Krishna: Defender of Dharma

It’s quite a struggle to capture the story of a sacred being in comic format, since the medium can seem frivolous to some readers. To balance that misunderstanding, tellers of religious tales often err too far on the side of being stodgy. Unfortunately, that’s the problem here. Although the images are attractive, particularly in their soft coloring, the text is boring, and the art is a collection of pictures without sufficient storytelling flow. A story about battling an evil ruler with astounding abilities should be more exciting than this. There’s also a problem with familiarity. Although the writer is clearly trying to explain the folklore and history to the reader, those who don’t already know the story may get lost as the tale jumps around and characters wander in and out. More editing and greater selectivity of which incidents to include would have made for a stronger book. It’s as though the creators didn’t feel they could leave anything out without offending someone. This kind of storytelling creates not characters but flat symbols. (Jan.)