viz.

Image Credit: R. Crumb

H/T  Texas Performing Arts

Today, I reserved tickets for the Robert (R.) Crumb and Art Spiegelman event November 13 here at the University of Texas. Texas Performing Arts, the host for the event, has beckoned with advertisements of R. Crumb's latest work, The Book of Genesis Illustrated.   I have Crumb's graphic novel on order from Amazon.com and plan to review the text here on Viz., as well as post some thoughts on the November talk between the two artists. 

For a lay person minimally versed in comic book genres (that's me), the event brings up a series of questions.  What is the state of comic book art in academia?  Does that question even matter to the majority of graphic novel readers?    Spiegelman's illustrated work has already been the focus of academic inquiry and attention with his Pulitzer-prize winning work Maus, a treatment of the Holocaust, being widely used in secondary and college classrooms.  The recent review from NPR (below) indicates the cultural currency of Crumb's latest project; the reviewer says that The Book of Genesis Illustrated has 'affecting' humanist impulses and expands Crumb's visual lexicon beyond what his readers might expect from his characteristic work.  The Book of Genesis Illustrated was published by W.W. Norton, which perhaps is another indicator of the expected cultural impact of the text.

H/T  Texas Performing Arts