Egypt, Egypt

Although I never got the chance to see Robert Crumb in Richmond last week, my friend Mitch returned with a report, saying "I don't think some of the women were happy with some of his viewpoints; he managed to get booed and hissed once or twice. It was great that they discussed bestiality and incest in such a posh setting."

Bestiality and incest... two of my favorite topics! When it comes to Biblical stories, that is -- and I am thrilled to see that Crumb's long-awaited hardcover comic adaption of The Book Of Genesis is finally released, having read about him working on this project from what feels like years and years gone by. Crumb's straightforward interpretation of the first book of the Bible faithfully (or as much as he could) reproduced every word of the original text, derived from sources from The King James version to Robert Alter's The Five Books Of Moses that was more recently released in 2004. But what's remarkable and maybe slightly surprising about this book is how much Crumb took this endeavor as a straight illustration job, drawing exactly what the text describes, without ridicule or parody -- though

that's not saying that some people may still find offense to some segments, depending on how vivid one's imagination has always been when one reads about the seduction of Lot by his daughters, Onan spilling his seed on the ground, or Adam and Eve naked and unashamed in the Garden of Eden, among others. But of course, nothing that anyone who who has read the Bible doesn't know already. And of course, Genesis is famous for a whole heck of a lotta begettin' -- though don't worry, Crumb reigns it in a little when it comes to rendering every single descendant of Adam and Noah and Abraham and holy cow that's a lotta begots. But of course best of all is always Crumb's meticulously glorious pen strokes, and let's not forget Crumb's trademark thunder-thighed, bootilicious babes making appearances as Eve, Sarah, Leah, Rebekah, and Rachel, just to name a few.

So will there be a Book of Exodus in the future? I admit that's the first thing I thought, but heck, let the poor man rest of the seventh day. He's earned it. From Adam to Joseph, The Book Of Genesis is all a small part of the greatest story ever told. It's only fitting that one of the greatest underground comic artists of all time should do it justice.