R. Crumb's GENESIS finished

Crumbproducts.com, the official website of R. Crumb, has announced that the legendary underground cartoonist has completed Robert Crumb's Book of Genesis, the 200-plus page bible adaptation he's been working on for four years.

"Robert has finished the Genesis project," reads a post dated Spring, 2009. "It's 201 pages. He has also finished the Cover, the Introduction, the commentary (for the back sleeve) and also the Map, which will be in the beginning of the book. The book is soon going to production and it's planned to be released this fall."

This will be Crumb's longest work to date by far, adapting all 50 chapters of Genesis. In the past he had frequently said he couldn't imagine sticking with a long story where he knew the outcome, because he would get bored. He has also said he feels hampered when taking on more serious subjects because of an inherent comedic quality in his work. But it seems the story of Genesis inspired him enough to complete his first "graphic novel" in a career that stretches back more than 40 years, and nobody who sees his sketches for the book's God would say he looks comedic.

Crumb struggled with how to depict God, and he told Time's Robert Hughes that God's face came to him in a dream.

He has a white beard but he actually ended up looking more like my father. He has a very masculine face like my father. My problem was, how am I going to draw God? Should I just draw him as a light in the sky that has dialogue balloons coming out from it? Then I had this dream. God came to me in this dream, only for a split second, but I saw very clearly what he looked like. And I thought, ok, there it is, I’ve got God.

(Amazon.com lists the book as hitting stores in October. Click the cover above to advance-order the book on Amazon.)


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