I'm sure Slip will purchase this one! ;-)
On Sep 29, 2:26 pm, ornamentalmind <[email protected]> wrote: > Word Made Fresh > R. Crumb gives visual form to the first book of the Bible > JEET HEER > > The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb > BY R. CRUMB > $24.95 List Price > For more info visit: > Amazon • IndieBound > > "In the beginning, there was a father who craved respectability; he > begat a bad boy who enjoyed shocking polite society. The father was > Max Gaines, one of the founders of the American comic-book industry > and publisher of the early adventures of the Green Lantern and Wonder > Woman. Stung by criticisms that comics were corrupting America’s > youth, Max rebranded himself as a purveyor of uplifting material, > releasing Picture Stories from the Bible in 1942 and soon thereafter > starting a firm called Educational Comics. After Max died in 1947, his > wayward, mischief-loving son, Bill, took charge of the firm. Unlike > his dad, Bill didn’t shy away from the reputation comic books had for > sensationalism. EC, which now stood for Entertaining Comics, became a > clearinghouse for blood-drenched horror titles such as Tales from the > Crypt, as well as for the irreverent Mad. These taboo-breaking comics, > sold for a dime to any kid who wanted to read them, provoked a > hornet’s nest of censorious opposition. > > Although Max and Bill Gaines had antithetical aims, both are > precursors to Robert Crumb in his Book of Genesis Illustrated. Like > Max, Crumb has returned to the sacred text at the heart of Western > civilization, but the result is a comic as unsettlingly drenched in > sexualized violence as Tales from the Crypt and as subversively > disrespectful to cultural icons as Mad. Those familiar only with the > Crumb of the ’60s and ’70s, the sex-obsessed chronicler of Mr. Natural > and Fritz the Cat, may be surprised to learn that he has a bookish > side. Since the early ’80s, he has been releasing a remarkable series > of literary adaptations, faithfully and lovingly based on scenes from > works such as James Boswell’s London Journal, Richard von Krafft- > Ebing’s Psychopathia Sexualis, Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea, and Franz > Kafka’s stories. These are all works of literary extremism, focused on > scenes of heightened feelings and antisocial behavior. Crumb’s Book of > Genesis is the culmination of his Classics Illustrated impulse. As he > did in earlier adaptations, the artist embraces a volatile, often > abrasive text soaked through with lust and blood. > > But The Book of Genesis Illustrated is far more ambitious than Crumb’s > previous adaptations, which tended to be only a few pages long. This > time, he has tackled a sizable text, all fifty chapters of Genesis, > omitting very little (such as “and Bethuel,” on the scholarly grounds > that these two words were added by a scribal interloper). The > completeness of this version is important, because, as Crumb rightly > complains, every other comics adaptation seems to have been > streamlined and modernized, often to make the shocking old stories > palatable to readers, especially kids. In the rendition of Noah’s > story in Picture Stories from the Bible, for instance, no mention is > made of Ham seeing his illustrious father naked and earning a curse > for the transgression. In the 1975 DC Comics “Limited Collectors’ > Edition” of the Bible, the sin of the men of Sodom seems to be that > they are too greedy, and any hint of homosexual rape is carefully > avoided…” > > For the rest of the story, go to: > > http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/016_03/4342 > > or to buy, go to: > > http://www.crumbproducts.com/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
