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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
A lovely whistle stop tour of the Beatles early influences and the life of astrid kirchherr. Maybe undervaluing astrid’s personal artistry at points but a lovely story
All I ever knew about The Beatles before I read this book were John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the former because who has not heard of Yoko Ono and the latter because he has become a scary musical delight today. But, given the chance, I would read anything about The Beatles, because that is a lot like reading historical trivia and hoarding on knowledge that I can spew out over little finger sandwiches at social gatherings.
Ergo, I am glad I have read Baby’s in Black, a graphic biography about the love story of Stuart Sutcliffe, the band’s bassist when they played in Germany at the beginning of their career, and Astrid Kirchherr, a German photographer. What made the biography interesting was that I didn’t know I was reading about The Beatles—obviously because I had never heard of the song “Baby’s in Black”—until John Lennon is introduced, and I wondered to myself: what are the chances there are two John Lennons both of whom are in an English rock band?
Baby’s in Black is supposed to be about the relationship between Stu and Astrid, but there are also snippets of the early life of The Beatles playing in a rundown, out-of-the-way bar on the Reeperbahn, a red-light district in Hamburg. This book draws attention to the period of ridicule and invisibleness the Gods of rock music lived through. Klaus Voormann, who appears to be Kirchherr’s boyfriend, wanders to this bar and is immediately drawn to The Beatles. He makes his visits to this bar an every-night affair, and one night convinces Kirchherr to accompany him. She becomes a regular too, and gradually falls in love with Stu, the most eye-catching of the lot.
The story details Kirchherr’s and Sutcliffe’s little obsessions. Kirchherr is not just a great photographer who loves experimenting with The Beatles, she also loves giving them all haircuts. Sutcliffe is a prodigy: great in art and music and whatnot. He is always restive and often feels caught between art and music. As artists, Sutcliffe and Kirchherr often help each other, he by modelling for her photographs and she by critiquing his art.
The aha! moment of the story comes at the very end. Until then, it’s about how Kirchherr and Sutcliffe spend their days together, falling in love. It’s also a lot about The Beatles, although, clearly, that is not the plot. And of course, there are historical facts, like about The Beatles being deported from Germany, etc.
I think this story could have done with a bit more feelings. I am not sure if it is a limitation of graphic stories; in this book, feelings are difficult to decipher. You really can’t see them in the characters’ body language or facial expressions, and because it is a graphic biography, none of these are spelled out. Moreover, often times, I got confused between many of the characters because they look too alike. Kirchherr, although she’s a girl, looks like Voormann and all the other boys in the band except Sutcliffe and Lenon, who look surprisingly unique. I had to read a few panels a couple of times, or rely on other panels, to grasp who’s saying what—the characters are that alike.
Nonetheless, I think the book is good. It’s a short read, so I have no regrets. The ending is intense. If you are a diehard fan of The Beatles, then you might enjoy this book. If not, you might still enjoy it. If you surreptitiously come across it, pick it up and give it a try. You might not want to go looking for it though.
Ergo, I am glad I have read Baby’s in Black, a graphic biography about the love story of Stuart Sutcliffe, the band’s bassist when they played in Germany at the beginning of their career, and Astrid Kirchherr, a German photographer. What made the biography interesting was that I didn’t know I was reading about The Beatles—obviously because I had never heard of the song “Baby’s in Black”—until John Lennon is introduced, and I wondered to myself: what are the chances there are two John Lennons both of whom are in an English rock band?
Baby’s in Black is supposed to be about the relationship between Stu and Astrid, but there are also snippets of the early life of The Beatles playing in a rundown, out-of-the-way bar on the Reeperbahn, a red-light district in Hamburg. This book draws attention to the period of ridicule and invisibleness the Gods of rock music lived through. Klaus Voormann, who appears to be Kirchherr’s boyfriend, wanders to this bar and is immediately drawn to The Beatles. He makes his visits to this bar an every-night affair, and one night convinces Kirchherr to accompany him. She becomes a regular too, and gradually falls in love with Stu, the most eye-catching of the lot.
The story details Kirchherr’s and Sutcliffe’s little obsessions. Kirchherr is not just a great photographer who loves experimenting with The Beatles, she also loves giving them all haircuts. Sutcliffe is a prodigy: great in art and music and whatnot. He is always restive and often feels caught between art and music. As artists, Sutcliffe and Kirchherr often help each other, he by modelling for her photographs and she by critiquing his art.
The aha! moment of the story comes at the very end. Until then, it’s about how Kirchherr and Sutcliffe spend their days together, falling in love. It’s also a lot about The Beatles, although, clearly, that is not the plot. And of course, there are historical facts, like about The Beatles being deported from Germany, etc.
I think this story could have done with a bit more feelings. I am not sure if it is a limitation of graphic stories; in this book, feelings are difficult to decipher. You really can’t see them in the characters’ body language or facial expressions, and because it is a graphic biography, none of these are spelled out. Moreover, often times, I got confused between many of the characters because they look too alike. Kirchherr, although she’s a girl, looks like Voormann and all the other boys in the band except Sutcliffe and Lenon, who look surprisingly unique. I had to read a few panels a couple of times, or rely on other panels, to grasp who’s saying what—the characters are that alike.
Nonetheless, I think the book is good. It’s a short read, so I have no regrets. The ending is intense. If you are a diehard fan of The Beatles, then you might enjoy this book. If not, you might still enjoy it. If you surreptitiously come across it, pick it up and give it a try. You might not want to go looking for it though.
If you follow me on Tumblr or Twitter, or have had the misfortune of interacting with me on any social capacity, then you know I have an obsession with this little band called The Beatles (sorry by the way to all the people I’ve tried to push their music on).
Anyways, when I found this little graphic novel about Astrid Kirchherr and Stuart Sutcliffe (he was the original Beatles bass player and Astrid was his fiancee/the one who inspired a lot of the Beatles’ early looks and a kick ass photographer) and nearly screamed. This graphic novel felt like a split between Persepolis and Maus, though obviously with a much less serious topic.
I really enjoy these types of graphic novels where the art is more sketch based with some ink in there for contrast/depth. They’re easy to read and especially for an era like this where all the photographs were in black and white it read as if I were diving into a photo from that time period and taking a peek at their lives.
The real question here is: should you read this if you’re not a Beatle fan? Maybe. If you’re a die-hard, overly obsessed Apple scruff like me, then absolutely pick this up. I finished it in about half an hour and was laughing and saying “aww” through the whole thing. Even if you’re a casual fan it’s a good read about the early “Teddy Boy” years when Ringo wasn’t even in the band and there were 5 “Silver Beetles”. But if you’re not a huge fan (what is wrong with you) then I’d say perhaps give this one a pass.
You know, despite having no artistic or musical inclinations, I often want to chop off all my hair like Astrid and wear dark eyeliner, and go to little clubs to listen to rock and roll bands. Sigh, guess that’s a by product of me not being born in the right time period. Darn it.
Oh man...I never considered myself a huge Beatles' fan though I appreciated their music, but this...THIS was a huge bit of their history that I never even knew before, and honestly? I'm a little saddened that I didn't know about Stuart and Astrid despite how popular The Beatles still are.
This story though (and it HURTS that it's a true story) was just beautiful and astounding and full of wonder. For Astrid and Stuart, it was love at first sight, and everything was going smoothly and perfectly. Certainly, this is a retelling of true events, so it's entirely possible that this graphic novel romanticizes and glosses over some possible struggles that I'm not aware of. Even so, everything goes just so, so well that you just KNOW something has to go wrong. As much as I enjoyed feeling light and happy and giddy at the prospect of true love, we all know that there must be some sort of conflict to make the story engaging for American audiences...and oh, man.
If you're unfamiliar with the story, I'll spare you the twist, though it's easily Googleable. But it hurt my heart, made my fingers numb. To have such a thing happen to such people when everything was going so well just made me want to weep. And, I did, a little.
With the art style, though--I almost find that there's more to say in regards to a black-and-white color scheme than a colorful color scheme. This story was certainly black and white--there were some obvious good things and some obvious bad things, but overall it was a pretty simple, straight-forward story in terms of the conflict, in terms of how idealistic it was until the end. Also, it was so artistically done, which makes sense considering how Stuart and Astrid were both artists.
I just. HMM. This graphic novel was so well done and pulled at my heart strings in so many ways. If you're a fan of The Beatles, I definitely recommend this book!
Review cross-listed here!
This story though (and it HURTS that it's a true story) was just beautiful and astounding and full of wonder. For Astrid and Stuart, it was love at first sight, and everything was going smoothly and perfectly. Certainly, this is a retelling of true events, so it's entirely possible that this graphic novel romanticizes and glosses over some possible struggles that I'm not aware of. Even so, everything goes just so, so well that you just KNOW something has to go wrong. As much as I enjoyed feeling light and happy and giddy at the prospect of true love, we all know that there must be some sort of conflict to make the story engaging for American audiences...and oh, man.
If you're unfamiliar with the story, I'll spare you the twist, though it's easily Googleable. But it hurt my heart, made my fingers numb. To have such a thing happen to such people when everything was going so well just made me want to weep. And, I did, a little.
With the art style, though--I almost find that there's more to say in regards to a black-and-white color scheme than a colorful color scheme. This story was certainly black and white--there were some obvious good things and some obvious bad things, but overall it was a pretty simple, straight-forward story in terms of the conflict, in terms of how idealistic it was until the end. Also, it was so artistically done, which makes sense considering how Stuart and Astrid were both artists.
I just. HMM. This graphic novel was so well done and pulled at my heart strings in so many ways. If you're a fan of The Beatles, I definitely recommend this book!
Review cross-listed here!
Interesting look at who might have been early Beatles.
I knew nothing about this story before reading Baby's in Black. I enjoyed it all - the art and the story - but especially the way the ending was done.
My heart is forever broken and my mind is wiser when it comes to The Beatles history.
RIP stuart the one beatle who was actually hot the one with the gay following from day one scottish short king you should have got to beat up paul mccartney more than just once
Before I read this book, I had only the vaguest possible awareness of Astrid Kirchherr, or even of Stuart Sutcliffe. I knew there had been some changes in the lineup of the Beatles in their early days, of course - and I knew that they had played in Germany.
I didn't realize how long they were playing in Hamburg, or the kinds of gigs they were playing.
This graphic novel (translated from its original German form) chronicles the time between October 1960 and April 1962 while the Beatles were basically a house band for a divey bar in Hamburg. We find out that Kirchherr found out about the Beatles through her friend Klaus.
As I read this, I found myself Googling images of Kirchherr, Sutcliffe, and the photos Kirchherr professionally took of the Beatles. It was a thoroughly educational experience.
Bellstorf impressively captures the feel of bar gig in the depictions of "Dizzy, Miss Lizzy" performances. Thick lyrical lines run above illustrations of the band, the audience, particular members. It feels loud, which is a good trick for a comic. The art is exclusively black and white, in what looks like scribbly pencil. Even though Bellstorf is covering such an illustrious topic, it feels like a quiet, personal story. A love story. A tragic love story. Ponderous and private. It makes you feel the loss of what could have been. For the Beatles, for Astrid, and for the art world.
I didn't realize how long they were playing in Hamburg, or the kinds of gigs they were playing.
This graphic novel (translated from its original German form) chronicles the time between October 1960 and April 1962 while the Beatles were basically a house band for a divey bar in Hamburg. We find out that Kirchherr found out about the Beatles through her friend Klaus.
As I read this, I found myself Googling images of Kirchherr, Sutcliffe, and the photos Kirchherr professionally took of the Beatles. It was a thoroughly educational experience.
Bellstorf impressively captures the feel of bar gig in the depictions of "Dizzy, Miss Lizzy" performances. Thick lyrical lines run above illustrations of the band, the audience, particular members. It feels loud, which is a good trick for a comic. The art is exclusively black and white, in what looks like scribbly pencil. Even though Bellstorf is covering such an illustrious topic, it feels like a quiet, personal story. A love story. A tragic love story. Ponderous and private. It makes you feel the loss of what could have been. For the Beatles, for Astrid, and for the art world.