{"id":29242,"date":"2024-01-11T09:00:30","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T09:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=29242"},"modified":"2024-01-10T18:07:26","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T18:07:26","slug":"nina-simone-in-comics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/01\/11\/nina-simone-in-comics\/","title":{"rendered":"Nina Simone in Comics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Sophie Adriansen<\/strong>; with Antoane<\/strong>, Romain Brun<\/strong>, Domenico Carbone<\/strong>, Gabriele Di Caro<\/strong>, Mademoiselle Caroline<\/strong>, Samuel Figui\u00e9re<\/strong>, Dario Formisani<\/strong>, Sandrine Fourrier<\/strong>, Fran\u00e7ois Foyard<\/strong>, Christian Galli<\/strong>, Chadia Loueslati<\/strong>, Walter Pax<\/strong>, Isa Python<\/strong>, Benjamin Reiss<\/strong>, Riccardo Randazzo<\/strong>, Adrien Roche<\/strong>, Anne Royant<\/strong>, Cynthia<\/strong> Thi<\/strong>\u00e9<\/strong>ry<\/strong>, Mayeul Vigouroux<\/strong>, Lysandre Vanhoutvenne, Sara Colella,<\/strong> Fran\u00e7ois Renaud <\/strong>& various (NBM)
\nISBN: 978-1-68112-326-4 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-68112-327-1<\/p>\n

Nina Simone was a mighty voice dedicated to freedom of expression and emancipation of body and soul. This powerful collaborative visual investigation probes her troubled life, failures and achievements, and highlights a life-long war between family pressures, her own frustrated desires, search for autonomy and the spurious divide between classical music and The Blues.<\/p>\n

Another stunning musical biography, this book was released continentally in 2023 and is certain to appeal to readers all over the English-speaking world. Nina Simone in Comics <\/strong>joins NBM\u2019s superb and sublime graphic narrative sub-strand, probing the history of a globally significant performer and musical phenomenon whose works and deeds shook the planet and changed society\u2026<\/p>\n

Following a full \u2018Discography\u2019<\/em> (mirroring a \u2018Further Reading and viewing\u2019<\/em> section at the end of the book) we have context-providing, photo-packed prose essays augmenting stylish individual comics snippets. Both educative articles and chronological character-confirming visual vignettes are penned by French author, biographer and journalist Sophie Adriansen (La menace des fant\u00f4mes & Musiques diaboliques [Scooby-Doo]<\/em><\/strong>, Grace Kelly – D’Hollywood \u00e0 Monaco, le roman d’une l\u00e9gende<\/strong><\/em>, Le Syndrome de la vitre \u00e9toil\u00e9e<\/em><\/strong>) who steers a coterie of cartoonists and illustrators dramatising the history and demystifying the myths for us. Each combined chapter opens with a quote from the star or close associates\u2026<\/p>\n

Anne Royant opens the show with \u2018Music As Company\u2019<\/em> detailing early days of a musical prodigy born into a strict Christian \u201cnegro\u201d household in proudly segregated Tryon, North Carolina. It\u2019s 1935 and Eunice Kathleen Waymon<\/em> is growing up in a blanketing swathe of religious music, and utterly unable to keep her little hands off her mother\u2019s beloved pedal organ. Eunice is barely three and plays it better than her astounded mother Mary Kate<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

Textual assessment \u2018In the Beginning\u2019<\/em> sees how the family moved socially upwards thanks to Eunice\u2019s gifts, before Christian Galli reveals in images how the toddler decided \u2018I\u2019m Going To Be A Classical Pianist When I Grow Up\u2019<\/em>. Prose supplement \u2018Two Pivotal Figures in her Life\u2019 <\/em>reveals the influence of Mary Kate\u2019s employer Mrs Miller<\/em> – who sponsored music lessons for the maid\u2019s kid and organised a fund fuelled by Eunice\u2019s recitals that made enough money to carry the child to music college. The other founding spirit was English music teacher Muriel \u201cMiz Mazy\u201d Massinovitch<\/em> who taught the wonder girl poise, erudition and Bach: inculcating a love of \u201creal music\u201d that carried Eunice to the top of the world but also tainted her life with bitter disappointment\u2026<\/p>\n

Growing into a teen hampered by ingrained prejudice and restricted by repressive \u201cJim Crow\u201d laws prompts the question \u2018Do You Feel Black?\u2019 <\/em>(illustrated by Samuel Figui\u00e9re) before support feature \u2018Eunice Discovers the World\u2019 <\/em>shows her dream to be a classical performer continually challenged by blinkered society, before Dario Formisani and colourist Lysandre Vanhoutvenne share heartbreaking revelations as the high school graduate\u2019s dream of attending a prestigious music academy founders due to skin colour in \u2018Early Setbacks.\u2019<\/em> Her transition to Philadelphia and New York is explored through prose and photos in \u2018Talent to Develop\u2019<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

Mother Mary Kate was a hard, pious woman and when Eunice adopted a stage name to play nightclubs and earn money, her surrender to \u2018The Devil\u2019s Music\u2019 <\/em>(art by Mademoiselle Caroline) sparked years of bitter contention. That transition and its repercussions is covered in \u2018Eunice Becomes Nina\u2019<\/em> before Adrien Roche draws \u2018Pivotal Figures\u2019<\/em> and an essay follows Nina \u2018Back to Atlantic City\u2019 <\/em>for a new life of overnight popularity and appreciation but utterly at odds with her childhood aspirations\u2026<\/p>\n

A lifetime of poor choices in men and managers is first touched upon in the Antoane-illustrated \u2018We Start Recording Tomorrow\u2019<\/em> whilst bizarre circumstances leading to \u2018The First Album\u2019 <\/em>are seen, prior to Fran\u00e7ois Foyard\u2019s cartoon crescendo \u2018Patience\u2026\u2019<\/em> detailing how Nina responded to learning her life and music were controlled by men because she never read contracts: a situation expanded upon in \u2018An Underwhelming Success.\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

Cynthia Thi\u00e9<\/strong>ry shows \u2018A New Star Is Born!\u2019<\/em> after playing a landmark gig at a legendary venue, further explored in text supplement \u2018The Town Hall\u2019<\/em>, after which Chadia Loueslati depicts Nina\u2019s marriage and reasons for staying with an abusive controller whose love manifested in bouts of violence and deep remorse in \u2018A Hold On Me\u2019<\/em>, and \u2018A Time of Conflicts\u2019<\/em> adds much-needed context to the mystery\u2026<\/p>\n

Limned by Riccardo Randazzo and fleshed out by colourist Sara Colella, \u2018I\u2019ll Be Back\u2019<\/em> and text titbit \u2018Marriage and Travel\u2019<\/em> follow Nina – a mother with no control of her work or finances – as she visits Africa and becomes even more consumed by civil rights issues, leading to her learning \u2018Your Weapon Is Music!\u2019 <\/em>(Isa Python art) whilst \u20181963\u2019<\/em> recapitulates the state of the world. Sandrine Fourrier realises Simone\u2019s progress \u2018Towards a Music of Protest\u2019<\/em>, with a prose precis spotlighting Nina\u2019s \u2018Time to Get Involved\u2019<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

Romain Brun illustrates the birth and spreading social impact of breakthrough composition \u2018Young, Gifted and Black\u2019<\/em> (co-created with black poet Weldon Irvine) as historical context comes via support feature \u2018The Fight Intensifies\u2019<\/em>, before Gabriele Di Caro revisits public event \u2018Human Kindness Day\u2019<\/em> (AKA \u201cThe Summer of Soul\u201d, and \u201cBlack Woodstock\u201d) as a prose essay asks was that \u2018The Moment It All Collapsed?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

A decade of letting men control her life and money left Nina Simone a target of the IRS and international exile, as revealed by Benjamin Reiss who draws her \u2018In A Pub In Paris\u2019<\/em> with prose synopsis \u2018An Eventful Decade\u2019<\/em> tracking a tragic decline highlighted by a diagnosis of bi-polar disorder. A monumental reversal began when a forgotten track – added as an afterthought to her very first album – was used in a perfume commercial and set the world aglow. Domenico Carbone & Fran\u00e7ois Renaud light up the comeback trail in \u2018My Baby Just Cares For Me\u2019, <\/em>with \u2018Nina\u2019s Back\u2019 <\/em>adding detail to a career resurrection prior to declining mental health triggering a crisis. Limned by Walter Pax & Renaud, \u2018That\u2019s Enough!\u2019<\/em> with text support \u2018Tragedy at Bouc-Bel-Air\u2019<\/em> expands on an incident that almost ended Nina\u2019s life\u2026<\/p>\n

This compelling journey through oppression and injustice chooses to focus on upbeats at the close, with Nina\u2019s presence at Nelson Mandela\u2019s 80th<\/sup> birthday\/third wedding in \u2018Happy Birthday, Mister President\u2019 <\/em>– visualised by Mayeul Vigouroux augmented with essay \u2018Swan Song\u2019<\/em> – before Royant illustrates the world\u2019s too-late knee-jerk approbation in \u2018God Be With You Till We Meet Again\u2019<\/em> with a pithy summation \u2018Keeping the flame alive\u2019<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

In so many ways, Activist Nina Simone was more important than the performer\/composer, but whether her actions or her music drew you to her, this book will remind you why and make you miss her all the more. Nina Simone 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 feed your soul.
\n\u00a9 2023 Editions Petit \u00e0 Petit. \u00a9 2024 NBM for the English translation.<\/p>\n

Nina Simone in Comics<\/strong> is scheduled for UK release February 13th<\/sup> 2024 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\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sophie Adriansen; with Antoane, Romain Brun, Domenico Carbone, Gabriele Di Caro, Mademoiselle Caroline, Samuel Figui\u00e9re, Dario Formisani, Sandrine Fourrier, Fran\u00e7ois Foyard, Christian Galli, Chadia Loueslati, Walter Pax, Isa Python, Benjamin Reiss, Riccardo Randazzo, Adrien Roche, Anne Royant, Cynthia Thi\u00e9ry, Mayeul Vigouroux, Lysandre Vanhoutvenne, Sara Colella, Fran\u00e7ois Renaud & various (NBM) ISBN: 978-1-68112-326-4 (HB) eISBN: … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Nina Simone 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":[115,119,214,299,122,328,170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biography","category-comicsacademic","category-european","category-feminism-sexual-politics","category-historical","category-music","category-non-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7BE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29242","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=29242"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29245,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29242\/revisions\/29245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}