Me and the Devil Blues: The Unreal Life of Robert Johnson, Volume 1

Me and the Devil Blues #1

by Akira Hiramoto, David Ury (Translator)

CROSS ROAD BLUES

Legend has it that if you take your guitar and stand at a crossroads at the witching hour, the devil will appear. He’ll grab your instrument, play a song, and hand it back to you. You’ll walk away an expert bluesman, but you’ll have to pay the price: your immortal soul.

The year is 1929. Deep in the Mississippi Delta, a young man named R J dreams of becoming a bluesman. R J is a simple farmer who can barely play guitar, but when he takes a midnight stroll, his life is forever changed.

A phantasmagoric reimagining of the life of legendary blues great Robert Johnson, Me and the Devil Blues follows the journey of a man who really did sell his soul to the devil. Why not come along for the ride?

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Music, Fiction, Historical

544 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2004

About the author

AKA 平本アキラ

Born in 1976.
Debuted in 1995 with "Sono Tomodachi ni Gimon Ari" story in Weekly Young Magazine under pen name Hiramoto Akira (平本明).

Reviews

[Mizuki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me and the Devil Blues: The Unreal Life of Robert Johnson is a rare breed in the field of Japanese manga, featuring blues music, the time of the Great Depression and a main character who is a black man (in another word, African American. Just to be hopefully on the politically correct side).

A main character from manga who isn't fair skinned or with blond hair!? How rare!

The manga is a mixture of fantasy and thriller, with a plot loosely based on the life and death of Robert Johnson, the legendary 'Grandfather of Rock n' Roll'.

Our main character (refereed to as 'RJ' by his peers) leads us through a long, dramatic and gloomy journey filled with music, crime, violence, pain, wonder, danger and death. It is a journey through a Land of Darkness (namely America) in the time of the Great Depression. It is also a journey in which the demons and wonders in RJ's songs come into life, with the Devil and the Hell Hounds following the penniless-farmer-turned-blues-guitarist's every step of the way.

Some readers might find the first two volumes difficult to understand what's going on with the story---afterall metaphors show up often in Me and the Devils, and volume one actually opens with a pair of black skinned, chained Adam and Eve being exiled from the Paradise! But Me and the Devil Blues can always steal your heart...and soul away with its breathtaking story-telling, its daring plot twists and its gloomy, realistic but disturbingly attractive artwork.

[Zefyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Low 3? I'm enjoying it, but the writing is iffy, the art style is inconsistent for no apparent reason other than hey, how about some of this? and the transitions left me more often than not wondering if I'd missed something major in the last few pages. Two or three times I found myself trying to figure out if someone had gotten shot, or if everything had just jumped to another time or place or both, or if there was some other reason for Large-Mouthed Shock. (Once it actually was that someone had been shot.) Hiramoto's artistic strength is in his faces, so he leans heavily on that, which is unfortunate; his art is really solid, whichever style he works with, so when he tries filling in the world around these faces it looks fantastic. Then he seems to lose interest and either simplify the background, inexplicably change it (such as a big trunky tree suddenly getting swapped with an elegant bottle tree without the angle of the scene changing), or just ZOOM IN ON THE FACES ONLY THE FACES INTENSSSSSSSSITY. Which works fine if you're not still zoomed on the faces whenever there's any action, and also works fine if you're good with subtlety in faces, which is not as much a strength here (the story generally would do well with some subtlety, actually). The writing was...well, it tried. I was delighted to see how he drew RJ's splitting hand, as it was something I'd attempted to draw before for a story and not done particularly well at developing.

It's hard to figure out where the story arc is from this book - as mentioned, the transitions are awful, and as other reviewers have mentioned the story beyond the beginning seems tacked on. I'm interested enough to give the second volume a shot.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a bit strange to see an American music icon rendered in manga format, but Robert Johnson is a unique case. You see, it's been said, over and over, that his talents were not God-given. In fact, quite the opposite. As legend has it, Johnson went down to the cross-roads and made a deal with the devil. It's said that he gave up his soul in order to become the best bluesman in the world. Great story, right? After all, there are few bluesmen out there that don't credit Johnson as a major influence. And the mystery surrounding his genius...well, that makes for great storytelling. Which is exactly what Hiramoto did with "Me and the Devil Blues". He takes the well-known legend and breathes life into it. He populates the RJ's world with other characters of note from the era, Son House, Willie Brown, Clyde Barrow and integrates them into the landscape of the American South. Naturally, there are some liberties taken with the historical aspects of Johnson's life, but considering how little about him is actually known, it's easy to overlook any inaccuracies. It may not have happened like this, but it could have. And that's what makes it so interesting.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the surreal quality of the story and the artwork is great. Not a title for everyone, but I would still recommend it to anyone willing to try something new. One thing I did find kind of interesting was that even though it is an American story it was written for a Japanese audience and every now and again a Japanese hand movement will appear.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very cool dark and gritty.

Trigger warnings: for the words Nigger, Nigro lynching and other words and things against black people

[Lashawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting supernatual reimagining on the life of bluesman Robert Johnson. Seeing that most of his life is undocumented, Hiramoto has taken the legend of Johnson meeting up with the devil and running with it. He also brings in Clyde of Bonnie and Clyde fame, and pairs him with Johnson in a strange, mad partnership that has them caterwauling across the south.

The manga gets nice and spooky during the supernatural bits, but even if you take out the supernatural, there are times when it's freaky, such as when Johnson gets captured by a bunch of men who's looking to do a lynching. Among them is a young white boy, who casually says the n-word and treats the upcoming lynching like a day at the circus. And the knowledge that people truly did make festivals out of lynchings truly is chilling.

I would say though that Clyde's appearance slowly takes over Johnson's storyline, which is why I liked the second volume less. But as a supernatural imagining, this was pretty good.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great art, great subject matter. But the plot wasn't very coherent or captivating. There were moments where I had to do a double take because I did not fully understand what was going on, and most of the focus is on strange interludes with Clyde (of Bonnie and Clyde) or on unusual mutations to Robert Johnson's right hand. Very little of the content is focused on music or the emotional consequences of selling one's soul to the devil. I would have been pretty upset if I'd bought this book instead of checking it out from the library.

[Concertina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Como que no.

[William Cheng · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Me and the Devil Blues," a horror tale and retelling of American South mythologies, stars RJ, a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for the devil teaching him how to play the blues. The story includes many elements that are common to American readers but are hardly ever seen in Japanese comics, such as lynching and sharp racial differences in the south. According to what I've learned about the blues from both the manga and my reading, it's necessary to embrace and deal with emotion in order to play the blues. It's all about pouring your heart and soul into your instrument and allowing it to represent your tears, blood, and sweat. When I read it I could feel those tears and sweat, because this manga is full of emotion. Although it's safe to say that in real life, Robert Johnson didn't sell his soul to the devil in order to gain such fame, the manga by Hiramoto Akira has done an excellent job of weaving the "devil's" presence into a timeline of Johnson's life. However, in addition to portraying Johnson's life, the manga is also a serious drama in that it introduces the viewer to a world rife with institutionalized racism. Racism is a touchy subject to bring up in real life, but Hiramoto tackles it head on and manages to be remarkably down to earth and honest in his portrayal of the subject. He has taken care not to include stereotypes, but rather realistic characters that represent the impoverished minority. I really enjoyed reading the vibrant Southern lingo and slang; although this may be due in part to the translator's excellent work, the language effectively conveys the atmosphere. Its art also was very amazing with a much more realistic feel to it than other manga I've read. Sometimes it was almost too scary to look at. The scene where RJ's friend had a knife centimeters away from his eyes after bragging about how good RJ was at playing made me want to run away from my screen. With depictions of death from racial hate and even showing weakness to a woman in the first chapter, the artwork was top class. An amazing story and definitely something that someone should read in their lifetime.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hiramoto mixes the life of blues legend Robert Johnson with a healthy dolop of fiction and horror to create a fairly interesting, but maybe too-slow-unfolding drama. Young RJ wants to play guitar, but he's not very good - until one midnight, he finds himself at the crossroads and, per the local legend, plays a song for the devil, so that the devil will give him talent at the cost of his soul. RJ finds that six months have passed, and he's suddenly the most gifted guitar player anyone's heard. But his wife dies in childbirth. Then Clyde Barrow picks him up and uses him as an accessory to a robbery, and then RJ is captured by white hicks and Barrow - needing him for another gig and perhaps just slightly guilty that he got RJ into this predicament - tries to find a way to rescue him. To be continued in v. 2...

Some gruesome horror imagery - RJ sprouts ten fingers on his right hand, thus explaining his amazing talent, yet the fingers are sometimes visible, sometimes not (to him and to others), and some nice sequences here - but the three sentences above sum up over 500 pages of storytelling. It lingers on points longer than it should. The town where RJ is captured is clearly nutso, but we're given extended looks at their intolerance toward alcohol consumption and their racism as well. A black musician in the South is compelling, potentially tragic stuff, but this one could be stronger.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

engrossing book about making a pact with an unseen demon so lost you don't even know where you are having illusions not sure if you are coming or going ...making that deal was probably not the best thing he could have done but it is done and get to go on the journey with Robert meet up with other people from the south who spoke the language that is hate we meet a decent thief and a crazed landowner. A really good read i enjoiyed it.

[M R · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an interesting reimagining of this man's life. I picked this graphic novel up on a lark while in the library and didn't realize it was actually a multi-voume book, but I look forward to reading more and seeing what happens with RJ with the clock ticking down to his lynching.

[Brandon Donnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic artwork and well written. I am looking forward to the other volumes. The imagery moves in such a way that I can feel like I'm in the juke joint and hearing the music.

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Akira Hiramoton "Me and the Devil Blues: The Unreal Life of Robert Johnson, Volume 1" (Ballantine, 2008) on 1930-luvulle sijoittuva sarjakuvaromaani, jonka innoittajana on toiminut delta bluesin kenties legendaarisimman hahmon Robert Johnsonin (1911-1938) elämäntarinaa värittävä legenda sielun myymisestä paholaiselle. Son Housen levittämä kertomus soittotaidon hankkimisesta saatanallisin keinoin on jäänyt elämään, vaikka itse asiassa tämänkaltaista tarinaa itsestään kertoi sukunimikaima ja kollega Tommy (1896-1956).

Sarjakuva kertoo bluesin syvintä olemusta etsivästä muusikosta RJ:sta, joka kauppaa sielunsa, oppii soittamaan kuin paholainen ja päätyy kiertämään pitkin syvää etelää. Hiramoto ottaa aineksia myös muualta populaarikulttuurista, ja vastaan reissulla tulee muun muassa Clyde Barrow (tiedättehän, se Bonnien ja Clyden miehisempi osapuoli).

Lopputulos on kuvituksellisesti mukiinmenevää sarjakuvaa, mutta sinänsä ihan lupaavasti alkanut juoni muuttuu puolivälin paikkeilla melko älyttömäksi. Lisäksi sarjakuva tuntuisi kaipaavan enemmän RJ:ta ja vähemmän Clyde-pankkirosvoa, joka paikoitellen tuntuu nousevan tarinan päähenkilöksi.

Ensimmäisen osansa perusteella "Me and the Devil Blues" on ihan luettava sarjakuva, mutta kun odotukset olivat niin paljon korkeammalla ja aineksia olisi ollut paljon parempaankin, annetaan vain kaksi tähteä.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty amazing, and weird recreation of the life of Robert Johnson. I've got no love of the blues, really, but this is more an imagination rather than a biography, and it's easy to find more general artistic parallels, whether you play the blues or draw manga or write stories.

And that's not even the half of it-- for the second half of this volume, Johnson is on the road with Clyde Barrow, for christ's sake, in a town where they try to trick people into drinking alcohol so they can kill them for violating prohibition! This isn't just a hauntingly strange story (the circumstances surrounding RJ's learning to play are very sad and uncanny, and he's got ten fingers on one hand for playing the blues) but it's also incredibly pulpy and bizarre....

My only complaint, and it's minor, is that I wanted the storyline left hanging at the end of this volume to be resolved, so they could move onto other stuff. I worry it's starting to drag a little, but we'll see what develops in volume two.

[sweet pea · Rating 4 out of 5]

the idea of a japanese manga about an american blues legend just sounds wrong. but, mostly, it is effectively pulled off. the first half is a retelling of RJ's (Robert Johnson) origins and his deal with the devil. the second half gets a little crazy with RJ unwittingly pairing up with another american legend. the last third of the book, bizarrely, barely has RJ at all.

despite the surreal plot twists, the atmosphere evokes the south. the illustrations are often beautiful and the frames are continually arrayed interestingly. if you're looking to gain an understanding of Robert Johnson's life, you'll be sorely disappointed. if you're looking for a bizarre spin on a blues legend, this is your jam. it actually makes me long for graphic features on other blues ciphers, like geeshie wiley, charley patton, and roosevelt graves. although, there's a very good chance i would hate them. this one, however, holds my interest and i will await the second volume.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was amazing i could barely put it down. i read the whole book in one day. the book really shows that you will do anything to accomplish thier dreams. even if it means selling thier soul to the devil. this book is about a man named R.J who wants to be the best blues player in the world. but he cannot play the guitar to save his life. he hears rumours about going to the crossroads and playing his guitar and the devil will come and play a song and you will be amazing at guitar. but in return you owe him your soul. this book in a way is inspiring because this man stops at nothing to become a great blues musician. in the time he was alive the world was racist and it was hard to make a living then also alot of white men wanted him dead so it was hard for him. but he over came alot of it. for a comic it was a very good book.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a disappointment. I'd been planning to read it for several years now. I love the blues, I love the recordings Robert Johnson made before he died, and I think the cover is gorgeous. I guess I was expecting something a bit more biographical. Hiramoto made up a lot of the story in the book, and I didn't like that. Not a lot is known about Robert Johnson, so if you want to write a full length book, I guess making up a lot of the details would be a reasonable approach...

There is a magical realism quality to the story, and magical realism has always left me kind of cold. Also Manga isn't really my thing. It might be a great choice for a different reader. If you like manga, are prepared for something that is part fiction and part biography, and enjoy spooky impossible happenings, go for it.

[Stephen Jenkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Two things put me off in this book. The first is that I didn't realize it was volume 1. Although Goodreads indicates that in its title. The book itself was not as clear about this to me. Secondly, I found it weird that two thirds of the way into this fictional biography of a blues man I admire, Hiramoto decided to give him an extra five fingers on his left hand. Since I have learned several Johnson tunes myself on the guitar I know that his music can be played by the normal number of fingers. it is just this kind of wild romanticization of music that continually confronts a working musician like myself with unneeded frustration. Jes sayin.

Anyway, the drawing was fine. The writing not so much.

[Qiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I made it through my first Manga! It felt really odd reading about the life of a black bluesman through the style and form of a Japanese comic. I thought Hiramoto did an excellent job representing the emotion and intensity of the blues and Robert Johnson's gift. There were moments, though, where the dialogue translation felt off - a bit too hysterical at points. I had also been looking forward to seeing what Hiramoto would do with the fantastical elements of the "devil" who gave Johnson his musical ability, but I not impressed with the execution. I still have high hopes for the second volume, though.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A manga inspired by the life of blues legend Robert Johnson. You wouldn't think it would work, particularly when you see how thick the first volume is... But it does. The art's rough and sketchy, capturing perfectly the eerie, occasionally unreal, events that happen on its pages. The story is a grim, uncompromising look at the South during the Great Depression, touched in places by a supernatural influence that is at once subtle, horrifying, and captivating.

I'm definitely buying the second volume.

[Kylin Larsson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art was the best thing about the book. I've always been interested in the story of the blues player who sold his soul to the devil. A manga interpretation of this sounded good but fell short of being actually interesting. The devil never shows up. Sigh. It feels like the author really wanted to write the back story to Clyde (of Bonnie & Clyde) because that is the majority of the meandering story. If a story can't have a beginning, a middle, and an end in 500 pages (seriously, it doesn't end, it just stops), then it needs a drastic developmental edit.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agree with other reviewers, the art and imagering are wonderful and some scenes are quite haunting. The author definelty creates a dark, forboding tale that fits well with a legend about the blues and also channels a bit of classic southern gothic.

Agree with others, that the plot is not coherent and while the Clyde barrow piece starts out interesting as sort of an alternate history legend, it loses something as it feels like the second half is a different story grafted on to the first half of the novel.

[Neven · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strong, promising opening tells the folk tale of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil, and adds some interesting twists. About 1/3 of the way in, though, the plot derails and doesn't really recover. Much of the time, the panels are confusing and the transitions head-spinning, ignoring the strengths of the comic-book medium (the page-turn as a powerful edit) and cutting between plots randomly. The art is effective during the many psychedelic sequences, and only so-so the rest of the time.

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This comic is a pretty weird, but inventive mash-up of manga, Robert Johnson, and Clyde Darrow. I'm typically not a big manga person and I still have some little objections here and there about the style. Also, there were a few panels where the continuity was not as strong as it should have been. It's not quite as clever as it wants to be, but it's entertaining in a trashy kind of way and I definitely want to know what comes next.

[Kristin Fletcher-spear · Rating 3 out of 5]

best suited for older teens and adults who like a dab of horror with their history. Reimagines the life of robert johnson, blues legend whose life remains a mystery to this day.

I enjoyed it, but honestly the true to time vernacular really grated on my nerves. I also wish there was a note about the use of that language in the endnotes.

that being said, I particularly like the inclusion of clyde as in bonnie & 8lyde!

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hiramoto imagines a world where the lives of Robert Johnson and Clyde Barrow intersect - the artwork is awesome, the story itself is extremely violent, sometimes convoluted (but this could also be due to the fact that it reads right to left as the original in Japanese did and that takes some getting used to) and of course, the author leaves you hanging. Hopefully the fate of RJ and Clyde will be revealed in volume 2, another 400-500 page manga tome, which I will, of course, need to read!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting graphic novel. A fictionalized phantasmagorical account of the life of blues musician Robert Johnson (who sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads...so the legend goes). The concept alone had my interest piqued. Though all of the artwork is in black and white (which isn't my personal favorite) it really is fantastic. And the plot is getting bizarre to say the least...let's just say that Clyde Barrow is brought into the story! Looking forward to the second volume.

[Jonathan Hunsberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmm... unreal is right. In both senses of the word. I really enjoyed this. The artwork really fits with the American south, even if some of the sensibilities are more Japanese/manga. There were a few times where i was kind of lost for a few panels or pages, but perseverance always won out and eventually I found the necessary clues to interpret what I had seen before. And what a place to leave the reader hanging between volumes! Can't wait to get the second one.

[Shaun · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda disappointed by this one. It's kind of a stream of consciousness horror comic that doesn't manage to be terribly scary or even particularly coherent. And, dare I say it, it doesn't really seem too concerned about accurately portraying any of the details of Robert Johnson's life. The narrative is doing some interesting things, but the name of the book and the concept is writing checks it can't cash.