When Leeper suggested looking into R. Crumb's graphic novel of Genesis, I decided to go to our library and read it. Other than a few chapters about Abraham and Joseph, I read the entire thing. All in all, I thought it was very interesting and an amazing feat.
As soon as I made it through a few chapters, I noticed that it was very precise and left very little to interpretation. I think that the biggest influence Crumb himself had in this graphic novel was the image of God as an old man. Alot of people would find it wrong, but then again, how else could God have been shown in the comic panels? The second thing I noticed was the amount of detail Crumb had incoporated into the content.
The artistic style works well and none of the content has been watered down so everyone is okay with it. Its a very incredible story and Crumb does it justice. One thing that might stick out for many is how God is presented. God's anger is certainly strong in portions of the text and drawings it is actually frightening. As it should be. Even though R. Crumb is quite the conflicted man, I cannot think of anyone who could have been able to work with the great material in a faithful and powerful way.
I couldn't agree more Mathis. In a bizarre way it's as if Crumb's entire career was grooming for this piece. Apparently, like all of us, R. Crumb is a work in progress.
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