'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.

I never knew a lot about Martin Luther. Growing up Catholic, I knew he was the man who broke from the church and began Protestantism, the 95 Theses, and not much more. I was interested to learn more about the man and this book did not disappoint me. It made the historical figure into a real person. I felt the struggles he went through as he tried to reason his way to God only to discovery that it was faith that was needed, not reason.

I was surprised by some of the aspects of his life. These are the things that made him a real person to me and not just an historical figure to be either vilified to sanctified.

The artwork was fairly disturbing and graphic throughout much of the book. I would not recommend this for children. Given that, I found the artwork to be compelling and that it added to the story.

A reasonable primer into the life and works of Martin Luther, should you need such a thing, but it could be a lot better. The text has a lot of people talking in exposition, whether to themselves or others; the characters do tend to all look the same in the realistic levels of gloom on offer; and the artwork itself at times is risible, with a beggar floating in thin air, Luther flying across the landscape in some kind of religious fervour, and other basic Photoshop errors. And as for those nuns skipping through the graveyard to leave their abbey in order to get laid and wedded, well...

This is an acceptable biography of Luther, and a bit subpar graphic novel. The writing is stilted and at no point feels like real people are saying the dialogue. It covers the general details of Luther's life and time period, but only in a vague and uncompelling manner.

As for the artwork, it appears to all be from a mediocre video game. Digital artwork can be good but this just feels lifeless and unnatural. Characters move oddly and pose in awkward positions. Occasionally, the reader is presented with genuinely good frames but these largely just serve to contrast with the disappointing quality of the rest of the work.

If you're really interested in a basic biography of Luther in an unconventional format then this may be enjoyable. Just lower your expectations for both the writing and artwork.

I received a copy of this work from netgalley

A quick introduction to his life in visual form. At back it gives you a profile of those in the book. A little put off my the graphics - some were really nice but overall not my style.