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The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb Hardcover – Illustrated, October 19, 2009
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Nominated for three 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards: From Creation to the death of Joseph, here are all 50 chapters of the Book of Genesis, revealingly illustrated as never before.
Envisioning the first book of the bible like no one before him, R. Crumb, the legendary illustrator, reveals here the story of Genesis in a profoundly honest and deeply moving way. Originally thinking that we would do a take off of Adam and Eve, Crumb became so fascinated by the Bible’s language, “a text so great and so strange that it lends itself readily to graphic depictions,” that he decided instead to do a literal interpretation using the text word for word in a version primarily assembled from the translations of Robert Alter and the King James bible.Now, readers of every persuasion―Crumb fans, comic book lovers, and believers―can gain astonishing new insights from these harrowing, tragic, and even juicy stories. Crumb’s Book of Genesis reintroduces us to the bountiful tree lined garden of Adam and Eve, the massive ark of Noah with beasts of every kind, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by brimstone and fire that rained from the heavens, and the Egypt of the Pharaoh, where Joseph’s embalmed body is carried in a coffin, in a scene as elegiac as any in Genesis. Using clues from the text and peeling away the theological and scholarly interpretation that have often obscured the Bible’s most dramatic stories, Crumb fleshes out a parade of Biblical originals: from the serpent in Eden, the humanoid reptile appearing like an alien out of a science fiction movie, to Jacob, a “kind’ve depressed guy who doesn’t strike you as physically courageous,” and his bother, Esau, “a rough and kick ass guy,” to Abraham’s wife Sarah, more fetching than most woman at 90, to God himself, “a standard Charlton Heston-like figure with long white hair and a flowing beard.”
As Crumb writes in his introduction, “the stories of these people, the Hebrews, were something more than just stories. They were the foundation, the source, in writing of religious and political power, handed down by God himself.” Crumb’s Book of Genesis, the culmination of 5 years of painstaking work, is a tapestry of masterly detail and storytelling which celebrates the astonishing diversity of the one of our greatest artistic geniuses.
Nominated for three 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards: Best Adaptation from Another Work, Best Graphic Album, Best Writer/Artist.
- Print length228 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherW. W. Norton & Company
- Publication dateOctober 19, 2009
- Dimensions8.9 x 0.9 x 11.2 inches
- ISBN-100393061027
- ISBN-13978-0393061024
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― Thrillist.com
"Starred Review. Crumb’s vivid visual characterizations of the myriad characters, pious and wicked, make the most striking impression. His distinctive, highly rendered drawing style imparts a physicality that few other illustrated versions of this often retold chronicle have possessed. The centenarian elders show every one of their years, and the women, from Eve to Rachel, are as solidly sensual as any others Crumb has so famously drawn."
― Booklist
"To say this book is a remarkable volume or even a landmark volume in comic art is somewhat of an understatement.... stands on its own as one of this century’s most ambitious artistic adaptations of the West’s oldest continuously told story."
― Paul Buhle, The Jewish Daily Forward
"It’s a cartoonist’s equivalent of the Sistine Chapel. It’s awesome. Crumb has done a real artist’s turn here―he’s challenged himself and defied all expectation. ... I’ve read Genesis before. But never have I found it so compelling. By placing it squarely in the Middle East―and populating it with distinctively Semitic-looking people―Crumb makes it come alive brilliantly."
― Susan Jane Gilman, Morning Edition, NPR
"[A] beautifully drawn and relentlessly faithful rendition of the first 50 chapters of the Bible by an apostle of the 1960s and sometimes profane progenitor of underground comics. Crumb has produced what could be the ultimate graphic novel."
― David Colton, USA Today
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (October 19, 2009)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 228 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0393061027
- ISBN-13 : 978-0393061024
- Item Weight : 1.95 pounds
- Dimensions : 8.9 x 0.9 x 11.2 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #30,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Born in Philadelphia, R. Crumb is the author of numerous comic works and one of the pioneers of underground comics. His books include Kafka, The Complete Crumb Comics (17 volumes), The R. Crumb Sketchbook (10 volumes), R. Crumb Draws the Blues, The Book of Mr. Natural, The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb, and many more. He lives in the south of France with his wife, the artist Aline Kominsky-Crumb.
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Crumb has taken around four years to bring out the book. That he might illustrate such faith-laden material struck many as outrageous. In his introduction, he writes, "If my visual, literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis offends or outrages some readers, which seems inevitable considering that the text is revered by many people, all I can say in my defense is that I approached this as a straight illustration job, with no intention to ridicule or make visual jokes." He has been astonishingly successful. There are objections that Crumb as unbeliever should not touch this text, but perhaps what the faithful ought to be objecting to is that Crumb has not exscinded any parts of the book; if a couple "know" each other, that picture is going to get its panel just as surely as will Jacob seeing the ramp of angels going up and down. Those who like their Bibles unillustrated might have a point; it is one thing to verbally describe something distasteful or distressing, but such a thing may be even more so if it is depicted. It is especially upsetting to see men, women, children, and animals trying to save themselves from the Noachian deluge, which, if it happened, was far more severe than any of the extinctions scientists tell us really did happen in past eras. Every illustrated Bible has a picture of the ark, and animals two by two; Crumb's does, too, but his is the only one that also shows a little of the multi-species lethality of the flood. Crumb's drawings can only emphasize the peculiar, vengeful, and primitive tribal behavior of these people, whose environment and social culture might have analogies with our own, but only by the greatest of stretches. Crumb has always been competent at drawing outsiders and cranks, and here does so just because the text demands it; the drawings show the differences from our world more strikingly than mere words do.
Crumb has taken the labor of illustration seriously. He has attempted to show realistic geographic and urban settings of the time, and he has had consultant friends to help him, including one who told him that in his original drawings the clothing looked like bathrobes and the tents looked like something you'd get at your local outdoor camping store. He redrew. The pictures, while obviously in his own style, are realistic and (what is most important in any illustrated text) they emphasize and help us understand the words of the story. It isn't Crumb's fault the story includes sex and violence and brutishly primitive or superstitious behavior. His book is an ambitious and surprising artistic endeavor, and anyone interested in the famous original ought to enjoy this new way to look at it. Including minors.
The prospective reader would be wise to heed Crumb’s own admonition, which he includes on the cover: “Adult Supervision Recommended for Minors.” Genesis depicts violent and sexual situations, to include incest (Lot and his daughters). Crumb does not gloss over those aspects, including frankly (but not pornographically) depicting sexual intercourse in his illustrations. By doing so, he brilliantly reveals to the reader aspects of familiar Bible stories that we might otherwise overlook, so well-worn (and often G-rated we’ve made) these stories in the imagination. Most readers of faith will also find that Crumb’s treatment of Genesis is both faithful to the text and sensitive to religious sensibilities.
So, why did I buy it? For my youngish son. (He might love Crumb's style - who knows?) So far, he has only looked at it a little, and just the sight of kissing would make him turn the page, so I am not worried about any sex in here. We are not talking Sapphire (Sapphire (N B M)) or Empowered Volume 1 sex, ya' know.
He came home one day saying a friend told him Jesus said we should hate our parents, and wasn't that crazy? So, out came the bible, and I read him the verses in question and pointed out that the word translated to "hate" really *does* mean hate. That was a revelation for him! Mind you, all I did was read him just what the bible said.
As a young catholic, I was never encouraged to read much of the bible. I asked the priest why we did not have a bible study and got a blank look. Face it, Issac Asimov said, "Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived." If my son grows up to be any kind of religious, I will still love and support him. However, I do not wanting him to make a choice based on what an authority figure tells him to believe, or choose something without having thoroughly read the pertinent holy literature and some rebuttals. This copy of Genesis is an easy start.
Crumb's Genesis is just the facts...no spin, nothing taken out to make the bible look better or less confusing. If a person has faith, they should be able to read the whole bible without losing it. If one fears reading it, then there is a problem. One issue is that christians feed their youngsters all happy-happy joy-joy bible bits, saying they are too young to understand the evil and nonsense parts yet.
Look at this dross: The Beginner's Bible: Timeless Children's Stories (Beginner's Bible, The) Notice how they skip god drowning all those helpless animals, all the humans and the innocent babies and kids. Would you let your child watch someone drown puppies in a lake? How would you feel about watching that? Seriously, Noah and his family are smiling about all this? I guess watching god drown thousands of beings has no effect. If you're not going to tell the story right, don't put it in a kids' book. People grow up so deluded about just this story, never giving it any more thought past the "sweet" images in their childrens' book, that they will *even decorate their own infants rooms with these cute pictures of mass murder.*
I call B.S. because most of them are never introduced to those stories later "when they're old enough." I do run into people on line who studied some of this in church as teens, but there are not many. The catholic church, the largest and most influential christian church in the world, surely doesn't encourage one to read more than the approved weekly readings. I am an atheist, and NONE of my christian friends know the bible like I do. If I mention an illogical bit or a dodgy story, I get a chorus of, "THAT'S in there?" and "How did you learn that?!"
So here it is - an unvarnished, basic telling of Genesis in well-done comics form. Buy it for your older kid or yourself. Buy it if you dare.
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Seule la couverture est en couleur.
Tous les dessins sont en noir et blanc.
Décevant.
Es curioso ver a Crumb dibujando sobre estos temas. Le llevó un rato largo dibujarlo, merece la pena.
Me lo compré en inglés porque era obscenamente más caro en castellano, el trabajo de traducción ya lo teníais hecho hace muchos años, no justifica el sobreprecio.












