Publisher: SelfMadeHero
Release Date: May 17, 2017
Price: $22.95
Creator(s): Jose-Luis Bocquet (writer); Catel Muller (art)
Format: 568 pgs., B&W, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-9105-9329-5
Age Rating: N/A
ICv2 Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
This book is gigantic. The graphic biography ends on page 460, followed by almost another hundred pages of notes. These include a timeline and biographical information about many of the historical figures and family members who wander through the story of her life.
Josephine Baker was a remarkable entertainer who went through men and money at an amazing rate. Her husbands and lovers were numerous, her houses were huge, and her adopted children and menagerie of animals were astounding in their quantities.
She was also not a very nice person, especially in her youth. She could be cruel and selfish in ways that this book shows the reader, especially in the accompanying notes. She left a show in mid-tour of Europe to take another performing gig, by itself a small enough incident, until the reader learns that she ruined the original show by her departure.
On the other hand, her generosity towards animals and children were legendary, and her work with the French underground put her at considerable risk during World War II. Her dislike of American segregation was open and obvious, and left her as a target for American conservatives, who alternately attacked her as a communist or a former Nazi collaborator, both unlikely considering how highly Charles DeGaulle regarded her at war’s end. She was run out of her native country for much of her life, and she accepted exile to the Europe she favored. Still, the resentment was there.
The artwork is a slight weakness, being cartoony even at the most serious moments, and sketchy enough to occasionally be distracting. In some cases, it’s difficult to distinguish characters when they reappear in the story.
Josephine Baker was a complicated woman, and this volume contains enough that it at least tries to explain her. It is not a quick read, but is worth the effort.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.
