by Michael James
Like R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis, The Adventures of God and Others by Michael James fits squarely into the current bibliography of graphic novels and memoirs. As it happens, though, James’s surprisingly contemporary pen, ink, and watercolor illustrations of scenes from both the Old and New Testaments were created in the three years following World War II (1946-1949). After returning from service as a sailor aboard the carrier USS Monterey (which he chronicles in his book, The Adventures of M. James: A Sailor’s Diary—see page 7), the twenty-three-year-old James studied at the Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs, where he interpreted the Biblical passages in illustration form on the pages of a blank book.
In his introduction, James explains that the characters in his drawings—all nude, “even God”—honor the literal words of the Bible, “unencumbered by conscience, consequence, or conduct.” He calls it “a work done in the spirit of Respect, Wonderment, and Love. Humor, too.”
In a sense, the young James’s undertaking honors his forebears: he is the son of the artist Alexander James and the grandson of the preeminent philosopher William James – whose most well-known writing includes The Varieties of Religious Experience.
.
Hard cover $34.95
ISBN: 978-0-87233-145-7
9.5”x 12”
320 pages
available May 2011