Thierry Lamy

This is the third David Bowie graphic biography I've read in the last couple of years, and despite its flaws, it's the one I like the best.

Like the other books in the Pop Rock in Comics series, it's translated from the French (where it is Pop Rock en BD, or Pop Rock en Bandes Dessinées). Each comic strip is by the same writer, but the illustrations rotate through a dozen different artists with very different styles, which can be a bit jarring.

The copy editing isn't terrific, so you'll need to excuse some typos (like mention of the Velvet Underground's "Lou Rood"). And the format is a bit grating with its 20 chapters that each have 1) a text introduction telling you what the comic strip is about, 2) a comic strip about a small section of Bowie's life, and 3) a following text piece that repeats and elaborates on what was told in the strip in a manner that fawns over how awesome Bowie was. So much repetition! But the text pages do include photographs of the era that can be interesting to compare to the drawn art.

Anyhow, it does what it sets out to do, telling about Bowie's life chronologically, from birth to death, while picking out and highlighting some recurring themes. It dramatizes and lionizes, but I felt I got a decent sense of the artist behind the continuous reinvention his public persona underwent.

FOR REFERENCE:

Table of Contents:
Note: Comic strips are written by Thierry Lamy, and biographical text between the comic strips is written by Nicolas Finet.
• The 1950s. Plastic Saxophone / Martin Trystram, art
• 1962. A Unique Gaze / Thomas Gilbert, art
• 1962-1966. First Bands / Marcello Quintanilha, art
• 1966. When David Jones Becomes David Bowie / Christelle Pécout, art
• 1969. Ground Control to Major Tom: The Space Oddity Period / Jérémie Royer, art
• 1969-1971. Angie / Nicolas Pitz, art
• 1972. Top of the Pops: The Birth of a Legend / Monsieur IOU, art
• 1972-1973. An Alien Named Ziggy Stardust / Christopher, art
• 1972-1973. Bowie the Producer: Lou Reed & Iggy Pop / Claire Fauvel, art
• 1974. A Hint of Science Fiction / Léonie Bischoff, art
• 1975. Turning to Soul: Young Americans / Marcello Quintanilha, art
• 1976. The Thin White Duke / Christelle Pécout, art
• 1976-1979. A Date With Berlin / Christopher, art
• 1980-1984. The Global Icon: Let's Dance / Monsieur IOU, art
• 1983. Bowie in Film: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence / Joël Alessandra, art
• 1989-1992. Forever Inovating: Bowie and Tin Machine / Martin Trystram, art
• 1992. Iman / Samuel Figuière, art
• 1992-1999. Experiments in Genre / Joël Alessandra, art
• 2004-2014. Quiet / Samuel Figuière, art
• 2014-2016. The Last Dance / Nicolas Pitz, art
• End Matter: Discography, Filmography, Sitography, Recommended Reading
• David Bowie / portrait by Alex Bochard… (mere)