The importance of illustration

What do the visual representations of Genesis add to the myth of Adam and Eve?

The graphic iterations of the book of Genesis 1-2 allow for newer, adapted interpretations of the myth that add a level of representation that was previously unavailable. While using the same text, illustrators can emphasize certain parts of the story or interpret events and characters in different ways. They can change the nature of the myth without changing the words that go along with it. For example, R. Crumb's "The Book of Genesis" and "The Lion Graphic Bible" by Jeff Anderson and Mike Maddox both involve the same classic myth of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but they tell them in different ways. 

"The Book of Genesis" states on the cover page that it is "[t]he first book of the Bible graphically depicted" and that there is "nothing left out!" The work stays true its statement in that it is a more traditional visual interpretation with large blocks of the text throughout. The comic is in black and white and has more of a rigid structure compared to graphic works. God is illustrated in human form and is represented in most of the frames. The frame in which God tells Adam not to eat from the tree is very dramatic and depicts God as authoritative and something to be feared. However, the scene of temptation is not actually shown: chapter 2 ends with the introduction of Eve. 

"The Lion Graphic Bible" takes more creative liberties with the retelling of Genesis. This version is in color and uses more unique images than "The Book of Genesis." The image of God is not directly shown in "The Lion Graphic Bible", however the snake is represented many times. This distinction demonstrates that God is an unattainable being that is too holy for human eyes, but the snake is not because humans are cursed with the original sin told in this myth.  There is less emphasis on the doom that results from eating from the tree in the Garden of Eden, however there is more detail in the temptation than in the other version. Eve and Adam both interact with the snake, who has agency in this retelling of the myth. Adam and Eve become more visually similar to the snake (green skin, inhuman eyes, no human body) after "the fall" which represents the human transition from being made in the God to being tricked into evil like the snake.