The Challenges and Benefits of Adapting ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ into a Graphic Novel

A Story Shaping Believers for Generations My first encounter with The Pilgrim’s Progress was not John Bunyan’s original masterpiece or even a faithful abridgment. It was a thirty-five-minute 1978 animated version on VHS.1 Admittedly, some of the film’s animation techniques felt like they owned a home in the uncanny valley. I distinctly remember my grade-school self being terrified of certain scenes in ways Bunyan almost certainly never intended. Nevertheless, that brief film planted a seed in my heart for the extraordinary tale presented in the seventeenth-century classic, and for that I’m forever indebted. Since then, I’ve traced the journey of Christian from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City many times over. The original book is an incredible work of English storytelling, providing a glimpse into the heart and mind of one of the most influential Christians to have ever lived. Since The Pilgrim’s Progress was first published in 1678, the Lord has used it to shape generation after generation of believers in countless ways. My earnest desire with the graphic novel is to draw new readers into Bunyan’s astonishing tale through a contemporary method of storytelling, even if...