Universally Known but So Different

How can a story so universally known such as the temptation scene be told so differently?

Comics give artistic license in multiple ways that regular paintings and words on a page cannot do. Comics allows the author/artist to interpret a passage through both his or her drawing and writings. Both the words and drawings allows comics to portray multiple meanings. A common stereotype about comics is that they are directed at children and young adults, and usually tell of a hero fighting off evil, but in the retelling of Genesis by R. Crumb, the creation story gets vastly different interpretation. The first thing that immediately jumps off the page is that both Adam and Eve are naked. It is also very detailed when it comes to the drawings with their emotions explicitly expressed. Though this comic is directed at adults (as evidenced by Adam and Eve lying with each other at the end), there is a lack of the full temptation sense, instead focusing on togetherness of man and woman. Crumb's piece seems to stress the humanity of the creation story and the importance of humans. There is a lack of sin in this comic, instead focusing on teaching other lessons such as love and companionship.

The Manga, on the other hand, is more consistent with our typical understanding of comics. It hides the nudity of Adam and Eve (the same with the picture above) and seems to be directed at children as evidenced by the opening scene having some comedy in it. The illustrations in the Manga is much more crude and do not show the emotions that are shown in Crumb edition. This idea means that the story in Manga is about much more important than the illustrations. The Manga does show the full Temptation scene and interestingly shows the snake with human arms. The snake represents the temptation to sin and giving it human features is important to note as a warning to readers to be careful of other tempting you to sin. Though neither shows the exile from Eden, the Magna does show at least some of the consequences of eating the apple, noting that both Adam and Eve notice they are naked (while Crumb's version they are still embracing their nakedness), and the narrator noting the far-reaching consequences of Adam and Eve's actions. Both stories embrace different parts of creation scene as Crumb's focus on happiness and pleasure of Adam having a companion (maybe directed at a couple reading it together), while the Manga focuses on the original sin and how it is so easy to give into sin.