Last week, editor-in-chief Matthew Meylikhov started off a new, three-part installment of Fund It! The theme? Concept albums as sequential art. Today, I continue that idea with three albums that are very dear to me for very, very different reasons. Today’s subjects? The Antler’s Hospice, David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and The Mars Volta’s Frances the Mute. Follow the cut to see who I think should write and illustrate what.
Also, here is my obligatory Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo reference.
Hospice by The Antlers is one of my favorite albums of all time. It is also one of the most depressing albums that I have ever heard. The semi-autobiographical story told through the music chronicles a doomed relationship, observing it from the vantage points of those involved, as well as from an outsider’s perspective. The relationship is plagued by problems such as emotional abuse, unwanted pregnancy, cancer and, ultimately, death. Yes, it is certainly very bleak. The point of art of any kind, though, is to elicit an emotional response, and it certainly does that.
If a comic were to be adapted from Hospice, then it would need to be by a creative team whom I could trust to move me just as much as The Antlers did with their first album. Sure, many writers and artists have emotionally moved me in the past, but not many have managed to do so to the same degree as Hospice. There is, however, one comic that is as emotionally involving of a read as Hospice is of a listen: Gabriel Bá and Fabio Moon’s Daytripper. Honestly, I am convinced that if you are not incredibly moved by Daytripper, then you must be a zombie, a golem, or something otherwise inhuman.
The thing about Daytripper, though, is that as much as the book deals with death, it is primarily a celebration of life. Therefore, as sad as some (a.k.a. many) parts are, the book still is uplifting in the end. The darker, more morbid parts of the book, though, convince me that if the brothers Bá and Moon wanted to make a comic that left you feeling desolate and crushed, they damn well could. There’s really something about the twins’ style that conveys emotion incredibly well. The stylization of their figures makes it easier for the reader to “imprint” themselves upon these characters, making the feelings that much more personal.
While there’s a basic outline of a story in Hospice, there is a lot of room for Bá and Moon to work in. I wouldn’t hand a work that requires as much depth as this to anyone, but comics’ premiere twins have proven that if you need someone to make you feel everything it means to be human, they’re the ones you want to call.
David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
On the more classic rock side of things, David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is an album that – in my opinion, at least – is begging for the sequential art treatment. The story itself is incredibly wild, and in a way that – if it had to be adapted into another medium – a film would be unable to do justice. I know that when you delve into the more classic albums such as Bowie’s 70s work, you’re more likely to find fans who would prefer that the albums be left alone, but I can’t help but feel that there’s an incredibly visual element behind this album that lurks behind the music. Yes, there’s the visual imagery invoked by the music itself, but there’s also the whole idea behind the era of glam rock, an era where looks were just as important as the music, that we can only see in photographs nowadays.
The idea of a Ziggy Stardust album was first imprinted in my mind back in the days of Marvel’s Siege. While reading a review of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s Siege: Loki by our friends at ComicsAlliance, reviewer Chris Sims likened McKelvie’s Loki to the androgynous Bowie. And so, the thought took root: “What if Jamie McKelvie drew a comic about David Bowie? That could be cool.” Obviously, then, McKelvie would be my top choice for Ziggy Stardust: The Comic. His distinctive style would fit the world of alien rockstars incredibly well – have you read Phonogram? – and I would love to see the variety of scary monsters and super creeps he could whip up (okay, so that’s getting into 80s Bowie, but still).
Now, when I think of Jamie McKelvie, I usually think of Kieron Gillen as well. The two are frequent collaborators, and for good reason, considering how great their collaborations usually are. Much like Matt did last week, though, I want to avoid the “obvious” choices – as much as I’d love Gillen’s take on Bowie. Plus, I didn’t want to do the ever-American “well, he’s British, and Bowie’s British too. Obviously he must write this.” Instead, I look to superstar Matt Fraction. Fraction and McKelvie have only collaborated a couple of times, but each instance has always been enjoyable enough to leave me wanting for more.
There’s more to it than seeing these two great creators working together, though. If you wouldn’t read a Matt Fraction-written David Bowie comic, then you’re insane (or maybe far too sane). Ziggy Stardust in particular has a mind-bending story that sounds very much like something out of Fractions bag of tricks – just as some Fraction comics almost read like a David Bowie song to me – leading me to believe that the two talents are working on a similar frequency, but in different mediums. If anyone could adapt Ziggy Stardust into a comic, it would be Fraction and McKelvie.
The Mars Volta – Frances the Mute
Wrapping up today’s Fund It! is Francis the Mute by The Mars Volta. The Mars Volta was one of the first bands that high-school-aged Walt listened to that was off the beaten path, and so whether or not my enjoyment of their music ever wanes, the Volta will always have a special place in my music library. Originally when I was planning today’s column, I was planning on attacking their debut album, Deloused in the Comatorium. On second thought, though, Deloused strikes me as the musical representation of an insane story that could not possibly be told in any other way. And I do mean insane. Check out the Deloused Storybook if you doubt me on that one.
Frances, on the other hand, tells a story that starts off relatively normal enough before it goes nuts (even though the album is the more experimental of the two). Our hero, Cygnus, is trying to find out more about his family’s history. Whilst investigating, he crosses paths with his aunt, L’via, and his grandmother, Miranda, and learns about his mother’s rape at the hands of a priest – his father. Not only that, but he has a twin sister, Cassandra, who was drowned. Not only that, but he, too, was meant to be drowned in order to hide the whole affair. Cheery, right?
It took a matter of seconds for me to determine the best artist available to illustrate Cygnus’s journey: J.H. Williams III. Now, I know this seems like a cop out. “But Walter, you think Williams should illustrate everything.” And, yeah, that’s kind of true. There is, however, something about Williams’s style that reminds me of legendary cover artist and designer Storm Thorgeson, who created the covers for both Frances and Deloused. Both artists will frequently create images that are simultaneously as alien and disconcerting as they are realistic. While this story spirals off into psychedelic madness, there needs to be some realism at its core. Luckily, Williams does both.
So, who’s the writer? Well, I thought that J.H. Williams III would be able to handle the writing as well as the art. Not only is he co-writing the upcoming Batwoman, but he has also co-written more than a few comics in the past. Sure, he hasn’t really done much solo writing work, but this is an adaptation of an album that is based off of a discovered journal – there are too many voices already. If Williams wanted a co-writer, I feel he could pick one that meshed with him into one voice much better than I could.
That’s it for this week. Be sure to come by next week the third and final part of “Now That’s a Concept!,” this time by Joshua Mocle.
