The Book of Genesis - Illustrated by R. Crumb

If you've recently experienced a nagging feeling that maybe you should brush up on your old testament, or simply need another dose of R. Crumb's fabulously outrageous and bodacious illustrations, this is the book for you.

Not satisfied to take on any old subject, Crumb has focused his energies on what some believe to be the most sacrosanct material of all time.  And how wonderful that Crumb, known for his big-bottomed, heavy legged and lusciously lewd ladies made The Book of Genesis his subject of choice.  His intricate and sometimes overtly sexual treatment of his topic perfectly brings to light just exactly how melodramatic and larger that life this part of the Bible really is.  Crumb's Genesis could make a believer out of the staunchest atheist.  Or, at the very least, a believer in the power of the graphic novel to bring an old story to life in a very new light.

Along with the artwork, part of what makes Crumb's Genesis so fantastic is the level of scholarship he brought to the project.  To quote from his commentary in the book:

"In setting out to illustrate the Book of Genesis, I quickly learned that I had to read the text very carefully and closely in order to render as accurately as possible the words that were actually written there.  In the process, I discovered many subtle and surprising things.  I also did a lot of background reading, and had for many years already been interested in the early cultures of Sumer-Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria.  There are a number of parallels between the stories in Genesis and the old myths of Mesopotamia.  Inscribed in cuneiform writing on clay tablets, some of the Sumerian myths date from as far back as 2000 B.C.E., some even centuries earlier."

However you slice it, this is an amazing amalgam of scholarship, artistry, and storytelling.  If you're a Crumb fan, a graphic novel fan, or are just getting into the genre, don't miss out on this winner in its original, ink on paper format.

Published by W.W. Norton in 2009 and available at local bookstores as well as Amazon