Renegade: A Graphic Novel of the Life of Martin Luther

Renegade:Martin Luther, The Graphic Novel, by Dacia Palmerino and Andrea Grosso Ciponte

(Plough Publishing House, October 2017), pb., 156 pp.

Ages 14+

This is an engaging and fairly detailed graphic novel on Martin Luther covering his entire life, from birth to death. It was originally written in Italian and translated into German before coming into English this month. The authors clearly know the Luther story well and seems to be aware of some of the different debates on Luther. They do have Luther giving his defiant response at Worms on the first day he was questioning rather than on the second after asking for a day to consider the demand to recant, but this does not negate the good work throughout.

The artwork is edgy, capturing well the darkness Luther grappled with and other situations like the peasant revolt and the Black Death. This is a great tool to help people encounter Luther afresh or to engage them for the first time. I am glad to see this coming out just as we approach the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation.