Mike AllredRessenyes

A comic book by someone with an obvious love of drawing David Bowie. Covers the years surrounding Ziggy. I particularly liked how the famous "Not only is this the last show of the tour" mini-speech was broken up over multiple pages, scattered throughout the story. I'd buy a sequel.½

As a Bowie fan and as a fan of graphic novels, this is a wonderful interpretive graphic novel biography of Bowie's life but it's not necessarily traditional nor straightforward. Bowie as a person was a complex enigma, who never let his personal life shine too long in the spotlight. He was also perhaps the quintessential post-modern rock star. I think that this graphic novel does a fine job illustrating how Bowie rose to fame in the 1970s and how he constructed a multitude of personas. And I found it compelling, informative, and fascinating in its own ways.

The art is beautiful, the narrative is a bit more unclear. This is not necessarily a scathing critique, however, as this may be indicative of Mr. Bowie's existence.

It's certainly a beautiful thing to look at. Mr. Allred is to be commended.

1570

This is fun and a bit silly. Allred's art is very distinctive but also very similar to everything else he's ever drawn. Which isn't a bad thing, it just means that Dawn Greenwood looks a lot like Edie Sawyer from X-Statix (or, well, technically X-Force). It also means that it's a style that probably doesn't work for everyone and might be off-putting for some. So, you know, YMMV

Amazing artwork with so much detail (even David Lynch appears at one point!), colour throughout. Forward by Neil Gaiman. Definitely a must have book for any Bowie fan.

In order to review the last trade of iZombie, I feel like I have to review the entire series. Why? The comic only lasted 28 issues and as a whole, the comic was very entertaining. I was very disappointed to see the series end on such short notice. The idea was very original and fresh. It’s not just any other zombie comic, but it’s a zombie comic with the zombie telling us the story. It is not only about zombies, but it is also about ghosts, wereterriers, mummies, vampires, and other monster done in the traditional way instead of what’s popular today. Yes, I said a wereterrier. That is what made this comic so fun to read. It had great characters, but it had comical moments too.

The other part of this comic that made me want to read each issue was Michael Allred’s art. I don’t even like zombies, but Allred’s art is just so addicting to the eye. He’s very good at taking these characters and making them not only seem real, but also look good in a comic book. I like his style because it’s very much like Jack Kirby. It’s very pop art like too. Chris Roberson’s writing is always good too. As I said before, he is good a writing comedy mixing in the drama aspect as well. In this comic, he really makes you love the main character Gwen. That’s always important for a comic to have you really like the main character.

As a whole, I would rate this comic with a full five star rating with the art, the characters, and the entire concept. However, each volume I felt like the deserved just four starts. Sometime the art would change to an artist I didn’t care for and the first three volumes seems too short to me. The last trade was the longest, but again only four stars. I was way to upset it ended and disappointed it didn’t end how I thought it should have ended. It seemed like the some of the stories were forced to end. This was however better than most comic book ending I read. They could expand some of the character’s stories, but left you feeling satisfied. Also, they didn’t pull the Hamlet ending nor was the ending too much of an end-of-the-world cliché cause the world didn’t end. The art on the last few pages was good and love the last page. Still not the ending that would have left me fully satisfied.

I think a certain amount of people would like this comic and should pick it up at least sometime if they want. It’s not the best comic of all time feel, but it’s very original and helps your eye candy. I think this could work as a television show because you read it as one more than other comics were it is more of a story. Again, this comic is just pure entertainment.

First book of 2021!

I mostly got this because I'm a huge fan of Mike Allred's art work. With that in mind, this is more of an art book then a biography. You really only get snippets of information. The writing, in my opinion, isn't that great. There's still a ton of questions I have and feel like I need a full on bio of David Bowie. I do love Bowie's music, another reason I got this too. If you aren't expecting weird, you might be thrown off or your not a real fan of Bowie.

First I have to say that I hate almost everything that has a zombie in the story. They have become so overdone like vampires and werewolves. What made me read the comic was that I like the writer and I love the artist. It was a good combo. I really liked this comic book because it blew the other monster stories out of the water. FINALLY something original and not too original that it screws up the tradition of the monsters. The zombie wants brains, but it's not a post-apocalyptic plot. It's real time and the world is just like ours except with monsters. The vampires are finally done right too. Their mean and just want blood. The ghost in this is perfect. She's kind of like Caspar, but more realistic about her past. The "were-terrier" I found to be very likable too. He follows the werewolf myths, but with a terrier twist. This comic book is very original and good for people who like horror, but tired of all the cliche stuff that the public seems to like nowadays.

Not the greatest. The jokes didn't hit. I enjoyed the artwork though.

Bra, men inte riktigt lika charmig som tv-serien.

I kind of guessed what the ultimate solution would be long before this volume was finished but still wound up really enjoying this series, the art and writing were excellent through out, the characters are really what drove this story for me, interesting and I was invested in their hopes and dreams.

***dnf @ 6%***
I... What?

After reading a few reviews (because I was just so confused at what was happening) I learned that this was an satire. How much I want to, I just don't get satire. Especially if it's from another culture. After learning that fact I tried to continue but I just can't.

I like hopeful somewhat silly superhero stories. It's why the Watchmen didn't work for me. And this feels the same but a lot more brightly coloured.

This was...not good.

First, because it's a graphic novel, let's talk about the best thing here, and that's the art. Finally, someone's gone and done a graphic novel about a musical artist, and they can actually draw that artist. Not cartoony, not in a "style"...they draw the damn artist. So, kudos to Allred for that.

But...not so fast. Obviously he lightboxed a lot of this stuff, because, having read a lot on Bowie and collecting many books about him, I recognized the original photos behind the art. And it appears that Allred couldn't find many for Bowie's lousy manager Tony De Fries, because there's two pages where he appears at least three times, and it's the same drawing, the same expression, every single time. I mean, sure, you need references, but goddammit, you're an artist, not a tracer...extrapolate a little, willya?

So, major points off for that.

And then...sigh...we come to what may laughingly be called the "story"...which it's not. It's essentially a chronology of events both major and minor, and a detailing of every soon-to-be-famous person either met Bowie or was in the audience for one of his shows.

But what it really is is a dry bullet list of people, places, and events. My god, at some points, there's literally a single panel showing each of the band members, and they're speaking the names of the cities they played.

It's pretty, but at the same time, it's pretty lame.

Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams (2021) by Steve Horton, Michael Allred and Laura Allred.
David Bowie was a cultural icon, eventually touching and influencing not only the people who followed his career, but the foundations of taste and culture around him. From humble beginnings to outer space, his continuous drive to reinvent himself gave us many many of versions of the man. His music has been revered by generations and will continue to do so well into the future. This book is a glorious journey along the arc of his career.
But if you are looking to discover what David Bowie was inside, this book not only misses that mark, it completely ignores it. You do have scenes from a life, but the “life” itself, the meanings and desires of Bowie, go totally unexamined. You do not get a feeling as to the ‘why’ of his actions, only the actions themselves. This is a high grade picture show of his career, but nothing more.
The illustrations are tremendous and the journey is well depicted, but at the end of the day I felt as if I had not gained one ounce of insight into the person Bowie was, but only a glorified showing of the person Bowie wanted others to see.
As you can tell, I do have mixed emotions surrounding this book, but perhaps that is the lesson of Bowie’s life. The viewer must be prepared to not like everything that was done, but admire the courage it took for David Bowie to do them

The story of a hot zombie heroine (Gwen) who must eat brains to remain in human form, but then is forced to see the past life of the deceased’s brains. (The basic story here is her trying to bring a murderer to justice.) She has an interesting group of sidekicks, including a were-critter (terrier) and a ghost, and has to interact with monster-hunters and vampires. There is an interesting existential discussion of undersouls (appetites and emotions) and oversouls (memories and personalities), where various combinations result in ghosts, poltergeists, vampires, or zombies. Sadly, there is less action than dialogue, saved in part by a good twist at the end and excellent artwork. 2.5 stars.

Anyone whose read any of Allred’s earlier work will be well aware of his almost near obsession with David Bowie, and this visually stunning oversize graphic album is perhaps the culmination of that.

Focused on Bowie’s spectacular rise to fame during the Ziggy Stardust era it illustrates a lot of background and stories I wasn’t aware of while truly projecting Bowie’s style and creativity.

But I will say that while the script is crammed full of facts, dates, and people it offers little insight. What it did do is make me interested in finding a good prose comprehensive biography of Bowie to learn more about this remarkable artist and his cultural impact.

a bit repetitious but a nice wrapup

This is beautiful. A must for any Bowie fan!

This is beautiful. A must for any Bowie fan!

This was a collection made up of issues of the new Fantastic Four line and the alternate team under the title FF. It made sense to collect the two lines as they intertwine at this point where the storylines are set up.
The set up of Reed forming an alternative team while the real FF are off travelling in time and space is interesting but is a set up so there's a lot of introduction. The problem is apart from Scott I'm not enamoured with any of the other characters. I love the Human Torch, he's one of my first comic book loves, and I've read a lot of versions of the Human Torch but Johnny is an obnoxious arse in these stories.

Great artwork.

I've got the next collection in the Fantastic Four line to read but as for the FF line I don't know if I'm invested enough in the characters to read this. *sigh* Who am I kidding, this has another version of Johnny Storm in it, of course I'll read it.

Pop culture has been in zombie/vampire/werewolf overdrive the past few years, and it’s pretty rare to find a story that has a unique twist on the mythos. iZombie, an ongoing series from Vertigo by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred, isn’t the savior of the genre, but it does at least have a few original twists on some tired old archetypes.

iZombie tells the story of Gwen Dylan, an undead gravedigger who has to eat brains once a month to keep from becoming a full-on shambling zombie horror. She doesn’t enjoy the taste at all, describing them as worse than “a cross between motor oil and someone else’s vomit”, but eating them keeps her sane and relatively normal, so she digs up the freshest grave once a month and does what she feels is necessary. One unfortunate side effect of brain-eating is that the memories of the deceased come along for the ride, and she finds herself compelled to finish their unfinished business. When the story opens, she eats the brains of a man who may have been murdered, and sets out to solve the mystery.

Gwen’s only friends are Ellie, a ghost-girl who died forty years ago and dresses like one of Austin Powers’ backup dancers, and Scott (aka ‘Spot’), who turns into a “were-terrier” during the full moon, which mostly just means he becomes embarrassingly hirsute. They live in a version of Eugene, Oregon overflowing with supernatural beings; the paintball place down the road is run by a coven of vampires that look like former sorority girls, and a mysteriously menacing man wrapped in bandages may be an ancient Egyptian mummy. Naturally, there are also monster hunters thrown into the mix, one of whom becomes a possible love interest for Gwen, which will surely lead to further complications down the line.

The art, done by the inimitable Michael Allred, is gorgeous, full of thick black lines and his signature Madman style. One particularly impressive spread in the middle of the book shows Gwen walking through the memories of another character. The memories are shown as individual panels in the comic, but are printed in an exaggerated halftone. Gwen seems to exist above the panels, standing between or on top of each individual memory. Allred’s art is easily my favorite part of this book.

The story is good, but mostly setup. The mystery established at the start doesn’t amount to very much, and many of the plot threads in this initial volume are not resolved. However, the explanation of the overal supernatural mythos is thoughtful, and most of the creatures are given an interesting twist. Only the vampires seem particularly cliche – too-beautiful women preying on lonely men. I think there’s potential here, however; Roberson establishes enough interesting threads that I look forward to reading future volumes.

I really liked this graphic novel. These are the first 5 issues in TPB.

It's nothing like the episode of the TV show I saw.

Gwen, a zombie who looks human (but eats brains from a corpse once a month) lives in a graveyard with various supernatural friends. She's a gravedigger and she absorbs the memories of those whose brains she eats. She, however, doesn't remember her former life, or at least not all of it (from what I could tell in these issues).

I really didn't expect this to be so good! I loved the art work and the stories. There are immortals and vampires and monster-hunters. And lots of humor.

This was better than the first one!

This book was great. More adventures of the zombie, the ghost, the were-terrier, and the vampires.

Gwen actually remembers SOME of her old life, but she's got some large gaps.

And there's a new person in town, mixing things up - old friend of the mummy. Her name is Galatea.