Creation Story Retold by Comics

As author Scott McCloud writes in his graphic novel Understanding Comics, different comic artists use varying degrees realism and cartoonish abstraction to relate to audiences. When artists make an image more abstract, they are not so much “eliminating details as we are focusing on specific details.” 

Two comics I looked at used varying levels of abstraction to retell the story of creation. As we try to mold ourselves into this creation story as we read it, how do different comic artists try to use the written word and sequential drawings, and this interplay between the abstract and realistic, to build a cohesive world for us to dive into?

In the first page of Testament Vol. 2: West of Eden, the beginning lines are not Genesis’s famous, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” Instead, you see colorful and graphically “realistic” and detailed drawings of three gods from different cosmologies.  Most of these gods would mostly likely be unfamiliar to the typical Judeo-Christian reader; you see Atum from Egyptian myths, Ishtar who after research on my part, was the East Semitic and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, and war. You also see a destructive bull-creature named Moloch, who I also found was an ancient Ammonite god. The first words you see are “Every god has a creation story” in curved, casual- looking script. 

Already from this first page, this retelling of Adam and Eve reaches far outside its typical depiction. These gods influence the retelling of the Adam and Eve story; halfway through the chapter, how the woman was created was changed due to these multiple gods, including others like Krishna and Elijah. The near-future characters of a male computer technician and his female lover influence this past story, creating a fluidity of myth within this detailed drawings. Instead of relaying on highly abstract drawings, this comic artist uses more detailed and colored drawings to ground this highly abstract story in a more “realistic” and concrete setting, attempting to make it believable yet also timeless. By doing so, it aims to say that history repeats itself. The story takes place in the near future and the biblical past in interchanging intervals to show that these stories exist in the present, the future; religious stories change, evolve, and so do societies at large.

In the Manga Bible, the Creation story is also retold, but is geared towards a more Judeo-Christian, orthodox audience than the previous example. It uses text and quotes directly from Biblical text, and in that regard, uses more accepted and even “realistic” text. Some parts of the book’s text has been heard time and time again, which most likely prompts the opening line “Okay, let’s do this again.” And then it begins with the first verse in Genesis. And it’s not a sarcastic note I hear in the graphic novel’s first line, but the timelessness of telling these stories. This novel does mix up the text, and it features Moses telling the story to a group of children and eager followers. In a way, are we, the readers, the children? As danger brews in the story, are we echoing the biblical voices awaiting the words of the famous prophet? The abstract, cartoonish black and white drawings do give us a sense, as Scott McCloud writes, of reader identification.

Both of these stories reshape and comment on Adam and Eve by manipulating the text of the story and then use drawings to enhance their respective themes. But I argue in these examples, both novels pick one element to really abstract and then use the other remain more "realistic" and consistent and rooted in the cosmology. Testament Vol. 2 gave us realistic and more detailed colorful world so we could observe this near-future and biblical past in a sense of tangible reality. Manga Bible wanted to gear its book to a younger audience, and therefore made it easy to relate to based on its use of cartoons, while keeping a realistic (relatively speaking) and stricter interpretation of the text to tell of the bible’s ubiquity in time, but not necessarily across religions. Like any medium, graphic novels employ different means of texts and pictures to retell a story. I argue that in these two examples, they use contrasting amounts of abstraction in their text and pictures to demonstrate the push-and-pull of the abstract and familiar elements of humanity found in the Christian Creation story.    

The Importance of Imagination

Is it possible to exclude the artist’s interpretation when viewing comics? Even if it is possible, does this defeat the point of using visual representation for a story? The visual medium utilized by comics’ forces the artist’s perception of the story into the mind of viewer. Imagination is a critical component of our conceptualization of these stories. The way in which an individual visualizes the structure of a story is a personal means of understanding. For example, how one constructs the characters, their expressions, their dress, and even their mannerisms is a tool that is used for the individual to personally relate to the story. Our own imagination acts as a conduit of relatability. However, this tool is taken away by the visual nature of comics. Instead of our own method of relation, the artist’s perception is forced upon us. A barrier is breached by comics in a way that written or spoken stories do not do.

        The Genesis story told by R. Crumb and the manga version demonstrate the different approaches an artist can take. R. Crumb’s drawings are more realistic than the manga story. The anatomically realistic pictures in association with Crumb’s biblical terminology establishes his story as more educational than entertaining. His straightforward approach establishes Adam and Eve as seemingly empty vessels. They do not have the personality that is evident in the depictions of Adam and Eve in the manga version. The manga story uses vibrant expressions and more modernized speech as such providing Adam and Eve with a little more personality. Thus, exhibiting how an artist’s perception is apparent in their drawings and how such opinions can intrude upon the viewer’s own imagination. Furthermore, how does the individual maintain his or her sense of self when reading comics?  

The power of illustration in re-telling the creation myth

Every new version of the creation myth grows further from its original purity and closer to societal misconceptions and stereotypes. The comics The Magna Bible and Testament raise many of the same issues and themes we found in Genesis such as human fascination with stories, subordination, and sexism. The comics elevate these ideas to the next level. The comics are not simply the story of creation, but rather the story of the story of creation. The characters in both comics are extremely aware of their audience. In Magna bible, the narrator encourages the audience to become involved and participate in the storytelling. The Gods in Testament realize that " each story is only as true as the number and intensity of those who believe" and therefore work to create the most convincing myth. This emphasis on the role of the audience plays on the idea that humans are so eager for an explanation of the world around them that they will believe whatever they are told. With this in mind, the storytellers are aware of their power. Both myths also highlight the concept of subordination, a key theme in Genesis. In The Magna Bible the narrator stands on a tall cliff, towering above all of his followers. Similarly in Testament it is the Gods who have the power to create and interfere in the creation myth. As a society, we believe the stories presented to us through religion, books, movies, etc, but these comics make us think about who is behind these stories.

Each re-telling of the creation takes away from ambiguity of the myth and therefore the ability for the reader to employ imagination. The original creation myth was genderless with Ha'adamah as the original Adam. In Genesis we see the emergence of sexism as woman is made to be Adam's partner. However, when the story is told only through words, much is still left to the interpretation of the reader. We have the ability to picture the Garden of Eden and the interaction between Adam and Eve. Both of the comics begin with this same ambiguity, just words set against a black background. On the following pages, however, detailed illustrations appear, which further emphasis gender distinction. Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics explains that less detailed faces in cartoons allow the reader to project themselves onto the character and become a part of the comic. He includes a diagram to show the contrast between a realistic photograph and an ambiguous smiley face. The illustrations in The Magna Bible and specifically Testament are much closer to McCloud's example of extremely detailed figures. These graphic images, especially those of nude women, highlight gender distinctions and the idea of Adam and Eve as sex symbols. Through their illustrations, the comics further solidify and perpetuate these stereotypes that modern day Americans associate with the creation story.

Different Depictions, Same Story

Testament and Manga Bible have very different depictions of the Temptation and The Fall based on the audience they are written for. In Manga Bible the audience is obviously children and adults who want a pictorial retelling of the Bible. The Judeo-Christian myth of Adam and Eve is preserved almost exactly as it appears in Genesis. Certain stylistic aspects reinforce this. The nudity that is present is reduced. We see that Adam and Eve are naked, but not in a way that can be sexualized.

Testament is obviously written for a secular audience. The story of Alan’s fall is obviously meant to parallel the story of Adam and Eve, as indicated in the central panel on page 25. However, in keeping with the general practice of adapting myths to the concerns of the current era, the apple is replaced with a computer program that will replicate life. Between the focus on technology as a cause for the fall of man and the graphic depictions of nudity, sex, and drug use it is clear that Testament is intended for an adult, secular, audience.

Visualizing Comics

Since comics is a juxtaposition of images that occupy different spaces (rather than one space for film), it holds the ability to create multiple layers of preservation and extension for myths and symbols. R. Crumb’s “The Book of Genesis” and the “Lion Graphic Bible” are two comics novels that offer similar yet different accounts of of the biblical Book of Genesis. 

Both comic strips follow the same narrative of the creation myth but offer a different visualization of it in terms of style and color. Crumb follows the biblical story almost word by word, with each illustration directly depicting the narrative and emphasizing key sacred symbols. The author even gives God a human appearance, with long hair and beard, as the Book of Genesis mentions that man was created according to His image and likeness. The Lion Graphic Bible on the other hand, does not physically illustrate God, instead His presence is omniscient as we can only observe his work and hear his voice in the end. The authors also created a new identity for the Garden of Eden, as they illustrated it more like an African savanna (the presumed birthplace of the modern man) rather than a densely cultivated garden.  

The freedom that Anderson and Maddox took to illustrate the Temptation and "Fall" emphasize the ever-changing aspect of myths. According to the authors, the serpent is the evil itself, as suggested by the text in the first panel in which it appears. In the book of Genesis,the serpent does not force Eve to eat the fruit, it is the possibility of knowing good and evil (and thus being like God) that tempts her into doing so. In the Lion Graphic Bible, the serpent goes as far as calling God a liar and demands the fruit to be eaten. The top-down layout of the last page further emphasizes the humanity's fall to sin. The top image of Adam and Eve fleeing is a borderless panel and the gutter for the whole page, which is connected to the bottom image of Adam hiding in fear.

The Fall: A "Comic" Illustration

How do an author’s intended audience shape the way that s/he constructs the mythology of the Temptation and “The Fall” of man?

Although both Rushkoff’s “Testament” and the Manga Bible depict the Temptation and “The Fall” of man, these two mediums construct the mythology in vastly different manners. Rushkoff’s “Testament” is written to appeal to a sexual and secular American audience; an audience in which “the forces of nature [sex] compel them/All time is this time” (Rushkoff, 14). Because he is writing for a mature audience, he incorporates more graphic imagery, continually showing female breasts and sex, and directly parallels Adam eating the apple in Eden with a modern man striving to create his own version of life via computer code. Additionally, Rushkoff’s decision to have God re-write the creation of man because woman’s “beauty and power are too great-pulling man back towards the mystery of nature and creation” when they are created as equals conforms to the modern female-empowered audience (Rushkoff, 11). 

In contrast to Rishkoff’s profane retelling, The Manga Bible is written to teach kids the Bible in a fun and engaging manner. Because of the younger, Christian audience, The Manga Bible constructs the Temptation and “The Fall” in a far less sexually explicit and highly Biblical following narrative. It does not recreate the myth to make a social/political statement about religion, it simply renews the myth to appeal to modern youth and their parents, and teaches them that “a simple act of disobedience would have consequences that redefined creation’s destiny” (Manga Bible, 13). 

Creation Myth

Genesis 1-4 represents the creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity. Over the course of six days, God creates the sun, sky, light, water,land, fish, birds, plants and humankind. Then, He created Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden of Eden where they could enjoy the beauty of the world but were not allowed to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In the garden, Eve encountered a serpent that convinced her to eat the fruit because it would open her eyes to good and evil, which means that she would gain the knowledge of God. After both Eve and Adam ate the fruit, God banished them from Eden for disobeying Him and thus the history of humankind begins.

By making this choice, Adam and Eve left humankind with the ability to distinguish between the good and the bad. Even though the idea was suggested by the serpent, Adam and Eve made an independent choice to eat the fruit. That’s not the case in John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, as the Satan, disguised as a serpent, tempts her to eat the apple because it gave him the ability to think and talk. A number of identities are formed throughout the creation myth, such as women giving childbirth in pain, men working the ground to provide food, the serpent not having any legs or the length of the week being seven days long.

IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS FOOD

With each retelling of Christianity’s Creation Story, we can see a typical human narrative: we are tempted, we sin, we lose our paradise. The story has also been used a rallying cry for many social groups, homophobics and pacifists alike. But what about foodies?

According to Genesis, God said, “everything that has breath for life, I have given you every green plant for food.”¹ Today, certain Christians affirm their faith by embracing this vegan life. Books like Alive! A Physician's Biblical and Scientific Guide to Nutrition² and tumblr posts like “Veganism is about taking care of all God’s creatures”³ show how this story creates Christian identities centered around food. Meanwhile, many Christians argue that God gave people “dominion over”⁴ animals for us to eat. In both cases, Genesis raises contentious questions about food in our society.

                 

 The forbidden fruit is an obvious symbol about sin. But have you noticed that we’re “tempted” by chocolate cake? Many candy companies like Forbidden Fruit do.⁶ This religious language shows how, without realizing it, many of us are like Eve wanting that cookie and the indulgent, sinful food. From Christian online communities to everyday epicureans, the Creation story shapes people’s identity with cuisine.  

Sources

1. Genesis Chapter 1:30 (New Revised Standard)

2.  Alive! A Physician's Biblical and Scientific Guide to Nutrition by Scott Stoll

3. http://veganchristian.tumblr.com/FAQ

4. Genesis Chapter 1:26 (New Revised Standard)
5.  http://caramelapplesandmore.com