Is comics a menace?

The comic book adaptation of the Biblical story of Joseph and his brothers

Abstract

This essay examines how the same content is told through verbal language and visual language. It analyses the well episode of the Old Testament story of Joseph and his brothers to ascertain which parts of the biblical story are represented in its comic book adaptation, and which the distilled and highlighted parts are. Does the comics leave a lot to the interpreter, or does it fill in gaps that the prose intentionally left empty?  Before that, the essay lists nine characteristics that the comic book rightfully possesses and based on which it can be called an artistic entity, contrary to the common perception that comic books are only one of the commercial experiments after the golden age of art. The key question is what happens during adaptation. Does the comic book take the easy way out, i.e. does it only want to be an effective, easy-to-understand retelling of the Biblical text, or does it want to participate in the communication of the story as a thinking partner?