Although I grew up in a religious household, I myself have not been religious since I became an adult. My memories of Genesis are of a rather boring book with lots of “begats” and stories that are so dry they lose all relatability. Reading R. Crumb’s illustrated book of Genesis brought the dry stories of the bible to life. The people became human with real emotions and I found it fascinating to see how their construct of a god was a reflection of themselves. The first chapter has God creating man in his own image, apparently emotionally as well as physically, as God seems to have all the same base feelings that humans do. Although I personally don’t believe this is a work of God, I find it refreshing to see that God and his holy men can feel …show more content…
Crumb illustrates beautifully what effect these have on the human’s they are directed at. As the text describes the Lord seeing that humans are wicked, Crumb has God peering onto a scene of carnal brutality with the look of a shocked grandmother. His shock quickly turns to rage and like a young child angry that other kids aren’t playing by his rules, he decides to take his toys and go home. In this instance though, his toys are all of humanity except for his favorite, Noah, and Noah’s family. The look Crumb has drawn on Noah’s face as God lays out his plan to him is one of pure shock. This face is over multiple panels and perfectly expresses how one might feel being told that not only is your family going to be all that is left of the world, but that you are also expected to build a boat large enough to hold two of every animal. When we get to the part about the rain wiping out all living things, Crumb has drawn a panel showing corpses floating, animals with looks of terror, hands reaching up out of the depths for anything to hold on to. Crumb drawing makes you stop and reflect on the merciless action God has just taken. The spiteful nature of a vindictive God that didn’t have his creations behaving as he thought they should is made perfectly