Interpretive Treatments of Genesis in Comics: R. Crumb & Dave Sim

In recent years, several interesting and complex exegetical works have been produced in the comic book format. The most notable are Robert Crumb’s Illustrated Book of Genesis, and the elaborate Genesis commentary by Dave Sim as part of his long-running independent series Cerebus. Crumb, I argue, uses the comic book format as a means to limit the theological dimension of the text. Sim, by contrast, subordinates the elements of his form to the creation of a highly idiosyncratic exegesis. A close examination of both works charts two radically different and innovative exegetical styles, united by the use of the novel methods of visual storytelling and existence within the context of previous Bible comics. This examination seeks to make these methods accessible to the religious scholar, thus opening the field of graphic exegesis to further examination.