Dalai Lama Bio-Manga to Be Published in English

Hero of the Tibetan independence movement, spiritual leader to millions of Buddhists, Nobel Peace Prize winner and noted "Star Trek: The Next Generation" fan the Dalai Lama is the subject of a new biography. Titled simply "The 14th Dalai Lama," the story of, well, the 14th Dalai Lama (also known as Tenzin Gyasto) is presented in manga form by author Tetsu Saiwai. The book was previously published in Japanese and will be reissued in English by Penguin Books on September 28.The Dalai Lama was recognized as such when he was only two-years-old, as depicted in Saiwai's book, which a CNN review describes as a "hybrid comic book/graphic novel" (a curious description that reveals yet more mainstream confusion about the definitions of comics and graphic novels). The story follows the Dalai Lama from his childhood innocence to a realization of his own elitism to his ultimately futile dealings with China to his eventual exile. The Dalai Lama has been very busy since then, mainly as an advocate for Tibet's independence from China and world peace in general, for which he won the Nobel Prize in 1989.

[Anime News Network]