Marked [Paperback]

Steve Ross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005

A compelling retelling of the Gospel of Mark in graphic novel form. Creator Steve Ross brings the oldest of the gospel into a powerful new form meant for early teens and up. Grounded in Scripture and theology, this graphic novel show how the gospel applies to our lives now.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Steve Ross An occupied country.

A people infested with demons.

a time of revolution.

a liberator rises.

One of the oldest and most powerful stories in human history comes uniquely alive in this telling of the Gospel of Mark.

Join a carpenter as he changes the world. And join Steve Ross as he re-imagines the ancient story, with all of its power and mystery intact. Told with unexpected and startling imagery, Marked will forever change the way you think about this both familiar and strange tale.

This is a human story of passion and murder. Of a compassionate man brutally killed and yet compellingly alive.

About the Author

Steve Ross began his professional career as a teenager in San Antonio, Texas, selling pictures of angst-ridden, dark and disturbing surrealist art to his friends and teachers. After high school he soon landed a job drawing pictures of dining room tables for a local furniture company, and was surprised when the owner became upset that he was drawing dark and disturbing surrealist furniture for the company's newspaper ads. They parted company. Steve works as a professional illustrator and resides in New York City.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Seabury Books (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596270020
• ISBN-13: 978-1596270022
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Teens > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A FRESH VISION OF THE GOSPEL OF MARK: RECOMMENDED, December 17, 2005

By 

Mir (North Miami Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Marked (Paperback)

With my newly revived interest in old and new, well-done comic books-slash-graphic novels (think ASTONISHING X-MEN, think SANDMAN, think WATCHMEN, think SUPREME POWERS), I had to rush here to amazon.com for a copy of MARKED. I first saw it featured at novelist Chris Well's nifty blog. This re-imagination of the gospel of Mark sounded like something I should "taste and see."

It arrived on a Friday. I read it the next Saturday, in one sitting. Loved it.

Why?

MARKED is clever. It's got attitude. It's got gentle moments of compassion. It's got strong visuals that mix a bag of emotions together and toss them at you. It's got humor. It captures the essence of what the evangelist wrote: a very active Son of God, a very troubled world, imperfect followers, even more imperfect antagonists, wisdom, courage, mercy, grace, death, and victory over death.

I recommend it.

I dare you not to laugh at mad-eyed John the Baptizer and the running headlines that cover the main events of that prophet's activities--even as you'll be horrified (rightly so) by the front page spread of his demise and its timeliness given some of our recent front page news. I dare you not to be thrilled at some really fine creative moments, such as the Gadarene's encounter with the Christ or the incident of transfiguration on the mount. I dare you not to feel ferklempt over the incident of Christ's meeting with the leper. I dare you not to holler, "Cool!" every few pages. And do tell me if you've seen the resurrection handled anywhere quite like this, ever. I haven't. I had to actually stop and ...STOP. No, really, I had one of those blank moments of, "What?" And I had to think. I like when creative folk make me stop and think. I like when creative folk stir things up. Steve Ross achieves this with MARKED.

The Mir's thumb is way up.

Side Note: You can also play, "Find the famous person" with this. Can you find a great black leader? Can you find the is-he-dead-or-isn't-he rocker? Anyone else?

Shameless Gift Suggestion: Christmas is upon us. If you have a comic book lover in your family, of if you know a reader who needs to be slapped with a zingy graphical gospel that will whet their appetite for a visit to the original, or if you just love someone and want to thrill them, get this as a gift for that person.

A slightly different version of this review with helpful links to an article with Steve Ross and to Chris Well's Nifty Blog may be found at: http://mirathon.blogspot.com

Mir

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only for Those With Prior Knowledge, February 15, 2006

By 

Joel Grossman (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marked (Paperback)

As someone who is not Christian and only knows the basics of the New Testement (and doesn't know the difference between any of the gospels), I came into Marked with a lot of expectations. Having read about it in Newsweek, I expected the story of an outsider and to learn about a religion I don't know about. The book is without a doubt meant for Christians. No background is given on the characters, we're supposed to know that Jesus is who he is, that Simon is Simon, and the land is corrupt. I was left confused and slightly frustrated at several moments. Also, a lot of the drama just wasn't there for me. Since this is an adaptation, I guess the reader is supposed to be waiting for certain moments. It just didn't work for me.
That being said, there were some moments I enjoyed. The devil is great, and the pages that lead up to the crucifixition are better than The Passion any day of the week.
Recommended for the Christian graphic novel fan.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Marked, January 19, 2006

By 

R. J. Luedke (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Marked (Paperback)

As an author who has tackled Gospel translation into the graphic novel format, I commend Steve Ross on a heart-felt effort to bring the book of Mark to life with a contempory feel. It's not an easy task by any means. But Marked is slightly problematic in a couple areas. One, if it was designed to be used as an outreach to the unchurched, I felt like the narrative was not very easy to follow, (if you were not "very" familiar with the work it was based upon, I.E. the Gospel of Mark, and in some places even if you were)! It was the same kind of feeling I had when I first saw the movie, 2001. Secondly, the artwork I would say drifts more toward abstraction in many parts of the story, more than solid storytelling...which is fine and works wonderfully in soome parts of the book, but leaves the reader wondering too much in others, (what the heck just happened there?).

If Mr. Ross's intention was to merely convey how this story personally speaks to him, then he succeeded wonderfully. If he intended to bring those not familiar with the story along for the ride, I'm afraid he might have left more than a few scratching their heads, (which could be good, if it leads them to the original work to find their answers).

Robert Luedke is the author of "Eye Witness: A Fictional Tale of Absolute Truth" and "Acts of the Spirit".