Category: Biography

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Punk Rock in Comics


By Nicolas Finet & Thierry Lamy, illustrated by Joël Alessandra, Antoane, Will Argunas, Katya Bauman, Romain Brun, Céheu, Christopher, Janis Do, Benoît Frébourg, Thierry Gioux, Kongkee, Estelle Meyrand, Yvan Ojo, Gilles Pascal, Christelle Pécout, Lauriane Rérolle, Toru Terada, Martin Texier, Léah Touitou, Martin Trystram & various: translated by James Hogan (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-68112-350-9 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-68112-351-6

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect and historical verity.

Having been (an extremely minor) part of the revolution and probably seen at most of the UK gigs and events cited here, I found it most difficult to remain dispassionate about the book under review today. It’s really very good, and I apologize if I seem less than my effusive self. Apparently, being fair and neutral is actually quite hard if one is involved. Moreover, it’s rather sad to realize that when all those disenfranchised kids warned of “no future”, right here, right now is what they were shouting about….

Graphic biographies are all the rage these days and this one is the most personally affecting yet. It’s strange to have lived long enough to find that the history people are writing and drawing is just “recently” and “remember when…” to some of us.

Part of NBM’s Music Stars in Comics series and guaranteed to appeal to a much larger audience than most comics usually reach, Punk Rock in Comics is a roundup of key bands and significant moments helpfully garnished with articles on the US and British antecedents and precursors, as well as a look at who joined late and what came next. It certainly deserves to reach as many as possible and will make a perfect gift if any of us make it to the next Great December fun-fest/Gig in the Sky…

… And just a note of clarification: between 1975 and 1981 us youth thought we were at the spear tip of a revolution, but it turns out it was a wave of similar-seeming local brush fires that were stamped out or died down of their own accord. Punk was music and fashion and guerilla graphics and SHEER ATTITUDE. All of it was primarily self-generated by triggered by example and a Do It Yourself philosophy sparked by the realization that no one in authority was ever going to help or rock a sitting status quo.

We concentrate on bands and music here but as a nod to the other great benefactor – self-publishing – this book is craftily delivered via distractingly faux-distressed pages meant to mimic the abundant and vibrant fanzine culture that came with us kids getting involved. Buying or trading a pamphlet did so much to popularise the movement in an era utterly devoid of social media and digital connection, but don’t whine you spend a few hours trying to flatten out wrinkle and glue stains that aren’t really there, okay?

Still with us? Okay then…

As if cannily re-presented popular culture factoids and snippets of urban history accompanied by a treasure trove of candid photographs, posters, badges fashions and other memorabilia aren’t enough to whet your appetite, this annal of arguably the closest we ever got to taking over the kingdom also offers vital and enticing extra enticements… but you’ll have to have your consciousness raised a bit before then.

Author, filmmaker, journalist, publisher, educator, translator/music documentarian Nicolas Finet has worked in comics over three decades: generating a bucketload of reference works – such as Mississippi Ramblin’ and Forever Woodstock. He adds to his graphic history tally (Prince in Comics, Love Me Please – The Story of Janis Joplin 1943-1970 and David Bowie in Comics) with this deep dive into the crazed career of the ultimate cosmic explorers and rebellious cultural pioneers. His scripts of the comics vignettes compiled in conjunction with frequent collaborator Thierry Lamy (Force Navale, David Bowie in Comics, Pink Floyd in Comics) are limned here by a spitting, pogo-ing posse of international strip artists, visually actualising vividly vocal and vociferous key moments in really recent history…

It begins with Céheu depicting ‘1969-1970 An American Prehistory’ as disillusionment in the1970s New World triggers reactions from young musicians like Jim “Iggy Pop” Osterberg and Richard Hell, and groups of iconic nearly-men such as MC5, Television and the New York Dolls set the scene and laid the groundwork for what came – quite unfairly – to be regarded as a British revolution…

Following a fact-packed essay, the state of our nation is assessed in ‘1971-1975 The United Kingdom of Pub Rock’, courtesy of Gilles Pascal. A growing hunger for cheap live music and short songs led to an extinction event for “Prog Rock” and the rise of bands and performers who would score no real chart success but reshape the industry for decades to come…

A text discussion of bands like (Ian Dury’s) Kilburn and the High Roads, Brinsley Schwartz, Nick Lowe, Eddie and the Hot Rods and more enjoying a growing London-centric live gig scene leads to Antoane’s proto-punk assessment ‘1974-1976 On the fringes of Punk Rock, a few Inspired Trailblazers’ (Dr. Feelgood, Graham Parker and the Rumour, Elvis Costello) before the cultural main event kicks off with Thierry Gioux’s coverage of ‘1975-1978 The Sex Pistols Endless Rebellion’ and a detailed biopsy of the Clash in ‘1976-1985 Combat Rock’ limned by Martin Trystram.

Further mini-bios follow in comics and essay combinations, exploring lesser gods of revolt such as ‘1976-1980 Buzzcocks Energy Made in Manchester’ by Katya Bauman, ‘1974-1996 We, The Ramones’ from Toru Terada, Benoît Frébourg’s ‘1976-2015 The Damned May the Farce be with You!’ and an assessment of lost wonders in Yvan Ojo’s ‘1975-1978 Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers’…

As I said, Britain got the lion’s share of global headlines (and reactionary authoritarian blamestorming) but the process and progress were international. Romain Brun illustrates ‘1974-1977 Meanwhile, in New York’ where the club CBGB was building a rep through outsider bands such Television, New York Dolls, Blondie, Talking Heads, the Dead Boys and poet Patti Smith, and by staging the first UK band to play America: The Damned…

A few more individualists are explored in ‘1976-1996 Siouxsie and the Banshees The Punk Sorceress’ by Léah Touitou, and Martin Texier reveals just how different The Vibrators were in ‘1976-2020 Never Stop Vibrating’ prior to Janis Do detailing the effect, influence and ultimate tragedy of Jimmy Pursey and Sham 69 in ‘1976-1980 Working Class Heroes’… It was a time of change, fervour and febrile opportunism and many acts were caught up in the money and mood, if not movement, usually against their will and at the behest of old-guard record companies. Christopher illuminates how The Jam rode the storm in ‘1974-1979 Not Quite Punks: a handful that can’t be put in a box’ and Lauriane Rérolle details ‘1975-1983 The Irish Wave’ that picked up and spat out The Undertones and Stiff Little Fingers but lost so many others.

‘1975-1982 Girls to the Front!’ by Christelle Pécout focusses on how “the kids” demand to be heard somehow didn’t apply to The Slits – until they put their big booted feet down – whilst Estelle Meyrand explores international wonders most of us missed at the time – no, not Belgium’s Plastic Bertrand but Australia’s The Saints and US phenomenon and political activist Jello Biafra and The Dead Kennedys in ‘1976-1980 Punks from Elsewhere’…

Despite constant accusations of nihilism Punk was always an inviting and inclusive arena and ‘1975-1981 Punks and Rastas’ from Joël Alessandra details cultural cross pollination and active inclusivity – leading to the Two Tone era – and Will Argunas recalls ‘1975-1983 Punks and Hard Rock: Loud, Fast, and in Your Face!’ via the life and achievements of Lemmy Kilmister and Motörhead, before Kongkee draws this tome to a close with a trip through ‘1981 and Beyond: The Post-Punk Legacy’ encompassing Electropop, New Wave/Romanticism, Grunge and more, citing bands such as Pere Ubu, Devo, et al…

This compelling and remarkable catalogue of cultural change and artistic hostage-taking includes a Selective Discography of the bands most crucial cuts, Further Reading, listings of Films and Videos, Photo Credits and a copious Acknowledgements section.

Punk Rock in Comics is a comprehensive and intriguing skilfully realised appreciation of a unique moment in time and society, boldly attempting to capture a too-big rocket in a very small bottle but still doing a pretty good of recalling the when, how and who, if not quite the why of the era. It’s also a true treasure for comics and music fans if they weren’t actually there: one to resonate with all those probably still quite angry and disaffected veteran kids who love to listen, look and wonder what if..?
© 2024 Editions Petit as Petit. © 2025 NBM for the English translation.

Punk Rock in Comics will be published on 18th March. 2025 and is available for pre-order now. NBM books are also available in digital editions. For more information and other great reads see http://www.nbmpub.com/

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Women Discoverers: 20 Top Women in Science


By Marie Moinard & Christelle Pecout, translated by Montana Kane (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-68112-270-0 (Album HB) eISBN: 978-1-68112-271-7

Comics and graphic novels have an inconceivable power to deliver information in readily accessible form, and – exactly like all the best human teachers – do so in ways that are fascinating, fun and therefore unforgettable. Here’s a crucial past highpoint in a wave of historical and biographical visual celebrations seeking to redress centuries of gender injustice while providing true life role models for coming generations… if we have any.

Crafted by writer, editor and journalist Marie Moinard (En chemin elle recontre, La petite vieille du Vendredi) & Christelle Pecout (Lune d’Ombre, Hypathie, Histoires et légendes normandes), Les découvreuses is a cheery compendium made comprehensible to us via translation into English by the fine folk at NBM. As the name suggests, Women Discoverers focuses on 20 NOT MALE scientists and researchers who generally sans fanfare, or even fair credit, changed the world. Some are thankfully still doing so.

A combination of comics vignettes and short illustrated data epigrams preceded by an impassioned Introduction from Marie-Sophie Pawlak (President of the Elles Bougent scientific society), the revelations begin with an extended strip history citing some of the achievements of the peerless Marie Curie – whose discoveries in chemistry and physics practically reinvented the planet. She is followed by brief vignettes of French biologist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (discoverer of the HIV retrovirus), Canadian physicist Donna Théo Strickland (laser amplification) and African-American Dorothy Vaughan whose mathematical and computing skills served the world at NASA.

It’s back to comics for Ada Lovelace who revolutionized mathematics and invented computer programming, after which single page biographies describe the achievements of and lengths undertaken by French mathematician Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet AKA Émilie du Châtelet to attend men-only institutions in the days of the Enlightenment, before writing world-changing philosophical magnum opus Institutions de Physique.

Although separated by centuries, mathematicians Emmy Noether (Germany 1882-1935) and Niger-born Grace Alele-Williams (December 16th 1932 to March 25, 2022) both excelled and triumphed despite male opposition, but their stories pale beside the strip-delivered hardships of screen star, engineer, plastic surgeon and computing/mobile phone/internet pioneer Hedy Lamarr…

Another Nasa stalwart, mathematician/astrophysicist Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson, famously calculated Apollo 11’s life-saving orbit, while paediatrician Marthe Gautier discovered the origins of Downs’ Syndrome. Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani’s geometry discoveries were tragically cut short by illness, whilst the shameful treatment and fate of British researcher Rosalind Franklin also ended in unjust sidelining, a cruelly early death and belated fame, unlike French mathematician, philosopher and physicist Sophie Germain whose many (posthumous) triumphs never brought her inclusion in the numerous scientific organisations barring female membership during her lifetime and far beyond it…

Whereas Marie Curie’s daughter Iréne Joliot-Curie won similar accolades to her mother, astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered pulsars, only to have her (male) supervisor steal the credit. At least she’s still alive to see the record set straight and reap belated fame and awards (go Google Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell to see a rare happy ending)…

In pictorial form, astronaut Mae Jemison reveals her life and medical successes on Earth, before this potent paean closes with a trio of one-page wonders: Kevlar inventor Stephanie Kwolek, Navy mathematician Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (writer of the notorious, ubiquitous and utterly essential programming language COBOL) and Chinese chemist Xie Yi, whose advances in nanotechnology are still making the world a very different place.

Sure, you could ride a search engine to learn about them all, but this book is a far more satisfying and charming alternative and the very fact that you probably haven’t heard of most of these astounding innovators – or even a few of the more ancient ones – only proves why you need this book.
© 2019 Blue Lotus Prod. © 2021 NBM for the English translation.

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Willie Nelson: A Graphic History – softcover edition


By T.J. Kirsch, Adam Walmsley, Jeremy Massie, Jason Pittman, Håvard S. Johansen, J.T. Yost, Coşkun Kuzgun, Jesse Lonergan, & various (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-68112-332-5 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-68112-263-2

I live a pretty blessed life these days. I love history and am addicted to comics and many of the best ones are just sent to me. The present trend is to combine both of my passions in graphic biographies – or even autobiographies. Our European cousins have pretty much collared the market on the former, with a range of personal histories featuring the great, the good and especially the extremely cool, but today we’re happily revisiting via a nifty, thrifty paperback and All-American(ish) confection that deftly hits that elusive sweet spot.

Whether you’re a fan or not of the music, you can’t deny the tenacity and enormous spirit of musician, writer, actor, filmmaker and activist Willie Nelson… the outsider’s outsider.

Utilising the talents of a group of indie artists, writer T.J. Kirsch has compiled an effective, effusive and moving monochrome testament to the troubadour’s talent, determination and resilience, which begins in 1933 in ‘Hill County, Texas’.

Rendered throughout in evocative, dried & dusty monochrome, the history begins with Coşkun Kuzgun detailing a hard life for a young boy wedded to mischief and addicted to music.

As they grew, Willie and sister Bobbie became local celebrities – but not rich ones – through performing, so he began a career in radio, using the opportunity to plug his own material. Never finding that elusive hit, Willie joined the Air Force in 1951, serving until a persistent back injury forced him out of the armed forces, just in time to stumble into matrimony. ‘A Humble Picker’ (limned by Jeremy Massie) traces that tempestuous relationship and Willie’s attempts to feed his family in and out of showbiz, before sliding back into disc jockeying and discovering marijuana…

The slow painful climb begins in Håvard S. Johansen’s ‘Country Willie’, continues in ‘Grinding Away’ (Jesse Lonergan) and culminates in professional breakthroughs and personal breakdowns in ‘Austin, Texas’ (art by Jason Pittman) as 1970 sees the true commencement of the legend…

J.T. Yost then depicts a life hard-lived but well worth the effort in ‘Honeysuckle Rose’ before the saga sparkles to a close – for now – in the all-T.J. Kirsch chapter ‘Elder Statesman’, revealing that music and legends just keep on going. That’s where the 2020 edition ended but here an ‘Epilogue’ by Kirsch catches us up, detailing the COVID days, “Sister Bobbie” Nelson’s passing and the outlaw gigs where Willie – well into his 90’s – still commands attention and applause. As of 20 minutes ago, and as far as I know, Willie’s still going strong…

Another addition is a bonus feature going behind-the-scenes into the book’s genesis and completion, complete with deleted pages, studies and sketches, embellished with creator commentary to back up original extras including Intro, Outro, Chapter and Endpaper illustrations by Adam Walmsley, ‘Bibliography’ and ‘Song Credits’ listing. This is an immensely likable pictorial testament that feels like a journey shared with a most interesting stranger. You may or may not like the music – yet – but you’ll be unable to not love the indomitable, irrepressible man.
© 2020 T.J. Kirsch. All rights reserved and managed by NBM Publishing, Inc.

Most NBM books are also available in digital formats. For more information and other great reads see NBM Graphic Novels

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Django, Hand on Fire: The Great Django Reinhardt


By Salva Rubio & Efa, translated by Matt Madden (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-68112-287-8 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-68112-288-5

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

The world has now formally and officially gone to hell in a handcart, so how about some soothing, jolly music – or at least some comics about that music?

Publisher NBM’s line of European-originated biographies never fails to delight, with this oversized luxury hardcover (also available in digital formats) one of the most engaging thus far: skilfully deconstructing – when not actually aiding and adding to – the myths and legends surrounding a top contender for the title of greatest guitar player of all time…

Django, Hand on Fire rewardingly reunites award-winning screenwriter, historian and novelist Salva Rubio (Max; The Photographer of Mauthausen) with animator/illustrator Ricard Fenandez (AKA Efa of Les Icariades; Rodriguez; L’Âme du Vin; Le Soldat). Their other collaborations are also beautiful biographies – Monet: Itinerant of Light and Degas & Cassatt: A Solitary Dance.

Originally released in France, the translated story of Django, main de feu is preceded here by an introductory prose appraisal from Thomas Dutronc before a stunning confection of painterly images traces the life of the troubled and unfortunate Roma musician from his fraught birth in a frozen field in Belgium to his second birth and reunion with the true love he threw away and found again. That natal moment was in 1910 as his father and the other itinerant performers of their tribe were eking out a wage entertaining outworlders.

By 1922, the troupe were resident in Paris’ “Zone”: an enclave for “his sort” where social outcasts like gypsies could reside until posh folks found a use for them. The lad was cocky and troublesome, an arrogant illiterate born for mischief but blessed with astounding musical skill. His life turned around when his mama acquired a six-string banjo for him and all his energies suddenly refocussed on mastering music. Soon Django was making money – and losing it gambling – even before he was considered a man…

Still an emotional child, he became the star of a professional (adult) band but his actions and attitude lost him many friends and family and ultimately the girl who adored him: Irma AKA Naguine. She faithfully trailed in his wake as producers and record publishers tracked the young man and watched in resignation as he succumbed to the shining blonde glory of faux flower artisan Florine/Bella. Naguine left the Zone entirely when Django and the flower girl wed, but swore to return…

The musician’s meteoric rise stalled only as he awaited his first child’s birth. As they slept in their wagon, it caught fire and although Bella got out, Django was badly burned on his legs and left hand. How – driven by his formidable mother – he battled back to overcome his life-changing injuries and, by changing his style, mastered another instrument, found undying fame and finally realized where his true love lay is a fabulous (if not strictly accurate) tale to warm the heart and gladden the eyes…

The pictorial paean to persistence and testament to passion is supported by a Bibliography and Creator Biographies plus ‘Django Reinhardt, from mystery to legend… In the light of History’: a fulsome, copiously-illustrated essay detailing the author’s factual choices and path to this particular truth, categorised and examined in ‘A mythical birth’; ‘The Zone’; ‘An interloper in the world of bal-musette’, ‘J’ai deux amours: Naguine and …le jass…’, ‘The Cross of Blood…’; ‘…and the fiery flowers’; ‘Hospital for the Poor’ and ‘Hand on fire’…

Sparkling and inspirational, this is treat for every music historian and intrigued dilettante: a beguiling magic window into another world and one you should seek out tout de suite…
© DUPUIS 2020 by Rubio, Efa. All rights reserved.

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Ginette Kolinka Adieu Birkenau


By Ginette Kolinka, JDMorvan & Victor Matet, Cesc & Efa, Roger, Tal Bruttmann & various; translated by Edward Gauvin (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-91422-423-2 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: An Awful Truth That Must Be Told… 8/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

With its world-shaking reordering of society and all the consequent, still-felt repercussions of the rise of fascism and (hopefully) temporary triumph of totalitarianism, World War II – and the apparently ongoing/slowly gaining momentum third one – remain very much in people’s minds. I fear current events may well be inviting the world to revisit and reemphasise those hard learned lessons in the months and years to come…

The role of history in avoiding repeating past mistakes has never been more crucial and -thanks to brave and talented individuals and a trend for biographical and autobiographical sequential narratives – better armed than now. One chilling yet charming case in point is this testament, detailing the life and work of a Frenchwoman who survived Nazi concentration camps and enjoyed a “normal” life before latterly dedicating her last years to educating the world and preventing the reoccurrence we’re all anticipating today…

Born in February 1925, Parisian Ginette Kolinka (nee Cherkasky) enjoyed an unexceptional early life within a large, loving, non-religious Jewish family. That changed in 1940 when the Nazis took over. Fleeing across the divided nation (half under direct German administration and half under the puppet “Vichy” regime), Ginette and her kin were inevitably captured, processed through a methodically inhuman system and sent to Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and Birkenau. Ginette somehow survived as so very many did not and was liberated in May 1945.

She returned to France, married and remained silent about what she endured for fifty years, but was convinced by other Shoah survivors to share her experiences – particularly with school children. Kolinka became a tireless and passionate “ambassador for the memory” of those dark days and actions. Her efforts have been acknowledged with fame and numerous accolades, including a knighthood from (and eventual officer status in) the Legion of Honour, and appointment as commander of the Ordre des Palmes académiques for services to education.

Kolinka is a major force in spreading awareness of atrocity and in 2022 her life and achievements became this engaging and compelling graphic tome thanks to writers JDMorvan & Victor Matet, illustrators Cesc & Efa and colourist Roger. Rather than further précising Kolinka’s amazing story, I’ll just say that the tone seamlessly switches from sweetly engaging to appallingly chilling (and back again) with deft ease and the narrative conceit of contrasting flashbacks of Ginette’s historical recollections with a present day trip back to camp with a group of modern-day schoolchildren is shockingly effective and powerfully evocative.

Adding academic vigour and heartbreaking veracity, the tale is appended by Tal Bruttmann’s pictorial essay ‘Ginette Kolinka: A Survivor’s Story’, detailing everything from Paris under Nazi occupation to life in the camps, supplemented by photos, sketches, recovered artefacts and family memorabilia.

This tale is a potent counterpoint to the usual shock-&-bombast approach, devoting as much time to showing how far we’ve come and what we all stand to lose if those days and attitudes are allowed to resurface. Adieu Birkenau reveals how inhumanity, stupidity and simple evil can only be defeated by endurance and will. Here, we see acknowledgment of the nigh-universally disregarded contributions of women caught up in the conflict, and how the way to win against monsters is to not to be like them and never let them win.
© Éditions Albin Michel Départment bande dessinée, 2023. All rights reserved.

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Audrey Hepburn


By Michelle Botton, Dorilys Giacchetto & various, translated by Nanette McGuiness (NBM
ISBN: 978-1-68112-346-2 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-68112-347-9

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: An Elegant Invitation to Enjoy Finer Things… 8/10

A few years back publisher NBM struck pure gold with a line of European-originated contemporary arts histories and dramatized graphic biographies. This one is a gently moving but deceptively sharp peek at one of cinema’s most beloved icons and a very human star we all think we know…

As first revealed in a candid introduction from her second son Lucca Dotti, ‘Everyone has their own Audrey’, and what follows is a sweetly beguiling account that seeks to show the crushing lack of confidence that did not hold back a young wannabe dancer who eventually took the world by storm. Her hard work, lucky breaks, hard work, captivated mentors, unwise affairs, helpful and hindering men, hard work, recurring family tragedies and sheer determination are meticulously explored as the ingenue starlet navigates the most momentous period of social change women have ever experienced.

The lonely girl’s film and stage works are deconstructed and assessed through Audrey’s own harshly judging eyes, as are her relationships, and – in the end, just like a movie – the right ending finally occurs…

This is very much a classic rags-to-riches account, fetchingly rendered by Dorilys Giacchetto (Blind Date, Storie di vittime innocenti di Mafia, Idromele), who adds by turns sparkle and poignancy to the complex, almost accidental stellar stardom of meek yet resolute Audrey Hepburn. Detailed by writer Michele Botton (Abe Sada, il fiore osceno, Bukowski, Hotel Mezzanotte, Pink Future) what we want and expect to see all show up, paving the way for surprises and twists no one could foresee…

Bracketed by a ‘Prologue’ and ‘Epilogue’ focussed on Hepburn’s real passion – her work with children for UNICEF – and summed in ‘My Audrey by Michele Botton’, this easy breezy life story also offers academic rigour in ‘Essential Filmography, Book and Documentaries’ listings, resulting in a sweet confection any fan would by overjoyed to own.
© BelloGiallo2023. © 2024 NBM for the English version.

Most NBM books are also available in digital formats so for more information and other great reads see http://www.nbmpub.com/

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Madame Choi and the Monsters – A True Story


By Sheree Domingo & Patrick Spät translated by Michael Waaler (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-91422-422-5 (PB/Digital editions) 1-5389-469-6 (softcover)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Miss at Your Peril… 9/10

Throughout the entire post-WWII Cold War era, the arena of drama and fiction was packed with tales of espionage, abduction and impossible love blossoming amidst and against totalitarian odds and opposition. It was a potent life-enhancing trope expressing the hope of better days to come and an undying symbol of how the human spirit will always overcome. There were countless movies made about it…

And then one day, the whole wide world discovered that this had happened…

Freelance writer/editor Dr. Patrick Spät studied philosophy, sociology and literary history in some of Germany’s finest educational establishments, subsequently specialising in socio-political and historical fare. He lives in Berlin – itself no stranger to this kind of yarn – and in 2019 won great acclaim with his graphic novel Der König der Vagabunden (The King of the Vagabonds).

His collaborator on this award winning slice of graphics reportage is Sheree Domingo. After studying at the Kunsthochschule in Kassel and Luca School of Arts in Brussels she began working life as a cartoonist. With impressive graphic novels such as Ferngespräch (Long Distance Call) under her belt, she joined Dr. Spät for this sublime slice of secret history and delivered Madame Choi und die Monster: a masterpiece of modern German expressionist unreal politik…

Employing wild and compellingly emphatic illustration, a limited but vivid colour palette and by dividing events into short scenes across multiple levels of storytelling, Madame Choi and the Monsters – A True Story details the appallingly eventful life of Korean (I’m deliberately not saying North or South here) film star and screen legend Choi Eun-hee.

An abused woman and mother who rose to national stardom despite the men in her life, she fell foul of draconian censorship in the anti-Communist South and was, in 1978, abducted by film fanatic/totalitarian dictator Kim Jong-il. Kidnapped to make wonderful movies for the personal edification of “The Dear Leader” and uplifting of the North Korean people, Madame Choi survived re-education and was eventually joined by the least abusive of her husbands, producer/director/filmmaker Shin Sang-ok. Although divorced from Choi, he had immediately started investigating her disappearance… until the North Koreans snapped him up too. Transported, tortured, exploited and ultimately and reteamed with his muse, he feels old emotions stirring…

Before long the legendary cinema duo are making more movies… but with the right budget, message, and motivation…

How that happened, what the result was and how the couple dramatically made it back from behind the bamboo curtain is interspersed with a comics adaptation (or at least an estimated interpretation built from notes and accounts) of the cinema’s couple’s greatest achievement – a no-holds-barred remake of feudal rebellion/monster epic Pulsagari. The flick is reputed to be a lost classic, but we’ll never probably know as no copies remain in existence… except apparently for those reels confiscated and treasured by the Dear Leader in his private film hoard.

Smart witty, shocking, compelling, romantic and, to be frank, just a bit terrifying, Madame Choi and the Monsters is augmented by a fully detailed ‘Chronology’ of events capping off a brilliant tale of how strange life, love and obsession can be. This is a treat no thinking funnybook fan should miss.
© Edition Moderne / Sheree Domingo & Patrick Spät 2022. All rights reserved.

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Agatha – The Real Life of Agatha Christie


By Anne Martinetti, Guillaume Lebeau & Alexandre Franc translated by Edward Gauvin (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-91059-311-0 (TPB/Digital edition)

This year celebrates 125 years since the birth of Agatha Christie and it’s rather odd to think that someone so quintessentially English, purportedly old-fashioned and adamantly upper (middle) class can belong to the entire world, but in the case of Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan DBE it’s inescapably true.

Anointed both “Queen of Crime” and “Queen of Mystery” she remains the author of the world’s longest continually running play – The Mouse Trap – and is officially Earth’s best-selling fiction author. Moreover, she was Really Quite Good at her job and if you’re the one who hasn’t read her yet, just get on with it: you are letting the side down most dreadfully…

Her literary appeal and plotting ingenuity, as most effectively expressed throughout this pictorial perambulation via metafictional icons Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple (and many other creations (such as Tommy & Tuppence, Mr. Parker Pyne, Harlequin and Ariadne Oliver), is truly global and inspires generations of readers every day.

Such can be seen in her own fictive alter ego Ariadne Oliver and the many other depictions of the author-as-investigator, as seen in graphic novels like The Detection Club or this bold offering from France blending incontrovertible fact with rational deduction, wild extrapolation and delicious speculative fantasy on the manner of highly polished professional Fan Fic…

Agatha – La vraie vie d’Agatha Christie was co-written by author/Editor Anne Martinetti (Creams and Punishments) and author/documentarian/graphic novelist Guillaume Lebeau (Crimes on Ice). Beguilingly illustrated by Alexandre Franc (Victor et l’Ourours, Mai 68: Histoire d’un Printemps, Le Satellites, Cher Régis Debray), it was released in 2014 and made it into English as Agatha – The Real Life of Agatha Christie two years later.

Telling tales within tales, it takes as its starting point the infamous but true “lady vanishes” incident from December 1926 and from that event weaves a mesmerising tapestry exploring the childhood and early unsettled existence of Agatha Miller and the stellar life – or lives – she ultimately made with the sweat of her brow…

That only really began after extricating herself from an extremely troubled marriage to dashing pilot-turned-failed-businessman Archibald Christie…

Although this story is awash in fact, drenched in detail and delivered with compelling charm I’m not sharing much of that with you: magnanimously opting to let readers enjoy the unfolding and infinitely re-readable glee of seeing a true world – if not real life – enigma peeled back before your very eyes, whilst all around you some of the most captivating character-play and psychological analysis ever concocted holds the attention and hopefully tickles your little grey cells…

Playfully messing with chronology we see her life and death, disappearance and rise to dominance, capacity to forward-plan, wild adventurous life and loves as well as possibly peeking within, thanks to beguiling tête-à-têtes between Agatha and her great, incisive, pitilessly unforgiving and inescapably present totemic creations…

All the compelling speculation on events, triggers and their aftermath are bolstered by a lengthy and comprehensive Appendices section, containing an extremely complete Timeline of her eventful life, backed up with a mammoth Bibliography of her many, many, so many books and plays…

A sublimely visual examination of the world’s most accomplished wordsmith, Agatha – The Real Life of Agatha Christie pulls off the near impossible trick of using a picture book to make literature irresistible. Surely you need to see for yourself?
© Hachette Livre (Marabout) Paris 2014. All rights reserved.

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Pink Floyd in Comics


By Nicolas Finet, Tony Lourenço, Thierry Lamy, Céheu, Samuel Figuiére, Alex Imé, Abdel de Bruxelles, Joël Alessandra, Gilles Pascal, Christelle Pécout, Antoine Pédron, Léah Touitou, Yvan Ojo, Toru Terada, Christopher, Antoane Rivalan, Martin Texier, Martin Trystram, Romain Brun, Will Argunas, Estelle Meyrand, Fred Grivaud, Georges Chapelle, Chandre, Kongkee, Christophe Kourita, Juliette Boutant, Afuro Pixe, Lauriane Rérolle, Pierre Vrignaud , Mathilde d’Alençon, Emmanuel Bonnet & various: translated by Peter Russella (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-68112-336-3 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-68112-337-0

Graphic biographies are all the rage these days and this one – originally released on the continent in 2016 – is one of the most comprehensively researched and emotionally rewarding that I’ve seen yet: part of NBM’s Music Star in Comics series guaranteed to appeal to a far larger audience than comics usually reach. It certainly deserves to and might make a perfect gift if any of us make it to the Great December fun-fest/Gig in the Sky…

If you’ve never heard of Pink Floyd there may not be much point in you carrying on past this point, but if you are open to having your mind blown visually whilst visiting wild spaces, please carry on and perhaps invest some time and effort into checking out the music too…

Still with us? Okay then…

As if cannily re-presented popular culture factoids and snippets of celebrity history – accompanied by a treasure trove of candid photographs, song lyrics, posters and other memorabilia – aren’t enough to whet your appetite, this addition to the annals of arguably the most creative and conflicted assemblage of musicians ever bundled in the back of a tour bus also offers vital and enticing extra enticements.

Author, filmmaker, journalist, publisher, educator, translator/music documentarian Nicolas Finet has worked in comics over three decades: generating a bucketload of reference works – such as Mississippi Ramblin’ and Forever Woodstock. He adds to his graphic history tally (Prince in Comics; Love Me Please – The Story of Janis Joplin 1943-1970 and David Bowie in Comics) with this deep dive into the crazed career of the ultimate cosmic explorers and rebellious cultural pioneers. His scripts of the comics vignettes compiled here are limned by international strip artists, providing vividly vibrant key moments in the band’s progress, with each augmented by photo/prose feature articles by Tony (Prince in Comics) Lourenço on chapters #1-14 and Thierry (David Bowie in Comics) Lamy for chapters #15-28.

The ever-growing show starts small and quite quietly in ‘1962-1967: Psychedelia and Light Shows’, as envisioned by Céheu with the meeting of school chums and enthusiastic Blues lovers in Cambridge. Roger Waters, Dave Gilmour and Roger “Syd” Barrett were all middle-class intellectual teens certain of succeeding in life – although no strangers to personal tragedy. However, as they progressed educationally and moved towards London – meeting Rick Wright and Nick Mason on the way – Music increasingly stole their souls…

Illustrated by Samuel Figuiére, the new band was making waves by 1965 and awash in the euphoria of first gigs by ‘1967: Dazzling Beginnings’: even taking on ardent fans Peter Jenner and Andrew King as their managers whilst they mixed fantasy, science fiction concepts and art school psychology with Avant Garde lighting effects in increasingly expansive live performances…

Alex Imé and colourist Mathilde d’Alençon depict ‘1968: A New Team’ as Mason, Waters, Wright & Syd capped off a perfect start with hit singles Arnold Layne and See Emily Play with a breakthrough album Piper at the Gates of Dawn, as creative touchstone Barratt butted heads with dogmatic recording bosses and labels. Soon drugs, pressure and his own shaky mental health would push Syd into relinquishing touch with reality…

After introducing Storm Thorgerson and design specialists Hipgnosis (a lifelong secret weapon in Floyd’s conceptual arsenal), Abdel de Bruxelles’ ‘1967-1968: Syd Barrett, A Genius Struck Down’ reveals how a Rock & Roll lifestyle irreparably damaged the fragile genius who was the soul of the group and what happened with him after he left, whilst Joël Alessandra illuminates the next stage of the band’s creative growth in ‘1969 – Pink Floyd at the Movies: MORE’…

Hungry to prove their creative worth and collaborative ethic, the unstoppable rise of the band is further explored in ‘1969 – A Record or Two’ by Gilles Pascal, whilst less happy film fun manifests in Christelle Pécout’s ‘1970 – Pink Floyd at the Movies: ZABRISKIE POINT’.

Internationally renowned, critically adored and hugely popular across the globe, a string of hit albums and monster tours are detailed (as Dave Gilmour returns to the line-up) in Antoine Pédron’s ‘1970 – A Cow and a Full Orchestra’ and ‘1971 – Welcome to Trippy Rock’ by Léah Touitou. Then Yvan Ojo shares the story of the world’s weirdest live gig in ‘1971 – A Day in Pompeii’, before Toru Terada depicts another astounding art-driven side project in ‘1972 – Pink Floyd at the Movies: OBSCURED BY CLOUDS’…

The band’s world was about to change forever, even as internal dissent heralded a moment to pause and reflect. Christopher’s oblique approach illustrates ‘1973 – A Lunar Journey in the Form of Cosmic Validation’ as 8th album The Dark Side of the Moon elevated Pink Floyd to another level of success… and pressure.

This is counterpointed by Antoane Rivalan’s flashback moment ‘1967-1994 – Hipgnosis: Music to Look At’ and further revelations regarding Thorgerson and his designers before Martin Texier focuses on what true innovators do once they’ve done everything in ‘1971-1974 – Wavering: The Household Objects’. The answer for the group was individual endeavours and looking backwards as ‘1975 – Wish You Were Here’ by Martin Trystram honoured old mate Syd, just as internal tensions were peaking…

For years deeply politicised, antiwar activist Roger Waters had been seeking to appoint himself leader of a creative collective that didn’t want one, and his campaign to take charge – which eventually ruptured the band – really began with ‘1977 – Dogs, Sheep, Pigs’ as captured by Romain Brun. Incensed by the Falklands War but creating masterpieces despite breaking childhood bonds as seen in Will Argunas’ ‘1979-1982 – The Wall’ (album, tour and movie), the inevitable occurred in Estelle Meyrand’s ‘1983 – Break Up’…

Dark days of dissolution and dispute are exposed in ‘1985 – The Great Beanpole Throws in the Towel’ by Fred Grivaud, ‘1987 – Pink Floyd Rolls the Dice Again’ by Georges Chapelle and Terada’s tour overview ‘1966-2005 – Absolutely Live’.

Reconciliatory moments triggered by time apart are seen in ‘1994 – Recapturing the Magic’ (by Chandre, coloured by Emmanuel Bonnet) as work on new album The Division Bell leads to the surviving but separate players partially reuniting for Kongkee’s ‘1996 – In the Pantheon of Rock’ before political protest movement Live 8 brought them together as seen in Christophe Kourita’s ‘1996-2005 – On the Back Burner’.

As friends and old enemies passed away with increasing frequency, their era’s end is acknowledged by Juliette Boutant in ‘2006-2012 – To its Dead, a Grateful Pink Floyd’ and Afuro Pixe’s ‘2014 – One More for the Road’, with speculative appraisal coming in ‘1967-2014 – Four Inspired Boys’ by Lauriane Rérolle and an exploration of legacy visualised in Pierre Vrignaud’s ‘2015-Infinity – Pink Floyd’s Children’…

This compelling and remarkable catalogue of cultural heritage and achievement concludes with Pink Floyd’s Discography (including all solo and off-brand releases), listings of Films, DVD, and Videos, Websites of Note, Bibliography and Recommended Reading plus a copious Acknowledgements section.

Pink Floyd in Comics is an astoundingly readable, beautifully realised treasure for comics and music fans alike: one to resonate with all who love to listen, look and fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way…
© 2022 Editions Petit as Petit. © 2024 NBM for the English translation.

Pink Floyd in Comics will be published on 13th August. 2024 and is available for pre-order now. NBM books are also available in digital editions. For more information and other great reads see http://www.nbmpub.com/

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Glorious Summers volume 3: Little Miss Esterel (1962)


By Zidrou & Jordi Lafebre with additional colour by Mado Peña, translated by Lara Vergnaud (Europe Comics)
No ISBN: Digital edition only

Until comparatively recently, comics in the English-speaking world mostly countenanced comedic or numerous adventure sub-genres (crime, superhero, horror, sci fi), with only a small but vital niche of “real world” ventures, and those usually depicted via graphic biographies/autobiographies like They Called Us Enemy, Love on the Isle of Dogs, Wage Slaves or Sour Pickles offering a different feel and flavour. Even historical sagas were treated as extraordinary moments with larger-than-life characters whenever possible.

What we have never had – and still largely don’t outside small press/self-publishing – is a comics equivalent to general fiction, drama and melodrama. That’s not so in Japan, South Korea or Europe, where a literal “anything goes” attitude has always accommodated and nurtured human-scaled, slice-of-life tales with ordinary folk in as many quiet as extraordinary moments.

Surely it can’t be that hard to tell engaging stories in simple, recognisably ordinary settings? Medical traumas, love stories, school tales and family tragedies still play well on various-sized screens around the world, so why not in English-language comics?

People being people is more than enough for our continental cousins. There appears to be an insatiable appetite for everyday moments aimed at properly “mature readers”, joyfully sans vampires, aliens or men in tights. These even have sub-genres all their own. For example, there’s a wealth of superb material just about going on holiday. So, since we Brits are all too broke for any jaunts or une petite vacances in Europe, let’s stare covetously at them having a good time. After all, Over There holidays are an inalienable right and they have some simply fabulous tales about the simple well-earned break. This one comes from one of the best series on taking it easy you will ever see …

An absolute exemplar of fantasy vacations made real, Glorious Summers: Southbound! (1973) was a nostalgia-drenched confection by Zidrou and regular collaborator Jordi Lafebre: a sublime example of idyllic group memory made into graphic sorcery in an everyday account utterly unafraid to temper humorous sweetness and light with real-world tragedy and suspense.

Would sir et madame care for a soupçon of context? Summer holidays – “Midi” – are a big deal in France and Belgium. The French divide into two tribes over the annual rest period, which generally lasts an entire month. Juilletistes only vacation in July, wielding dogmatic facts like rapiers to prove why it’s the only way to take a break. They are eternally opposed, heart, soul, and suntan lotion, by majority faction the Aoûtiens, who recharge their batteries in August whilst fully reciprocating the suspicion, disdain and baffled scorn of the early-leavers. Many European sociologists claim the greatest social division today is not race, religion, gender, political affiliation or whether to open boiled eggs from the top or the bottom, but when summer holidays begin and end…

Les Beaux Étés 1: Cap au Sud! was first in a string of family visits – six so far – that began in 2015 courtesy of scripter Benoît “Zidrou” Drousie and Spanish illustrator Jordi Lafebre. Drousie is Belgian, Brussels-born in 1962 and was a school teacher prior to becoming a teller of tales in 1990. His main successes include school dunce series L’Elève Ducobu, Petit Dagobert, Scott Zombi, La Ribambelle, Le Montreur d’histoires, a revival of Ric Hochet, African Trilogy, Léonardo, Shi and so many more. His most celebrated and beloved stories are this memorable sequence and 2010’s Lydie, both illustrated by Lafebre.

That gifted, empathically sensitive artist and teacher was born in Barcelona in 1979 and has created comics professionally since 2001, first for magazines like Mister K, where he limned Toni Font’s El Mundo de Judy. He found regular work at Le Journal de Spirou, creating the romance Always Never and collaborated with Zidrou on La vieille dame qui n’avait jamais joué au tennis et autres nouvelles qui font du bien, Lydie, and La Mondaine.

A combination of feel-good fable and powerful comedy drama, Glorious Summers depicts memories of an aging couple recalling their grandest family moments, beginning with a momentous vacation in 1973 where their four kids nearly lost their parents. The general progress is backwards, as the second tale – The Calanque – was set in summer of 1969, when heavily pregnant Maddie Faldérault (imminently about to deliver precociously hyperactive Paulette AKA “Peaches”) once again had her holiday start late thanks to an inescapable deadline. Husband Pierre is a comics artist and every summer break begins with him frantically trying to complete enough pages to take the time off…

That time it left Maddie coping with three impatient kids (oldest girl Jolly-Julie, dangerously forthright Nicole and introspective toddler Louis) and a newly-bereaved and lonely Spanish father-in-law…

Here, however, third volume Mam’zelle Estérel (translated for this criminally digital-only-edition as Little Miss Esterel) starts in the present day before setting the wayback machine to August 1962. Papa and Mama Faldérault are finally selling the faithful Renaut 4L Hatchback which carried their ever-expanding family south to the sun for three memorable decades.

It’s not that she’s clapped out or knackered – in fact the vehicle is in immaculate condition. She has been lovingly cared for and is a valuable collector’s item! – it’s only that Peaches is all grown up now and the last chick preparing to leave the nest, so plucky, steadfast “Little Miss Esterel” deserves an owner who will keep her on the road and having adventures…

Of course, the transaction is charged with sentiment and sparks a flood of memories, and the scene shifts to 1969. Recently a mum for the second time, Maddie shepherds her two kids (toddler Jolly-Julie AKA “Zulie” and 6-month-old Nicole) and idiot husband. It’s four days into the big holiday, and he’s just finishing the emergency pages his abusive “named-creator” boss Garin just dropped on him.

The scenario is particularly aggravating as Maddie’s martinet mother Yvette LeGrand and long-suffering, still-recuperating cardiac-case dad are staying with them. Having bought the young marrieds a car for family vacations, the snooty dowager has invited herself and gluttonous heart-attack survivor Henry (dubbed forever after “Fat Pop Pop” by Zulie) along on their eagerly-anticipated premier camping trip.

Sadly, grandmama’s haughty convictions and stern diktats don’t just extend to how badly Madeleine is raising her children, how stupid Pierre’s job is or what Henry can eat, drink or do. Before long she hijacks the déclassé sun, sea-&-picnic worshippers’ dreams: sternly inflicting upon them all a succession of hotels, restaurants and churches (all Michelin-starred!) for their own good and ultimate edification…

Inevitably the situation is too much even for easy-going Pierre and poor historically-dominated Maddie… but then something small but wonderful happens to change and even explain those harsh years when Yvette raised her daughter all alone; and Pierre philosophically accepts that the Sun and Sea will always be there, but some things won’t…

Packed with heart, honest emotion and tons of pure sitcom comedy gold, this tale is another beautifully rendered and realised basket of memories stitched seamlessly together. It’s funny, sweet and charming whilst delivering painful blows you never see coming. There aren’t any spectacular events and shocking crises and that’s the entire point…

If you’re British – and old enough – this series will stir echoes of revered family sitcoms like Bless This House, Bread, or Butterflies and even generational ads starring the “Oxo Family” (and if that description doesn’t fit you, I pity your browsing history if you look up any of that…). The rest of you in need of an opening (but unfair) comparator might break out the Calvin and Hobbes collections and re-examine the bits with his embattled parents when the kid’s out of the picture…

Lyrical, laconic, engagingly demure, debilitatingly nostalgic but unafraid to grasp any nettles on the beach, this holiday romance is another dose of sheer visual seduction wrapped in sharp dialogue and a superbly anarchic sense of mischief. Vacations are built of moments and might-have-beens, and come packaged here in compelling clips all making the mundane marvellous.
© 2018 -DARGAUD BENELUX (Dargaud-Lombard s.a.) – ZIDROU & LEFEBRE, LLC. All rights reserved.