Bob Marley in Comics

by Feb 19, 2020Writings

Bob Marley In Comics

BOB MARLEY IN COMICS

Authors: Gaëts / Sophie Blitman
Publisher:  NBM Graphic Novels
Published: December 2019
Book: Hardback / 176 pages
ISBN: 978-1681122496

In Comics

Without any doubt Bob Marley and comics fans will be very pleased with the publishing of a brand new graphic novel entitled “Bob Marley In Comics”. The 176-page full color book with a hard cover is a boisterous biography of Bob Marley. It’s actually the next entry in NBM Comics Biographies series within the subseries “In Comics” dedicated to rock bands and follows the very successful books on The Beatles and on The Rolling Stones. While Reggae had already gone beyond Jamaica’s borders with the likes of Jimmy Cliff and some others, it is truly Bob Marley who popularized Reggae music around the world, making it a worldwide hit accepted by the masses. He also put Rastafarianism on the map worldwide.

The novel’s description:

In the middle of a depressing youth in a ghetto of Kingston, Jamaica, Robert Nesta Marley sees only one way out: music. And that music will be what Jamaica made of rock and pop locally that had hardly been heard anywhere else: reggae! It is Marley who brings the unmistakable beat of reggae to the entire world. From small stages in Jamaica, his partners of the Wailers accompany him all the way to the most fabulous world tours and adulation. Beyond a rocketing musical career, the most famous rasta wants to shake things up and proclaim all over his humanitarian and egalitarian values.

Content

The book is divided in chapters, which chronicle the life of a fascinating man and artist. It starts off with the chapter “From Nesta To Robert” and furthermore includes chapters such as “Reggae In The Ghetto”, “Sound Systems, Ska & Studio One”, The Roots of The Rasta Movement”, “Tuff Gong In Nine Miles”, “The Reggae Wave”, The Sheriff Died Tonight”, ‘Panic In The Hen House”, “Punk Reggae Party”, “Ablaze” and “Roots”. In between the reader also finds informative text pages with titles like “Growing Up Between Worlds”, “Making Friends in Trenchtown”, “The Path to Success”, “An “‘International Reggae'”, Bob Marley, Rita… and all the Other Women”, “The Price of Fame”, “From Exile to Exodus”, “Bob Marley and His Love of Soccer”, “For Peace And Unity Among Peoples”, and “Death of the ‘Pope Of Reggae'”.

The drawings featured in the various chapters are done by different artists, which is an interesting concept. The variety of styles teases the reader’s attention and increases the appeal of the content.