The Use of Illustration in Retelling Myths

The development of different medias have facilitated the variety of ways stories are retold. While Scott McCloud defines comics as "juxtaposed pictorial...images...intended to convey information...to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer" (Understanding Comics, Pt. 1), the unique presentation of images can produce varying reactions to the same story retold. 

R. Crumbs' The Book of Genesis Illustrated, includes narrative text almost identical to that found in the original Book of Genesis and is illustrated by detailed black sketch. On the other hand, Maddox and Anderson's The Lion Graphic Bible has very abbreviated text to tell the same story and is illustrated by more simple and vibrant water color images. While both comics attempt to depict the same story, one could argue that Crumbs' work appeals to a crowd more familiar with the original text and is fundamentally more concerned with the text of the story.

Maddox and Anderson appear to take more interest in the interpretation of the text and the freedom that they can take with the colors they use and moods they convey. For example, the first part of the story is illustrated by a complete dark page to convey the darkness of the beginning of time, followed by bright greens and blue to depict the creation of the earth. When man is formed, the artists use earthly tones like reds and browns to depict the creation from clay, and when Adam hides from God, the artists convey apprehension and fear with darker tones in the forest. 

While neither comic arguably does a better job over the other of conveying the story from Genesis, the differences enable different focal points; the vastly different presentations of the myth facilitate different interpretations of the same story.