Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • Duela Dent -- Part 3...PLUS: Elseworlds Reviews

      Daniel Elkin
      November 6, 2000
      It's BobRo the Answer Man!
    Recent
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

      Daniel Gehen
      October 27, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • Collecting Profile: Harley Quinn

      Daniel Elkin
      February 15, 2020
      Big Two, Collectibles, DC Comics, Miscellaneous Comic Book Content
    Recent
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • Stan Lee

      nguyen ly
      November 7, 2020
    • Collecting Profile: Jack O’ Lantern

      nguyen ly
      October 31, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • SIngles Going Steady 10/19/2016: Three's Company

      Daniel Elkin
      October 23, 2016
      IDW, Image, Marvel Comics, Reviews, Singles Going Steady, Valiant
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • 4.5

      Review: 'Kitaro' is virtuoso weirdness from Japan

      Daniel Elkin
      August 20, 2013
      Reviews
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • Interview and Exclusive Advance Preview: Teen Dog #3 and Creator Jake Lawrence

      Daniel Elkin
      November 7, 2014
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • "THE BEST OF WITZEND" is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Elkin
      September 15, 2018
      Books, Classic Comics, Fantagraphics, Reviews
    Recent
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

      Mark Stack
      January 2, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Kickstarter Spotlight: The Heart of Time: Volume 1

      Daniel Elkin
      April 2, 2015
      Kickstarter Spotlight, News
    Recent
    • 2020 Ringo Awards Winners Announced

      Daniel Gehen
      October 26, 2020
    • BAD IDEA Announces 2021 Publishing Slate

      Daniel Gehen
      September 29, 2020
    • A Full Replay of NCSFest 2020 is now Available

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2020
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • Review: 'Cartoon County' is a Breezy, Fun Burst of Comics Nostalgia

      Daniel Elkin
      November 13, 2017
      Books
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: Batwoman
  • Collecting Profile: Daredevil
  • Collecting Profile: Floronic Man
  • Review of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984
  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist
  • Collecting Profile: Transformers
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Reviews

Review: 'SUPERZELDA: The Graphic Life of Zelda Fitzgerald' is a Solid Primer on the Jazz Age Icon

Daniel Elkin
May 1, 2013
Reviews

 

Much like last year's Lincoln mania, this year it's all about the Fitzgeralds, F. Scott and Zelda. Baz Luhrmann is set to release his much-hyped interpretation of Gatsby (which fills me with an unsettling mixture of excitement and dread), and there is slated to be a whole slew of biographies about these icons of the Jazz Age.

I fully expect to see a great deal of bobbed hair, gin-drinking and Charleston dancing the next time I venture forth from the Bunker.

And I'm not immune to the hype. I'm teaching The Great Gatsby to my junior class right now, and, as a lead-in activity, I talked a bit about F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, calling them "the Beyonce and Jay-Z of their time". I'm not proud of that analogy, but it worked on enough of a fundamental level for my students to grok it. Scott and Zelda are legendary characters as much for their volatile relationship and epic intoxication, as they are for the art they created. One Peace Books' latest publication, Superzelda: The Graphic Life of Zelda Fitzgerald, explores all of this and, by doing so, elevates Zelda even further.

 

 

Author Tiziana Lo Porto has constructed a great book here. The press release for Superzelda states that the majority of the dialogue is real, "extracted from novels, stories, letters and interviews, as well as statements made by their famous friends…" and, assuming this is true, what we have is a depiction of a powerful love fueled by art, ennui and alcohol. 

But the focus of this book is smack dab on Zelda, warts and all. Here we see an iconoclastic woman navigating her artistic sensibilities, her celebrity status, her vanity, her decaying marriage and her schizophrenia with a level of personal insight and enormous denial. The story covers both the abuses heaped upon her by her husband, as well as those she lathered him up in as well. Superzelda travels with the Fitzgeralds from Alabama to New York to Paris to Minnesota to Italy to Hollywood to Delaware to seemingly all the places in between as they are constantly seeking salves for their troubles, thinking a change of scenery would be all that was required.

The first half of the book sets Zelda as beautiful, fearless, spoiled and wild which only adds to the pathos of her eventual decline. As Zelda unravels, you begin to wonder if her early effervescence was the cause of her mental illness or a result of it. In this book she comes across as the model for all of F. Scott's female protagonists — after reading this book, it is impossible to read Daisy Buchanan as anyone other than Zelda.

Artist Daniele Marotta also has done a great job of researching the clothing and cityscapes of the time period and his pages show this attention to detail. His style is loose and sketchy and everything is conveyed in black, white and blue — the same blue throughout, adding a uniformity to the pages, but washing over so much of the detail. Unfortunately, it is Marotta's art that detracts from what is, for all intents and purposes, a great introduction to Zelda's life. For a woman so praised for her angelic beauty, Marotta draws one hell of an ugly Zelda. Her face morphs from panel to panel, so much so that sometimes you are not even sure that it is her. Tightly detailed background renderings are juxtaposed with blobs of ink to suggest  the people among them, and everyone has the same angry look even while they are smiling.

And then there is the blue. So much of the blue. Everywhere. Too much.

 

 

Still,  Superzelda: The Graphic Life of Zelda Fitzgerald accomplishes much of what I assume the creators set out to do. It brings to life the biography of Zelda, adds to her mythos and humanizes her at the same time. It explores complicated issues of love, art, alcoholism and mental illness while giving voice to a person powerful and self-confident enough to deal with them head on. At 176 pages, it serves as a great introduction to the Fitzgeralds and to Zelda specifically, and, as this year's Fitzgerald Frenzy begins, it gives you just the right sense of how to be both beautiful and damned as you dance tenderly in the night on this side of paradise. During the eventual conversations you are bound to find yourself in about the Fitzgeralds, it will keep you from being a great gasbag.

Yea. I just did that.

 


 

 

Daniel Elkin tends to layer his cynicism thick between two slices of bread and then slather it in condiments and sweetmeats. He can be found on Twitter — @DanielElkin — doing just that. He is also Your Chicken Enemy.

Daniel ElkinOne PeaceTiziana Lo Porto

Share On:
Tweet
47 Ronin #4
Review: 'Journey By Starlight' Makes Hard Science a Little Easier to Understand

About The Author

Daniel Elkin
Daniel Elkin
Small-Press Editor

Daniel Elkin is Comics Bulletin's Small Press Editor. He can be found on Twitter: @DanielElkin

Related Posts

  • Announcing the Formation of Fieldmouse Press

    Daniel Gehen
    September 3, 2019
  • ICYMI — Small Press Comics Criticism and Whatnot for 12/1/18 to 12/7/18

    Daniel Elkin
    December 10, 2018

Latest Reviews

  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

    Daniel Gehen
    December 14, 2020
  • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

    Daniel Gehen
    December 3, 2020
  • 4.5

    TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

    Daniel Gehen
    October 29, 2020
  • 4.5

    Micro Review: Commanders in Crisis #1

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    October 12, 2020
  • 3.0

    Review: GHOST WRITER Fights the Spectre of Unevenness

    Daniel Gehen
    September 3, 2020
  • 3.5

    Review: Strange Skies Over East Berlin

    Yavi Mohan
    August 11, 2020
  • DRAWING BLOOD: A Hyper-Stylized, Fictional Autobiography

    Ben Bishop, Brittany Peer, David Avallone, Drawing Blood, Kevin Eastman, Tomi Varga
    August 9, 2020
  • 3.0

    Alien: The Original Script #1 – This One’s For The Fans

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    August 7, 2020
  • Singles Going Steady: Why? Lettering!

    Daniel Gehen
    July 28, 2020
  • 4.5

    X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #4 is a Finale of Moral Questions

    Daniel Gehen
    July 22, 2020
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders