Stylized temptation

From Rushkoff's Testament and the Manga Bible, we see two very different approaches to reaching the same goal of stylizing the creation story, and, as a result, focusing on and exaggerating certain aspects of it.
In Testament, we see the story of Genesis related in such a way that focuses on the role of temptation in the creation of stories. The main character (coder) is a clear representation of Adam, and the girl he pursues is a clear representation of Eve. They even meet in a garden where she encourages him to to do something that he has been told, and thus believes, would have dire consequences. As the new Gods begin the creation of a story, the wish to block out old Gods so that they may start anew. However, refusing to be ignored, the old ways find there way into the new story, and tempt Eve with the apple that condemns both her and Adam. This suggests to me the difficulty that is inherent in trying to ignore temptation. Also, the representations of temptation shown in this story are highly sexualized. That may be a function of the visual medium through which the story is written, but it is also likely a representation of the blinding nature of love and how it will cause us to ignore authority, as happens in both the Genesis and Modern story depicted in the comic.
In Manga Bible, we see a much more unaltered telling of the story, however, due to its medium, the stylization of the characters lends another dimension to the story. Typical in any manga, the characters all have flowing hair, expressive and large eyes, and lean physiques. The representation creates a heroic narrative to the Genesis story, especially since it is being relayed through Moses as he deals with the impending Egyptian threat. We see a side of the characters that we find to be more admirable, both physically and attitude-wise.  This a certain type of iconization that Scott Mccloud discussed. The image of Moses is serving as a representative for the concept, so they create an icon that is favorable.
This image of the characters from a famous anime, One Piece, shows this type of stylization which is present in most animes.

Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation

     R. Crumb's "The Book of Genesis" and Siku's "The Manga Bible" elicit an interesting point about the retelling of Creationism and of general myth retellings. Both, as all myth re-tellings do, add their own touch to the story, one more dramatically than the other but equally important. "The Book of Genesis," despite being a unique medium, does an excellent job of maintaining relative accuracy to the Old Testament's original telling of the story; using familiar language and a parallel chronology paired with straightforward illustrations of the text. For example, the comic uses biblical language like, "And God saw the light, that it was good," of which the tone and grammatical organization is close, if not identical to the Bible's. However, every now and then the author includes some of his own language, like "for on the day you eat from it, you are doomed to die!" Furthermore, unlike the subtle differences seen in R. Crumb's comic, Siku's "The Manga Bible" tells the Creationism myth in a more entertaining context and uses close to no familiar language from the original text. This manga comic tells the creationism myth as if Moses was telling it to the children of Israel, ironically a myth being retold within another myth also being retold.

     Regardless of how different the retelling is from the original, whether understated like in "The Book of Genesis" or very distant like in the "Manga Bible," why do authors feel the need to insert their own personalities into retellings, especially in myths as systematic and "straightforward" as the creationism story? While this "broken-telephone game" phenomenon is often the cause of confusion and misunderstandings, perhaps it's the root of what makes myths beautiful and entertaining to the audience, and even prevents myths from becoming fact. If the same exact story was told endlessly, regardless of its validity, it would likely become accepted as fact over time and effectively close the doors for meaningful interpretation; quite the opposite of the intention of mythology as a genre.