Easter

by Ben Avery, Geoff Isherwood (Illustrator), Kelly Ayris (Editor)

Easter means many things to many different people. Many associate Easter with bunny rabbits, eggs, spring, new life or special clothes. But what is the greater and more profound meaning behind this special day?

Genres: Graphic Novels, History

16 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2010

About the author

A believer in the need for positive, all-ages entertainment, Ben Avery created and wrote Zondervan’s graphic novel series TimeFlyz and the comic book miniseries ArmorQuest to entertain readers with an exciting story, but also inspire and encourage readers to stand up and make a difference in their world. Avery’s comic book career began when he was selected by George R.R. Martin to work as the script adaptor of the comic book fantasy mini-series The Hedge Knight, based on novellas by the New York Times bestselling author. After that, Avery went on to co-write/co-create the critically acclaimed Lullaby and The Imaginaries for Image Comics, co-create and write the children’s literature inspired fantasy The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles, develop and write the historical epic Kingdoms for Zondervan, and the sequel mini-series The Hedge Knight II, published by Marvel Comics. In addition to writing, he has been an English teacher, a college resident director, and a youth treatment specialist for sexually abused children. Avery lives in Indiana with his wife and four children.

Reviews

[Treece · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 4 1/2 stars

A gorgeously illustrated recount of the Book of Esther from the Tanakh or Old Testament. For anyone who celebrates Purim each year, they may (or not) appreciate the condensed version of this tale of bravery, self-sacrifice and honor.

Hadassah/Esther, along with Ruth, are two of my favorite women in the Bible because both are very relatable in so many ways. The best part is that both women were real historical figures and of the line of King David and Yeshua/Jesus.

[Jaci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encantó, este librito es una manera de ver lo que realmente pudo ser lo que pasó Ester antes y después en conventirse en reina.
Las ilustraciones estuvieron de lo mejor, me gustó mucho este libro

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una adaptación muy buena! Le hizo justicia a la historia y el contexto se notó muy estudiado, lo cual me impresionó. Además el arte es increíble y la calidad del material también.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love stories from the Hebrew Bible, having studied them way back in university and I love the Book of Esther which has one of the most interesting of all the stories, but this felt a little flat to me.

I understand the author was trying to stay as close to the source material as possible (even putting the exact biblical references as the bottom of the page), but having read a few historical fiction books about Esther (including one I read last year that was fantastic and one I’m currently reading), on top of the actual Bible story, this lacked the depth I’ve seen in other stories.

It’s very short and isn’t entirely clear in terms of showing the passage of time. One moment Esther’s just showing up to be trained to meet Xerxes and the next page it’s already been a year and she’s having her first meeting. And then a panel later, he’s asking her to be queen.

I feel like if you haven’t read the Book of Esther and/or know the basic story, there are parts that aren’t really explained as well as they could be. There’s not much done to fill in gaps and could leave some people confused.

It tells the story just fine, but isn’t as well composed as I think it could have been. And I wasn’t a huge fan of the art style.

So all in all, a solid 3/5.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The text sticks very close to the original story - perhaps a little too close, without trying to make this its own retelling, which means some of the exposition can get pretty clunky, but it does show why the story still fascinates, even today.

The illustrations were a little too comic-booky-y for me - I kept thinking how much the characters looked like superheroes. The royal outfits, especially, looked like something either Thor or Wonder Woman would wear. I would have liked to have seen this illustrated by someone who stuck closer to the fashion of that time period and region.

Still, a good retelling, but I definitely would have sent it back with notes in order to make it great.