Customer Reviews

King David

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is awesome. I love the way Kyle Baker melds a variety of art techniques, juxtaposing lush Disneyesque renderings with rough charcoal sketches which recall the work of legendary cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman. Baker also employs a variety of narrative techniques in the text, ranging from the witty dialogue which is his trademark to multi-page wordless sequences (the Publishers Weekly review above details Baker's handling of the Goliath fight, and I loved the silent scene of Saul and David in the cave), all combined with a healthy portion of actual Biblical passages (which are already so beautiful, Baker was wise not to try "improving" the Word of God). The result is a delightful variety of rhythms which keeps the reader engaged. I hope there will be more Bible stories from Kyle Baker.

I have enjoyed this book so much I have purchased three copies of it; one for myself and two to give to friends. It is fairly gory (just like the story in Scriptures) but not overly so. The "Caricaturization" and exaggerated features really bring the story to life. I highly recommend it.

This is one of the most spectacular graphic novels I've ever seen! Of course, that should be expected from one of the pioneers of the medium, but still! I've had this book for three days now, and I can't stop staring at it! The amount of detail, labor and research that must have gone into creating this must have been, uh -- impossible! How could one man create the kind of product it takes 400 Disney animators years to produce? And the story is true to the Biblical source material! You could read this book in Sunday school or Hebrew school! I mean, sure there's a lot of sex and violence, but it's all from the Holy Bible. I can't say enough wonderful things about this book. If you love the Bible and the incredible story of one of the greatest leaders of all time, you will LOVE this book.

Touted as Kyle Baker's "Biblically Acurate Telling of the David Story", King David is an interesting read, but its stuttered rhythm and the inconsistent level of quality found in the artwork makes for an admirable, though somewhat ham-fisted, effort.

Long-time Kyle fans will pick this one up out of sheer duty to the man who brought us the hillarious now-classics Why I Hate Saturn and Cowboy Wally Show. However, in an obvious attempt to broaden his appeal, Baker has sacrificed the clever semantics and biting wit that caused us to fall in love with him in the first place.

Much of the art is beautiful, full-color work in which Kyle applies his signature cartoony style. Every 10 or 20 pages, he treats us to a gorgeous pin-up, deftly showing off his astounding skill. Unfortunately, littered throughout are pages on pages of cranked-out sketches with dumped-on color, barely worthy of a concept character-study, much less final art in this otherwise beautiful book. It's far too much visual whiplash, between the lovingly-rendered and the hastily-scribbled, and the storytelling is sacrificed as a result.

Also, Kyle makes poor use of the comics medium, awkwardly bouncing back and forth between illustrated prose and traditional comics conventions. The writing itself resembles the art... wonderful in certain spots, glaringly sub-par in others.

A valiant effort, I suppose, but for my money I'd have preferred a book half the length at twice the quality. Buy it if you must, but don't expect the Kyle Baker brilliance of yesteryear.