A review by thealucinaut
Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns, & Moonage Daydreams (Ogn Biography of Ziggy Stardust, Gift for Bowie Fan, Gift for Music Lover, Nei by Mike Allred

3.0

This should probably be a 2 star but I can't give a book about Bowie by the Allreds something that low, so I'll say this is maybe a 2.75.

This was the most intricately illustrated Wikipedia entry I've ever read?

Listen. We all think David Bowie is cool as hell and a rad musician, and that his life was a novel one. Of course. As a collection of cool illustrations of the first half of his career, with bits of trivia dispersed throughout, it's interesting! I learned a few things. ...but only a few.

I was kind of befuddled by this book until it was all over and I read Mike Allred's afterword, where he explains that this book was originally his research for a Ziggy Stardust comic he never got to do, and that he slowly drew over time as a passion project. That's what it reads as. Illustrated research, a sparse timeline with little notes here and there and no new ideas or narrative framework other than a vague idea of identity.

A fun diversion for Bowie fans, rendered in Allred's trademark pop-art style. Wish it was something deeper, but oh well.