'Renegade: Martin Luther, the Graphic Biography' by Dacia Palmerino with art by Andrea Grosso Ciponte is a graphic novel about the founder of the Protestant Reformation.

Martin Luther was born into a pretty cruel world full of poverty and plague. As he grew, he found himself in a monastery, but while there, he starts to have questions about what the Bible teaches versus what the church did at the time. This led him to post the ninety-five theses on a church door in Wittenberg. His stance makes him unpopular with the church and he goes into hiding.

Martin Luther is a controversial figure, but this graphic novel does a fair job of showing both sides of him. He's no saint, but he is not to be wholly reviled. The art was a weird style of computer art and it worked, but seemed to already look dated in style. The story is pretty dark in tone, and may be disturbing for younger or sensitive readers. I did enjoy reading it though.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Plough Publishing House and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

2 stars for the art + 4 for the storytelling = 3 stars.
*Be aware that the depiction of violence can be quite graphic, so be mindful when handing it to children.*

"500 years ago a brash young monk single-handedly confronted the most powerful institutions of his day. His bold stand sparked the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of history..." (back cover of the graphic novel)

This is a graphic novel biography about Martin Luther, the man who reformed the christian church by translating the Bible into German and preaching against the money obsessed and fear preaching of the Catholic Church of his days.
Although the artwork of this novel was not something I particularly enjoyed, I did enjoy the rest. This is not a glorification of Martin Luther. It portrays his good work in fighting the corruption of the Catholic Church and bringing the Bible to the people (giving them the opportunity to assess it themselves), but it also shows his disdain for the common folk and his antisemitism (which btw were both normal for people grown up in his social circles). This graphic novel really does portray a real person, I appreciate that.

This book portrays an interesting part of European history and I would recommend it for that quality.

This graphic novel provides an interesting depiction of Martin Luther’s life. Definitely intended for an adult audience, the images can be difficult to look at. But, the reader can sense the despair and hardships endured.

I am a fan of graphic biographies to introduce the lives of remarkable people to my middle school students. However I am not certain the style of the illustrations will appeal to them.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
Renegade : Martin Luther, the Graphic Biography is a Mighty Fortress of an introduction to Martin Luther.

Confession: I have not read graphic novels since the Betty and Veronica comics at my piano teachers' house decades ago. Reformation: Renegade challenged my brain to process information in new ways with it's graphic (re)formation. (Sorry I couldn't resist ; )

Graphic novels, by their very nature, must be more condensed than a book which relies on many words. I felt like Renegade got the important parts down, however, I would have like to see more of how Martin Luther was ‘progressive’ with educating his children and valuing his wife. Alas, perhaps a follow-up opportunity.

The Graphic Part : - ) Some of it was a little "Halloween" creepy: Burning at the stake, rats, hangings, but I think that would be appealing to today's generation. I'd recommend the book for anyone 10 to 80. I hope this type of book reaches new audiences who otherwise may be unfamiliar with Martin Luther and the struggles of his time.

Layouts were varied and interesting. The colors popped against historic photo type backgrounds. Darks dominated, representing turbulent times, infused with electric blues, reds, and some whites. (It was cumbersome to read an electronic version of the Advanced Reader Copy because I had to double click to enlarge each page, enlarge it to readable size, then shrink, close it and repeat for each page spread. I would be very interested to see what it looks like on a printed page!)

The drama of this true adventure story pulled me in. Martin Luther is an incredible historic figure. I especially like the full-page illustrations and the ones with a full modern type background to represent Luther’s translations. It is art with feeling.

I did not add Renegade to my non-fiction shelf, as it was an artist's and a writer's perceptions of Luther's story, and while generally true, apparently more learned scholars than I could find some historical inaccuracies. Other reviewers compared it to lengthier non-fiction biographies they had read. I don't believe it is fair to compare this creative, artistic approach with a longer extensively researched tome. As I first stated, it is a Great Introduction to an important man who changed history.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for granting access to an arc of this book for an honest review.

I think this is a awesome book for our older teens/new adult crowd especially to tell them the story of Martin Luther and the Reformation, this being the 500 anniversary. It is told in a way that is much more appealing to that age group than a normal book would be that they would be expected to take home and read. I know I would have never have read just a plain book on Luther's life however, when I saw this book I was instantly drawn to it and wanted to read it. This book did not disappoint either, I enjoyed it a lot, the illustrations are awesome, but can be dark at times, so maybe not for small children, and the dialog was awesome as it followed Luther's life from boyhood on up. This book really made history fun for me and made it kind of alive in a sense, it was really cool.

This review will go live on my blog on Oct 25, 2017

This is great background info on one of the Protestant Reformers. He is perhaps the best known, although the story is incomplete without also discussing at least Calvin, Zwingli, and Savonarola. It is significant to remember that Luther dearly loved the Catholic church and never intended to split it. His goal was simply to call Catholicism back to its biblical roots, and away from the humanistic leanings it had developed.

This is not a quick or casual story of Martin Luther, but boy, if you want to read a very graphic novel of his life, this is it. The only thing is, I'm not sure who this is written for? As an agnostic witch, I find this full of a lot of information that I didn't know, such as the peasant revolt, and Martin's view on the same.

Very long, and very involved, but you do get a sense of the man through this.

But, once you get past the exciting bits, you just keep reading, and that is enough already. Not sure we needed his whole life's story.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

For text and originality of how they put this together I give it an A++. It's a thoroughly enjoyable read and our whole family loved it for reading nights. We love reading about Martin Luther and how he challenged the old ways to bring the new (yet old!) ways into being. He was far from perfect, but none of us are. I do strike off some points for the actual graphics. They're well constructed but I just can't stand the style of art they did for this. My husband loves it but it's just not my cup of tea.

Renegade is a graphic novel biography of the Father of Protestantism Martin Luther. I love that authors and illustrators are understanding the power of the graphic novel. For too long, biographies have been long boring tomes that the lay person aren't interested in. Buy breaking into the comic world, the writers are capturing more people and educating them in a fun way.
I knew the basics about Luther from my studies in college but I really enjoyed getting to know ore about him on a persona level. In school, we stuck to how he changed religion without looking at the man himself. Renegade does that rather well.
As a protestant myself, I was awed by truly seeing what Luther faced in making sure that the people were able to rad God's word and have a relationship with him outside the unethical dealings of the church. I had understood on an intellectual level, but the graphic novel made me understand it on an emotional level.
An engaging read, Renegade is a great way to get people more interested in history.

Renegade- Martin Luther, The Graphic Biography: Not about the awesome Styx or JayZ songs

October 31st, 1517: Young monk, Martin Luther nails documents to the front door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. On the pages were printed 95 theses defining man's relationship with God and religion. These were tumultuous times and blasphemy is a dangerous game for renegades and suicidal fools anxious to receive the lash.

2017 marks the five hundredth anniversary of this event. Martin Luther rallied against the Pope and started a revolution in thought that shook the cornerstones of known Christianity. The writing and distribution of Luther's 95 theses, caused ripples in our social structures still in evidence.

Slated for release on 10/08/2017
Preorders available
Renegade: Martin Luther, The Graphic Biography (Dacia Palmerino, Andrea Ciponte)
160 pages
Plough Publishing House
ISBN-10: 0874862078
ISBN-13: 978-0874862072


I have bastardized a bit of this, but bear with me as I am far from being a religious historian. I will leave the hard core cross comparison to those with stronger background experience.

Luther's history is incredibly fascinating. After a classic schooling, Martin Luther was left with more questions than answers. He found himself in dismay, attempting to reconcile his religious beliefs with the world around him. He frustratingly finds that they fail to be cohesive. During a walk in the countryside (I cannot tell if this is legend or fact) a brewing storm sent a bolt of lightning into a nearby tree. Luther took this as divine instruction, changed directions in his life and entered the monastic life.

Martin was in a conundrum, spending multiple sessions every day in confession. He felt that no matter how devout he was, the Church advised that he was a sinner in peril and would never be allowed into Heaven without being even more penitent. His concern for the state of his immortal soul weighed on him and his conflicted feelings increased. How could his soul be always at risk while the Catholic church allowed people to buy forgiveness of sins? If you dropped money into coffers, buying penance for yourself or loved ones seemed very wrong.

Luther invests a great deal of time in solitary study and comes to terms with a belief that is contrary to the teachings of the Church. His belief is that (as the Bible states) his Faith alone is needed to save him from damnation. The Church, the Pope, and all other earthly institutions are nothing more than tools being used as diversions between mankind and God.

Luther spends time translating the Bible from Latin to German and distributing it to the masses. This allows the Everyman to have a direct relationship with the words and instructions of the Christian God. The direct relationship removes the need to join the cattle call for multiple daily Mass, which served value only as lip service in his eyes. Mass then becomes worship for those who attend.

Palmerino's writing in this Graphic Novel was wonderful. I was concerned at first that this was going to be a chore to read, with the initial pages being presented a bit dry, feeling like the reader is preparing to be lectured on theology. After a short introduction, however, Renegade moves to Luther's ingress to school and branches the story. It immediately picks up in an easy to read manner. Reading this is less like Sunday school and more like a well crafted Hollywood Biopic.

The story itself is paired nicely with some absolutely stunning artwork by Ciponte. The framing of the story with the imagery really brings Luther to life again rather than simply being viewed as a Reformist whose bones are long since turned to dust. Watching the facial expressions change panel by panel as he makes deep personal realizations causes the pages glow with a Human element that must have taken a great deal of passion and forethought.

The artistic design also wavered between styles. In many areas, it was a purposeful rough and divisive; in others, it was almost stream of consciousness, with pages and phrases from the Bible floating around Luther's personal universe.

The words and art have a gentle interaction, taking difficult religious topics and complex political situations and placing them in a highly consumable presentation. A fine example of this is a full page spread showing Martin after he identifies that monastic vows are not permanent life long vows. In this page spread, Luther is getting married, the panels pan outward showing his happy marriage day. As each panel gets further from him and his bride, the final panel shows dark silhouettes of dead hanging from nooses, with the chapel in their background. The imagery and metaphor are haunting.

I would consider this graphic novel suitable for any age group 8 and above and highly recommend it for any history buff, religiously minded or not. As a primer to the topic, this media may have a huge benefit and I would be interested in seeing the Plough publishing house put out more work in this style, even potentially for other religions.

Bonus thought- Did Piers Anthony base his Devil Character in the series 'The Incarnations of Immortality' on Martin Luther? There is a segment of this Graphic Novel where Luther is in disguise and hiding from the authorities. He goes a bit crazy being secreted away and unable to be himself. He feels himself falling apart and in the Graphic Novel, it presents him as being visited by a hallucinatory succubus. The hyper religious 'good man' who is tainted by a succubus is how Anthony's character evolves 'For Love of Evil', being that the best person to keep the goodness in line is someone who loves God enough to be able to set his love aside and play the game fairly. I performed a bit of side research and it looks like this is documented in Martin's writings, so I find the correlation to another series I love to be an unexpected joy.

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Disclosure: This Graphic Novel was provided for review purposes by the Publisher. Even a free cupcake is still a cupcake. If it were a disgusting cupcake, I would not eat it and instead, choose to throw it into a trash receptacle. Sometimes, the free cupcake has beautiful pillows of cream cheese frosting piled on top and a moist delicious carrot cake interior. You do not question it, you just dive into the blissful cakey goodness and enjoy the cupcake. Carrot cake is the best. I will fight you at the flagpole after school if you disagree.

I wish I could give this a better rating; however, the fuzziness of the print combined with the small size, makes it difficult to read as a computer download.

This year marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and this book is one that is published in light of that historic milestone with this being a graphic novel on the life of Martin Luther. What follows is my thought on the book Renegade: Martin Luther, the Graphic Biography.
I was impressed overall with the book’s historical accuracy. I thought the writer spend a lot of time researching and capturing the facts surrounding Martin Luther. For instance I thought the book did a good job capturing the apocalyptic expectation during the sixteenth century of both Germany and Western Europe. I also thought the author was accurate in portraying Luther’s struggle and courage as well as his moments when he did not shine so bright to us today such as his unfortunate views of the Jews later in his life. Most of all I appreciated the graphic novel explaining the harsh conditions of the times of Luther and the aroma of death that was ever present during his time. Overall the book early on give us a faint scent of death and decay. This work has a sense of dark realism about it both in its story telling and the colors and artwork. I would say though at times it was rather too dark especially with its depictions of hanging, corpse and death. Overall I enjoyed the book.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by Plough Publishing House and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

Well developed graphic novel on the life of Martin Luther, done in a way that will capture those reluctant readers. The purpose of graphic novels is to not only draw in a reader with graphics but to provide the reader with facts and information which in this case, portrays the life of Martin Luther in a magnetic way for us. Attention-getting.

Captivating art--makes good use of elements from great artwork as well as wholly original art. Colors and composition are compelling and art/text integration is good. Introduction goes on a bit long; most readers will know the basics about the time period. Otherwise the text moves along well and keeps one's interest.

A fascinating glimpse into the life of Martin Luther. The graphic novel is a revelation. Moves at a good pace, and keeps the interest.
---Ronb

Yes, someone did a graphic novel on one of the biggest names in the history of religion. And it goes in-depth, with plenty of stuff that isn’t in a quick look at his life, if we assume all this is actually true, especially the lightning bolt incident. Did you know he played the lute? I didn’t. Now we both do.
Some high points:
The whole story starts on a high note, as the first illustration is a Bosch painting. Later on there’s a panel that’s right out of Escher. Bonus points from me.
For a monk, he sure knew his spycraft. Junker Jorg indeed.
There’s a Groundhog Day page to show how bored he is in exile, funny despite the repetitiveness.
“The gospel should be told as if everything just happened yesterday.”
“God. . . was absent during the bloodbath.”
The downside, at least for me, is all the religious babble. To the end he holds to his simplistic, even childish views. “There are innocent people among them. God knows well how to protect and save them. . . if he does not save them, then it is only because they are villains.” Ugh. And even if a lot of the Catholic rituals haven’t changed in over 500 years, I still don’t understand them.
As for how historically accurate it is, I can’t help but wonder. I looked for any representations of him with the hipster beard, and couldn’t find any. The wedding: tuxedo and white dress? Hopelessly anachronistic, obviously trying to appeal to a younger generation.
“Assumes a pastorate.” Some of the language sounds silly to modern ears.
I will admit I learned a lot from this, if indeed it was all true; I have my doubts on that score. He was neither a saint nor a sinner, or perhaps he was a bit of both. If this was pitched as a story, no one would buy it, but as a history lesson it works.

This was really well done. An interesting historical biography captured in a strong, clean artistic style that really brings the subject matter to life.

Beautifully illustrated and well researched, this graphic novel follows the life of Martin Luther, the man who challenged the Catholic Church and inspired the Protestant Revolution. It is a fast read that captures the tumultuous times in Germany at the beginning of the 16th century, a time of poverty, plague and suffering. Martin was the son of hard working, strictly religious family. He excelled in school and was granted the opportunity to study at the University in Erfurt with the hopes of becoming a lawyer and improving his family’s lot. When caught in a violent storm, Martin has an epiphany which brings him to the church. Obsessed with salvation and faith he pores over the scriptures as he seeks to reconcile his growing doubts with the practices of the Holy Catholic Church. His major complaints against the Church over the sale of indulgences and the true meaning of faith and grace lead him to post the infamous 95 Theses on the door of the Cathedral. The novel presents Luther’s reasoning on the questions of faith, his friends and foes in his struggle to clarify his theology, and his efforts to bring the word of God closer to the people of Germany. The good, the bad and the ugly of Luther’s life is exposed, including his end of life tirades against Jews, Anabaptists and the peasants of Germany. Ciponte’s drawings are gorgeous and colorful - evocative of some of the great masterpieces of the Renaissance.

A serious biography of Martin Luther. It is tastefully and beautifully illustrated. This biography is factual and uncompromising. Highly recommended