Book Review: The Twelve by B. Avery et al.

The Twelve written by Ben Avery and illustrated by various artists

The lives of Jesus's twelve apostles are recounted in graphical format. Most of what we know about them is centered around the life of Jesus, drawing from the New Testament writings and other accounts from church history and tradition. Some of the apostles have more details and get longer passages in this book (like Peter and Matthew), some are only a few pages because they get little more than a name-check in the rosters of the twelve. The stories describe the deaths of the apostles (again, based on what we know from extra-biblical sources). All but one (John) died as martyrs to their faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God.

As with any compilation of biographies of a tight-knit group, some information overlaps and scenes gets repeated. Though there is one author for the graphic novel, a variety of artists worked on the individual stories. The styles are similar but sometimes the characters look different, which I found distracting. Otherwise, the book is a solid (but brief) overview of the apostles' lives and martyrdoms.

Recommended.