the book of genesis

since the new year I've been listening to the old testament as an audiobook. I read the bible many years ago but I'm using this method as a "refresher course." it's appropriate then that I got my hands on a pictorial assessment of the text, robert crumb's wonderful the book of genesis illustrated. far from being a cheap parody, it's an honest and accurate depiction of the first book of the bible. clearly I am not the only moblogger who owns this book.

the book is a joy to hold. the pages smell lovely, the paper is thick and pleasing to touch. with every turn of a page I crease down the edge, making the marks mine. I accidentally spilled some tea on the edge of one of the pages - I'll cherish that stain for years to come. reading holy texts in comicbook format is a rare pleasure I would recommend to people of all persuasions.

crumb's yahweh is unsmiling and paranoid, a straight up old-man-with-a-beard depiction with facial features based on crumb's father. eve is buxom and manly like all of crumb's women. I love the baffled and hopeless expressions of the natives, especially noah and abraham. when one of their family dies, the natives look utterly despondent.

shocking, beautiful and brutal at turns, crumb's genesis faithfully renders the most grotesque of all creation myths.