Columns 

We Want Comics: Elton John

By | October 16th, 2018
Posted in Columns | % Comments

Welcome back to We Want Comics, a column exploring intellectual properties, whether they’re movies, TV shows, novels or video games, that we want adapted into comic books. For this new installment, we’re tackling our second musical artist, our first being Janelle Monáe and her Metropolis album. But instead of looking at a specific album, we’re considering an entire life and career of one of the top grossing artists of all time (and soundtrack to my formative years), Elton John.

Cue the playlist:

After a fifty year career, Elton Hercules John is not only still standing, but thriving. His three year worldwide Farewell Yellow Brick Road farewell tour kicked off last month, he’s in the midst of writing the musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada, and a new biopic titled (appropriately) Rocketman will hit theaters next summer. All this is a capstone on a career that has literally and figuratively been a colorful one. Stage costumes that included everything from a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform to Donald Duck to Mozart. Collaborations with Billy Joel, Leon Russell, Alice in Chains, and Disney. Vegas residencies and Broadway musicals. The excesses that come with fame, the inevitable rock bottom, and a commitment to HIV/AIDS prevention. With over 300 million records sold, 58 Billboard Top 40 singles, and the best selling single in UK and US singles charts history, what’s in this life that wouldn’t make a good comic?

Elton John was the first artist I listened to regularly, discovering the video for “Candle in the Wind” on one of the US music channels in the late 80s. This was the version recorded during his Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra tour, and I remember being a tween curious by this man dressed as Mozart singing about someone named Norma Jean, but there were pictures of Marilyn Monroe on the screen.

Part confused, part intrigued, the love affair with his music began and that Live in Australia album was the first I bought with my own money – – and I still own that physical media to this day. Since then, just about every new Elton record has been part of my collection, and I’ve seen him on tour three times, including the aforementioned farewell tour. Romantic relationships have come and gone, but the Rocketman and I have always been tight, and he’ll be there with me right until the very end.

Now, Elton is no stranger to the medium of drawing, having been animated for the “Club at the End of the Street” video in 1990.

But how would an Elton John comic look?  There’s three ways I’ve conceptualized what Elton in comics could look like, but this isn’t certainly the definitive list.

Taron Egerton as Elton John in 2019's Rocketman

The Graphic Novel Biography

The low hanging fruit here is the graphic novel biography, and with the aforementioned Rocketman biopic with Taron Egerton out next year, a graphic novel would be a perfect tie in.  This can be a straight retelling of the movie, much like the Bram Stoker’s Dracula graphic novel by Mike Mignola, or this can be a work completely independent of the film. Even slices of Elton’s life would prove worthy material of their own graphic novel, such as his friendship with teen AIDS activist Ryan White in his final years (inspiring him later to create the Elton John AIDS Foundation), or the 50 year relationship and collaboration between Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin.

I’m hard-pressed to think of someone to write this graphic novel that isn’t Elton himself; he’s producing the Rocketman biopic and from early looks, it’s not “trashy gossip” (to quote my sister). Perhaps a close collaboration with an established comics writer would help translate details to the page, and the first that comes to mind is Jeff Lemire. His work on “Black Hammer” captures the nostalgia of the Golden and Silver Age superhero era beautifully, and the recently concluded “Royal City” shows ability to tackle characterization and heavy personal issues with depth and just a touch of humor. The two paired up would make quite a team.

Continued below

A figuratively colorful character needs a graphic novel that doesn’t shy away from color or bold artwork. Martin Morazzo and Chris O’Halloran have show on their collaboration in Image’s “Ice Cream Man” the fun they have with a color palette and flat artwork to show depth. “Kim and Kim” regular artist and colorist Eva Cabrera and Claudia Aguirre also embrace and celebrate strong lines and sharp colors throughout the story of the Fighting Kims.

Billy Elliott the Musical

The Musicals – – Billy Elliot and Aida

Elton’s tackled quite a few movie soundtracks over the years, from 1971’s Friends to 2011’s Gnomeo and Juliet – – with the most well-known soundtrack being Disney’s 1994 hit The Lion King. The two musicals he’s contributed songs to – – 1998’s Aida, a retelling of the Verdi opera and one of the more “adult” of the Disney musicals, and 2005’s Billy Elliott, a musical adaptation of the 2000 film of the same name – – view these established stories through the new lens of music. Aida brings the Verdi opera to a new generation, and Billy Elliott takes a little known movie about staying true to oneself and your dreams to a wider audience. The Lion King got the graphic novel treatment from Disney in 2012, so why not adapt the others?

Both these works are sophisticated stories (and in the case of Billy Elliott, uniquely British) so I look to Titan Comics for tackling both of these adaptations. (This may prove problematic in the case of Aida as it is a Disney property; most likely it would end up going to corporate cousin Marvel instead. But this is my installment and my dream world, so no rules, right?) They have a strong track record for reinventing existing licenses in new ways, such as their series based on the Stieg Larsson Millennium trilogy (which in some cases proved to be superior to the original works). Titan’s Penny Dreadful series slyly brings one of the original writers from the TV series, Chris King, so why not have Tim Rice write the Aida comic adaptation, or Lee Hall, writer of both the book for Billy Elliott the musical and the screenplay?  For artwork, Claudia Ianniciello’s painterly style would hold well for the lush scenery of Aida, and Rachael Stott, artist of the upcoming “Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor” series will keep the lightheartedness of Billy Elliott without losing the larger message in the cartoon-like style she will bring to Jodie Whittaker.

A pastiche of Elton John album covers over the years

The Songs – – Where Music and Comics Go Hand in Hand

Last and certainly not least, there are the songs, many of them painting their own lush stories in a few short minutes. An anthology setting pictures to Elton’s music and Bernie’s words, perhaps with a companion album of greatest hits, would be a fine way to celebrate Elton’s lengthy career and a unique souvenir for those who attend the farewell tour. Artists can choose to interpret each song in their own style, or even borrow some of the imagery from the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.

Sina Grace’s sketchbook art from “Nothing Lasts Forever” would work to translate “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” the 1975 single chronicling his and Bernie’s early days breaking into the music industry. Michael Gaydos and David Mack, team-ups on several of the “Jessica Jones” issues, could give a peacefully rugged look to 1989s “Sacrifice (Elton’s first #1 in the UK), or 1992’s “The One.” Jonathan Luna (“Alex and Ada,” “Eternal Empire”) could take on the Herculean task of illustrating every song from the Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the 1975 autobiographical album that produced the aforementioned “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” and give it their unique, futuristic touch. And I can’t help but smile when I picture the “Kim and Kim” creative team of Eva Cabrera and Claudia Aguirre recreating “The Bitch is Back” with punk sensibility infused with female empowerment.

When I attended the farewell tour, one of my favorite pairings of words and images was “Border Song,” from Elton’s first album (probably added to the setlist that day as a tribute to the recently deceased Aretha Franklin, who covered the song). The song is about Taupin’s fish-out-of-water feelings living in London, but several have also interpreted it as a song against bigotry and racism, particularly for these final lines:

Continued below

Holy Moses, let us live in peace
Let us strive to find a way to make all hatred cease
There’s a man over there.
What’s his color I don’t care
He’s my brother let us live in peace.

During the performance, a slideshow of people of all races, colors, and creeds showed up on screen, hammering home this belief. If there is any song I want to see illustrated in comic form, it would be this one, for it provides a powerful message of unity so needed in our troubled times.  Mathieu Bablet of “The Beautiful Death” brings rich unprecedented detail to his artwork, and I would love to see him illustrate this early but underrated classic.

So what do you think? Does the Rocketman deserve to come to comics, either in graphic novel biography or through a fresh interpretation of his works? Let me know in the comments!


//TAGS | We Want Comics

Kate Kosturski

Kate Kosturski is your Multiversity social media manager, a librarian by day and a comics geek...well, by day too (and by night). Kate's writing has also been featured at PanelxPanel, Women Write About Comics, and Geeks OUT. She spends her free time spending too much money on Funko POP figures and LEGO, playing with yarn, and rooting for the hapless New York Mets. Follow her on Twitter at @librarian_kate.

EMAIL | ARTICLES


  • Columns
    We Want Comics: LEGO

    By | Feb 7, 2024 | Columns

    Welcome back to We Want Comics, our column discussing various intellectual properties — whether they’re movies, TV shows, novels, video games, or whatever else — that we’d like to see get adapted into comic books. Today marks — amazingly — ten years since the release of The LEGO Movie, Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s fantastic […]

    MORE »
    Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League key art Columns
    We Want Comics (Games): DC Universe

    By | Nov 30, 2023 | Columns

    Welcome back to We Want Comics, our column discussing various intellectual properties — whether they’re movies, TV shows, novels, video games, or whatever else — that we’d like to see get adapted into comic books. We are once again expanding the scope of the column to discuss potential video games, this time based on DC […]

    MORE »
    Spider-Man 2 PS5 key art reupload Columns
    We Want Comics (Games): Marvel

    By | Nov 28, 2023 | Columns

    Welcome back to We Want Comics, our column discussing various intellectual properties — whether they’re movies, TV shows, novels, video games, or whatever else — that we’d like to see get adapted into comic books. In the wake of Spider-Man 2’s release, we’re expanding the scope of our topic to discuss the future of Marvel […]

    MORE »

    -->