As an avid comic book reader and collector as a child in the 1970s (I still have my collections obsessively bagged, boarded and boxed in cool, dry storage), I have to admit that I was more of a S. Lee/J. Kirby fan than R. Crumb. Every now and then one of his weird b&w pages would catch my eye and I would peruse the contents and be somewhat interested in the unique art and coverage of taboo topics, lasciviously drawn in spectacular detail. Ultimately, though, I appreciated his art but was not ever much of a fan that was interested enough to buy into the genre. To be honest, I found the stories bitter, hopeless, frivolous and depicted humans as inherently and completely sick and twisted husks of depravity.
It not only lacked compassion, heart and hope but it did so intentionally.
Having said all of that, I have to admit that I am interested in his recent work depicting the fable of Genesis not only in comic book form, but in Crumb's unique style.
So far, the attention has been mostly favorable, laden with caveats and poseur-style admonitions about R. Crumb and his history of anarchistic cynicism, anti-semitism and misogyny along with the expected expressions of personal affront and IMAPS from some Christians.
Hilariously enough to me, the work is merely an artful rendering of the Genesis fable so any offense would certainly be something most atheists and the non-religious (who have actually spent time and effort in comparative religious study) have been saying all along about the tales found within the foundation of religious dogma.
After the knowing nods of "there you have Genesis in all of its brutal immoral glory, everyone. Read it, weep, and awaken", I come to realize that I may have rejected the genre of this religion early on in my life for the same reason I rejected R. Crumb's work.
They both try to sell the self-hating idea that human beings are born hopelessly flawed and diseased in order to move the product and gain converts.
Figuratively speaking, Genesis and R. Crumb are a perfectly dysfunctional marriage made in Heaven.
For that reason, I will buy a copy of "The Book of Genesis - Illustrated by R. Crumb" and have it end up in my collection of assorted Bibles and Concordances...and not bagged, boarded and boxed in my comic book collection.