The Book of Saints and Heroes (Voyage Comics Print)
Summary
The Book of Saints & Heroes by Voyage Classics is a reprint of the 1912 book by Andrew and Lenora Lang. This book is a collection of stories from Christian and Catholic saints and heroes throughout history, written to be read aloud and shared, with illustrations for each story.
Assessment
The Book of Saints & Heroes is a marvelous collection of stories from the lives of Christian saints. Told with an entirely neutral narration — the Langs were not Christian and regarded these stories like fairytales — each saint is highlighted with a brief review of their life, how they came to be, and, of course, their most daring feats of faith and God-given adventures. Lenora Lang sets up the stories with a polite distance, not leaving out the saints’ faith element, but not diving deep into their piety. In essence, she makes no commentary on whether or not their faith or story is true, she simply tells the story with respect.
Some small typos and grammatical issues are here and there in this version, but it’s unknown if those are from the original 1912 book or Voyage Classic’s updated formatting. Regardless, they are nothing too serious or evident. The artwork echoes the original 1912 version with a sort of digitally-drawn woodcut style that looks a bit odd at times, although not unpleasant.
Light-o-Meter
Writing Style: 5 out of 7 Little Lights (some of the words are a little outdated)
Organization/Formatting: 5 out of 7 Little Lights
Pictures: 4 out of 7 Little Lights
Fulfillment of Purpose: 6 out of 7 Little Lights
Theological Message: 5 out of 7 Little Lights
Overall: 5 out of 7 Little Lights
Talk
First of all, this book was fantastic. The stories were written in a very clear but not inelegant way and were respectful to the source material and — from the Langs’ perspective — the plausibility of the miracles and myths surrounding the saints. In the preface, Andrew outlines that the intention of the book is to compile Christian Catholic myths and compares them to fairy stories. This may be a little rude, but the stories of saints serve much of the same purpose as fairytales: to inspire, to caution, to delight. Functionally, they fit into the same niche of society, however, the stories of saints have a bit more Truth to them.
That is one of the reasons I love to dive into the stories of the saints. Setting aside any theological differences that might come up about what exactly a saint is and what they can and cannot do, a saint is ultimately a Christian hero. They are someone with enormous devotion to the Lord — often to the point of martyrdom — who profess His name with their lips in these actions and miracles that are ascribed to them. Now, there is a temptation for cynicism when hearing some of the more implausible (miraculous?) stories of the saints. Did St. George actually slay a dragon? Who knows and, ultimately, who cares. It’s possible, as we know God created the dinosaurs and, throwing out all the current secular scientific theories, we know the they didn’t die out hundreds of millions of years ago. It is entirely possible St. George really did kill a “dragon”. And, if not, it’s a wonderful metaphor for the conquering of our sin and the overcoming of enormous trials. That part of the reason I love the Langs’ compilation: they don’t try to interpret the stories for the readers, they simply tell them.
Overall, I highly recommend this book to fellow Christians of all denominations. It is enjoyable, relatively easy to read (if a little stuffy at times due to its outdated word usage) and has a variety of enduring tales within it to feed the Christian soul (not with the Bread of Life, obviously, but as a very nice starter salad or perhaps a few grapes). Voyage Classic’s version is pretty good overall; I think my biggest complaint is simply the fact that the artwork is a little odd. It’s not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, especially if you are not combing over it with a magnifying glass, but its still feels like a digitally rendered attempt at woodcut that’s just not quite there. The merging of high-tech techniques and low-tech style just didn’t quite hit the mark with this one. This said, each piece does seem to be influenced by the original 1912 print’s illustrations, which I think is an excellent touch.
Wrap-up
The Book of Saints & Heroes is a reprint of the 1912 original book by Andrew and Lenora Lang, published by Voyage Classics. This book is filled with the stories and myths of Christian saints throughout history as their lived their lives, worked miracles, and devoted themselves to God.
Where to Enjoy
Voyage Comics: The Book of Saints and Heroes - Voyage Classics – Voyage Comics
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