{"id":27925,"date":"2023-04-30T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=27925"},"modified":"2023-04-26T11:57:16","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T11:57:16","slug":"queen-in-comics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/04\/30\/queen-in-comics\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen in Comics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Emmanuel Marie<\/strong> (narrative) & Sophie Blitman (articles)<\/strong>; illustrated by Bast<\/strong>, Riccardo Randazzo<\/strong>, C\u00e9line Olive<\/strong>, Antonio Campofredano<\/strong>, Samuel Wambre<\/strong>, Julien Huggonard-Bert<\/strong>, Lauriane R\u00e9rolle<\/strong>, Jean-Jacques Dzialowski<\/strong>, Alex-Im\u00e9<\/strong>, Francesco Colafella<\/strong>, Samuel Figui\u00e9re<\/strong>, Antoine P\u00e9dron<\/strong>, Arnaud Jouffroy<\/strong>, Toni Cittadini<\/strong>, Carmelo Zagaria<\/strong>, Fran\u00e7ois Foyard<\/strong>, Paulo Loreto<\/strong>, Dario Formisani<\/strong>, Nicol\u00f2 Laporini<\/strong>, Luigi Ziteli<\/strong>, Enzo Gosselin<\/strong> & various: translated by Christopher Pope <\/strong>(NBM)
\nISBN: 978-1-68112-311-0 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-68112-312-7<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time for another stunning rock biography: released continentally in 2021 but which will certainly appeal to readers all over the English-speaking world. Another entry in NBM\u2019s superb \u201c\u2026in Comics\u201d<\/strong> sub-strand, it unlocks and unleashes the history of another musical sensation that shook the planet, focussing in particular (how could you not?) on a unique performer who changed popular culture and modern society\u2026<\/p>\n

Gathered in this fetching account are context-providing, photo-packed essays bracketing individual comics sections. Here chronological article researched and documented by French journalist\/educator Sophie Blitman<\/strong> and sociologist\/graphic novelist Emmanuel Marie<\/strong> dramatise those dry facts for a horde of artists to spectacularly realise in comics vignettes\u2026<\/p>\n

Our baroque journey begins with the scene stealing front-man as \u2018Farrokh\u2019s Childhood\u2019 – <\/em>limned by Riccardo Randazzo and fleshed out by colourist Luigi Ziteli – views the schooldays of Farrokh Bulsara<\/em> (September 5th<\/sup> 1946 – November 24th<\/sup> 1991) leaving his childhood home in the British Protectorate of Zanzibar. Son of a well-to-do Parsi family at the tail-end of the British Empire, in 1954 he transferred to St. Peter\u2019s Boys Boarding School in what was then Bombay, India. Dubbed \u201cFreddie\u201d by his classmates, the boy excels at the piano and boxing.<\/p>\n

In 1958, he hears Little Richard<\/em> for the first time and adds Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll to his eclectic love of Bollywood singers and classical opera. With his band – The Hectics – he plays constantly, honing his skills whilst pursuing his studies until 1964, when revolution creates the nation of Tanzania, forcing the entire Bulsara family to relocate to England\u2026<\/p>\n

Following Blitman\u2019s context-packed essay on the geo-political and cultural status quo prior to the move to London, C\u00e9line Olive takes us to Kensington in 1969 to experience \u2018Youth in London\u2019<\/em>. Here recent graduate in Graphic Arts Freddie Bulsara makes a living selling clothes on a market stall and tries to break into the big time with his band Ibex. His partner in the rags venture is Roger Taylor, who plays with guitarist Brian May in Smile. One night in September, both bands play in Liverpool and a jam session creates a kind of magic\u2026<\/p>\n

A text piece covering college days and tentative early moves in the burgeoning music scene segues into Antonio Campofredano\u2019s bold rendition \u2018Everything Starts With a Smile\u2019<\/em> (colour by Nicol\u00f2 Laporini) in 1970 as almost-hitmakers Smile take on pianist Freddie (call me \u201cMercury\u201d) and discover a voice beyond compare\u2026<\/p>\n

A feature on the music biz and Smile precedes a leap to cartoon creativity in 1971 as Samuel Wambre reveals how a mix, match, merge and classified ad brings bassist John Deacon into play even as Freddie doodles out the \u2018Birth of an Esthetic\u2019<\/em> and Smile become Queen\u2026<\/p>\n

A prose feature detailing that transition in the era of Glam-Rock is accompanied by a detailed deconstruction of the band\u2019s iconic \u201cRoyal Coat of Arms\u201d before Julien Huggonard-Bert & colourist Laporini explore \u2018First Album, Little Success\u2019<\/em> as the up-&-comers cut their first LP and sign with EMI in 1972. After a discussion of Queen I<\/strong>, Lauriane R\u00e9rolle details the first days of an epic stage and performing legend in \u2018We Want a Show!\u2019<\/em> seeing Freddie consult fashion force Zandra Rhodes to ensure a once-seen, never-forgotten stage presence all round, duly supplemented and photographically augmented in another informative article\u2026<\/p>\n

Laporini\u2019s hues boost Jean-Jacques Dzialowski trip to 1975 as \u2018Queen Takes Off\u2019<\/em> supported by a feature on the early albums and singles, after which Alex-Im\u00e9 revisits landmark release Bohemian Rhapsody<\/strong> and how the record company tried to stifle it in \u20186 Minutes Too Long!\u2019<\/em>, which also offers a rather technical assessment of why it\u2019s so gosh-darned great!<\/p>\n

Francesco Colafella & Laporini examine the individual bandmates\u2019 many side-projects and coping methods for too much time in each other\u2019s company. \u2018Roger Taylor Goes Solo\u2019<\/em> is bolstered by a text feature adding detail and tenor, before Samuel Figui\u00e9re explores the supergroup era of \u2018Legendary Hits\u2019.<\/em> Focusing on stadium-shaking anthems takes us to Montreux in Switzerland where Antoine P\u00e9dron further details a time when outrageously \u201cdecadent\u201d Queen could not do a bad thing in \u2018Get on Your Bike!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

A feature on Europe\u2019s Jazz mecca and music the band conceived there precedes Arnaud Jouffroy\u2019s graphic question \u2018But Who Was Freddie Mercury Really?\u2019<\/em>: probing the flamboyant star\u2019s scrupulously guarded private life and astoundingly broad friend network, and is again expanded upon in its prose accompaniment. Next comes the tremor-inducing, fan-polarising shift in musical stance of the Eighties, with its repercussions revealed and detailed by Toni Cittadini & Laporini in \u2018Disco Never Dies!\u2019<\/em> An attendant article exploring the band at the height of its fame and power is an intro to Figui\u00e9re\u2019s<\/strong> graphic interlude as a return to Montreux in 1981 leads to a confrontational collaboration with David Bowie in \u2018Under Pressure\u2019<\/em> with Blitman\u2019s supporting article detailing the bandmembers\u2019 need to express their individualism.<\/p>\n

That theme is further explored in Carmelo Zagaria\u2019s \u2018Search for Freedom\u2019<\/em>: an illustrated interview\/skit on how the video for I Want to Break Free<\/strong> scandalised macho nations across the Earth, with the text support explaining the situation and how it all started with the band watching Coronation Street<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

Fran\u00e7ois Foyard limns \u2018The Works<\/strong>, Rock and Controversy\u2019<\/em> as 1984 saw Queen return to its raunchy rocking roots with global tours and 11th<\/sup> album leading to reinvention via the Live Aid benefit event, as a text piece reviews those events and the band\u2019s controversial tour of South Africa (at that time a UN-sanctioned pariah state due to its Apartheid regime)\u2026<\/p>\n

Randazzo & Ziteli take an anachronistic peek at \u2018History-Making Concerts\u2019 <\/em>– suitably expanded upon in prose – before Paulo Loreto tackles the beginning of the tragic end in \u2018A Final Album Amidst Suffering\u2019<\/em> as the vivacious, attention-attracting frontman becomes a recluse due to a mystery disease, and his bandmates organise one last musical hurrah\u2026<\/p>\n

The article on HIV and AIDs at that moment in time is a sobering preamble and overture to the star\u2019s final days and recordings – as visualised by Dario Formisani & Laporini – in \u2018\u201cWas it all Worth It?\u201d Yes!\u2019<\/em> and an abridged overview of everything that has happened since in \u2018The Show Must Go On!\u2019<\/em> each accompanied by comprehensive prose features.<\/p>\n

With beguiling \u2018endpapers\u2019<\/em> by Enzo Gosselin and an iconic cover from Bast, this graphic appreciation offers a tantalising glimpse at true legends of mass entertainment and an evocative exploration of a one-man cultural and social revolution, who was at once known by all and truly seen by no one.<\/p>\n

In so many ways, Queen and Freddie Mercury inspired and united people of disparate views and did so by example and not listening when they heard the words \u201cno\u201d or \u201cbut\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

Queen in Comics <\/strong>is an astoundingly readable and beautifully rendered treasure for narrative art and music fans alike: one to resonate with anybody who loves to listen and look. If you love pop history and crave graphic escape, this will truly rock you.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2021 Editions Petit \u00e0 Petit. \u00a9 2022 NBM for the English translation.
\nQueen in Comics<\/strong> is scheduled for UK release May 4th<\/sup> 2023 and available for pre-order now. Most NBM books are also available in digital formats. For more information and other wonderful reads see http:\/\/www.nbmpub.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emmanuel Marie (narrative) & Sophie Blitman (articles); illustrated by Bast, Riccardo Randazzo, C\u00e9line Olive, Antonio Campofredano, Samuel Wambre, Julien Huggonard-Bert, Lauriane R\u00e9rolle, Jean-Jacques Dzialowski, Alex-Im\u00e9, Francesco Colafella, Samuel Figui\u00e9re, Antoine P\u00e9dron, Arnaud Jouffroy, Toni Cittadini, Carmelo Zagaria, Fran\u00e7ois Foyard, Paulo Loreto, Dario Formisani, Nicol\u00f2 Laporini, Luigi Ziteli, Enzo Gosselin & various: translated by Christopher … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Queen in Comics”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[115,119,122,170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biography","category-comicsacademic","category-historical","category-non-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7gp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27925"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27930,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27925\/revisions\/27930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}