At several intervals this past year, I really got into graphic novels and comic-styled books for adults. I thank (and sometimes blame) Scott McCloud for the re-inspiration, and it’s kept my eyes open for new books to try out whenever possible.

As I was perusing the bargain-bin at a favorite online outlet, I came across this book by Steve Ross, titled Marked, a graphic re-telling of the life of Christ based on the Gospel according to Mark. My pastor’s been preaching through Mark for the past few years, and we’d just read it together as a family, so I was certainly intrigued! What new insights might this creative story share that could enhance my understanding of the sacred text?

If you’re wondering the same and are interested in trying the book out yourself, don’t bother. This is hands-down the worst book I’ve read in a long, long time. And I’ve read some doosies.

Although I congratulate Steve Ross on his artwork and the successful development of a book that must have taken months or years to complete (I’d hate not to acknowledge the accomplishment of such a dream!), I simply cannot praise him in the least for his interpretation of the subject matter at hand, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sure, he’s “not a theologian,” yet he also apparently took no effort to understand who this Jesus really was! Bringing Christ’s story into the modern day of television and salesmanship could have been a challengingly effective tool (the dystopian feel of life in the Roman Empire is palpable to be sure), yet he completely strips the Lord of his deity, drawing him as a confused, angry, foul-mouthed trouble-maker who has no idea who He is or where He’s going.

The back cover of my copy invites readers to “join Steve Ross as he re-imagines the ancient story, with all of its power and mystery intact.” The back cover of my review says, “Hogwash!” Ross’s reimagining destroys the Word of God. It blasphemes Jesus throughout the story, and it blasphemes God the Father and the Holy Spirit on the Mount of Transfiguration. It attempts to highlight the victimization of certain segments of society while offering a version of “hope” to…well, I’m honestly not sure to whom! It’s sarcastic and caustic and intentionally offensive on just about every level, and it is likely such in the name of being “provocative” or “a conversation starter.” Again, hogwash.

Marked is blasphemous to anyone who takes the Bible at its word. Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, fully man and fully God, and though we cannot fully grasp this trinitarian concept, we accept it by faith, because we can trust that the eternal, omnipotent God not only exists but exists in ways we cannot fathom. Any other view is unbiblical and heretical, and that’s what you get in this book.

It’s unbiblical to suggest that Jesus was a normal man upon whom the Spirit of God eventually descended. It’s unbiblical to suggest that Jesus was merely a spirit that appeared to be flesh. It’s unbiblical to suggest that Jesus was simply a great man, a wonderful teacher, a holy prophet, or that singular human being whose perfect submission was the only thing that gave him a special relationship with God.

I think quoting two passages of Scripture is the best way to close out this review, rather than harping on this book any further. Many passages speak to Christ’s deity, but I particularly love Philippians 2:5-11 and 1John 2:21-25.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:5-11)

I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. (1John 2:21-25)

©2023 E.T.