Prince in Comics!

Pop Rock en BD

by Nicolas Finet, Tony Lourenço

Prince Rogers Nelson aka Prince was a complete artist, all at once author, composer, performer, multi-instrumentalist and producer. A real showman on stage, songs like “ 1999” or “ Purple Rain,” made him an international star. With his tormented life, sulfurous relationships, sex and drugs, he was above all a genius artist with a very distinctive original style who sold more than 80 million records around the world. Here is his extraordinary destiny in a mix of colorfully illustrated articles and comics!

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, Graphic Novels, Comics, Biography Memoir, Graphic Novels Comics

168 pages, Hardcover

First published November 26, 2011

Reviews

[Joanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars A pretty cool book for any longtime ‘completist’ fan but also an skimmy intro for new generations curious about Prince’s enduring impact on popular culture. While some chapters stand out more than others, the collection as a whole reinforces the idea that Prince always operated entirely on his own terms. Overall a good review & reminder of how amazingly industrious and dedicated to his craft he was. Of course it was fun to read with a Spotify playlist close at hand.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. FILLED with some problematic assumptions, casual sexism, etc. and I didn’t really love any of the illustration styles. But, I dug how this was organized and that it captured the many different facets of Prince.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Woah, this needed editing.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a Prince fanatic so I couldn't resist a graphic novel biography. Some of the art is brilliant. The content is organized in chronological order and is mostly in line with Prince's own reflections and what has been shared in previous biographies. It could be translation issues but often the tone is off-putting. A few of the sections felt sensationalistic.

[Maria Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars for creativity
4 stars for artwork
2 stars for accuracy (lots of mistakes)

The story was unbalanced and incomplete.

[Theediscerning · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm… This was never going to be the most beautiful book in the world, and diamonds or pearls were probably a pipe dream. It is naff. What it acts as is an unofficial biography of The Purple One, albeit a bodged effort. We get a chapter of his story in graphic novel form, each time by a different artist on the race to be the worst here, apparently, and then get pretty much the same material in subjective prose. Either that or the prose is repeated in the comic sections, and you can soon lose count of the times something is mentioned in one that needs the explanatory benefit of the other genre (Goldn----a perhaps prime in that).

Every album is a complete renaissance, the best since the last one (even when it was a triple album of stodge, or given away free with a newspaper and the bane of charity shops for years after). Every tour is a highlight of the universe. All the while, The Twinz are spelled wrong, Goldn---a is two words and not one, and, er, the musical instrument bass gets an 'e'. The Bangles get insulted. At least in the format I saw it, of e-arc, it is a lot of work from being as it should.

So who is it for? Fans know this stuff, and those few left can sing and rap all the triple albums of stodge in their sleep, and know all the ins and outs of the NPG staffers like their own family tree. Curious browsers will find something inherently interesting, if shoddily done, biased to the high heavens, and really not up to scratch where the visuals are concerned. Being half-prose is just a major irritant to the graphic novel fan, too – meaning this will fall down everywhere it steps. You might guess it's a disappointment.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I mentioned in the Queen in Comics, I dislike the approach the series take interspersing the comics with the prose to tell the story- I want them to choose one or the other and for the graphic chapters, to have one illustrator.

Other than the issue in format presentation, I like that I learn about the artist, the music industry itself, and how musicians make it in the world whether it's record deals to spending their money, and living their life. Prince was certainly a character as evidenced by things like his ever-evolving style, name, relationships, and music. And his studio/home that he died in from an opioid overdose, I've driven by in Minnesota. It sometimes overshadowed the talented musician that he was.

And I loved that it featured the epic Super Bowl performance. It's a motto I take to heart- when things are going wrong (the torrential downpour)- Prince asked "Can we make it rain harder?" Lean into it and make it epic. That's what he did.

[MK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a great start to the book, describing Prince's mom as a woman "who clearly took good care of herself." Thankfully that was the end of the casual sexism. (WTF does that even mean, anyway? It's not an expression women use.) The rest of the book follows this series' structure of breaking the subject's life into sections and have a different artist draw each one. The artwork is superb and it's a pretty comprehensive look into Prince's artistry and his mentorship of other artists, primarily women. (Pretty surprised Judith Hill, the last one in the line, isn't mentioned with the rest.)

I learned a bunch of things I didn't know and was reminded of the songs I really loved. I just wish I hadn't had to be on guard while reading for more sexism. Took a star off for that.

[Kyle Casello · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a read for Prince fans! Although if you have followed his career it doesn’t present anything new, which is ok. This is a celebration of a musician’s life and the music he left behind.

Highlights are the chapters on Sheila E, the creation of Paisley Park and the Super Bowl Halftime show. It’s very interesting seeing the different artists take on each era of Prince and even introducing us to new artists.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I like the cover of this book a lot. That was why I picked it up off the display. And that's about it. The format was very confusing to me. At the beginning of each section was a short paragraph describing what the section would be about. Then some graphics that, for the most part, were poorly done and looked nothing at all like Prince. Then some text outlining what the graphics had been about, in case the reader didn't understand, I guess.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book felt a little repetitive with the text pages over-explaining what happened in the previous chapter. I wasn't too crazy about any of the art styles, and it felt like it overlooked a lot of negative things that were also part of the story (really idolizing Prince). Some of the language just felt cheesy.

[Shan]

Oof! This is definitely NOT the right book for the diehard Prince fan. I gave up counting all the mistakes in fact and type after I ran out of fingers. I don't want to judge the artwork cuz I can't draw a stick figure but some of the art was downright scary. When it comes to Prince, I am very particular. This was just a total trainwreck for me.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

was excited to read this but it was disappointing.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - liked the story and artwork. I didn't need the explanatory sections in-between each period. It felt like it duplicated what I'd already read.

[Shebbles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview for fans or folks interested in Prince. He was one freaky genius who was gone too soon.

[John of Canada · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed his music,his Superbowl performance,Purple Rain, the song and the movie and his performance with Tom Petty and others playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Amazing guitar work.

[GONZA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prince's life divided into years and with different illustrators for each section. A very apt choice that also conveys through the features peculiar to each artist, the multidimensionality of the Minneapolis genius. Beautiful Graphic Novel, too bad about the ending....

La vita di Prince divisa in anni e con disegnatori diversi per ogni sezione. Una scelta azzeccatissima che trasmette anche attraverso i tratti peculiari ad ogni artista, la multidimensionalità del genio di Minneapolis. Bella Graphic Novel, peccato il finale....

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

[BookCupid · Rating 3 out of 5]

It pains me to see such a collaborator in the artistic industry fade too soon due to drugs. The doves must have definitely cried. This series that portrays several artists' stories had a nice concept of many artists completing the drawings. I always connect better to some more than others. Although Prince's childhood was not easy, he still managed to reach fame and make history.