If Moses had been a cartoonist

Spare me the philological argument. Just assume with me, if you will, that Moses actually wrote the first five books of the Bible. He may have been a divinely inspired writer, but, as anyone who's tried to read the Pentateuch knows, he could have used a good illustrator.

Poor William Blake, whose little paintings were, in his day, considered the work of a madman, didn't come along until some 5000 years later. We waited another three-quarters of a century for the advent of Gustav Doré, whose engravings grace many an old family Bible.

Now, some 150 years later, we have a remarkable illustrated version of the Book of Genesis, courtesy of R. Crumb.

That's right. Robert Crumb, comic book artist. Creator of such characters as Fritz the Cat, the Furry Freak Brothers, Flakey Foont and of course Mr. Natural. ("Is dis a system?")

Crumb is someone who almost defies description, let alone pigeon-holing. He is not just a simple cartoonist in the style of, say, Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons. Yet most critics would not have considered him a serious illustrator or artist...until now.

I picked up The Book of Genesis off the library shelf -- it almost jumped into my hands -- expecting it to be a satire or parody. It is not. Crumb "simply" draws a series of pictures, laid out as comic book panels, to illustrate the text assembled from the Robert Alter and King James versions of the Biblical version. There's a short written commentary at the end to précis the Biblical text, kind of like a listener's guide to an opera.

The power and savage beauty of Crumb's work is the drawings. Crumb is no mean draftsman. One 3 x 5 inch drawing of Noah's Ark must contain hundreds of brush-strokes. Perhaps it's a cliché, but Crumb's depiction of the faces makes the people come alive. Cain looks malevolent. Abel looks innocent. Adam looks like a naive superman. Eve looks voluptuous. Parental guidance is definitely advised!

The characters, even God, look not like the heroic classical figures of Doré, but as something within us believes they should look. They look real! Except for the serpent. We think of him as a snake but forget that the text says that as punishment, God took away his four legs. So Crumb draws him as he was, like a large lizard.

The dust jacket says: "Crumb's Book of Genesis, the culmination of five years of painstaking work, is a tapestry of masterly detail and storytelling that celebrates the astonishing diversity of one of our greatest artistic geniuses."

Walt says The Book of Genesis is a work of art. Even if you think the story is just the old Gilgamesh legend retold, you should have a look at it. I promise, you've never seen anything like it.

Footnote: Those interested in the "comix" are recommended to The Life and Times of R. Crumb, edited by Monte Beautchamp, with an introduction by Matt Groening. You can find copies on Amazon for a cent. There's also a DVD called Crumb: Special Edition.