Baby's in Black: Astrid Kirchherr, Stuart Sutcliffe, and The Beatles HC
Publisher: First Second
Release Date: May 2012
Price: $24.99
Creator: Arne Bellstorf
Format: 200 pgs.; 6"x8-1/2"; Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-5964-3771-5
Age Rating: N/A
ICv2 Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5

The story of "fifth Beatle" Stu Sutcliffe has been told in print and in film, but this graphic version has its own appeal.  It's the story of The Beatles, then the Fab 5 of John, Paul, George, Stu and Pete [Best].  Stu had a musical background, but no experience playing the bass until John and Paul talked him into giving it a try.  Stu really wanted to be an artist, though, and while the group was in Germany, he fell in love with a German photographer, and left the band to go to art school there.

This graphic biography of his time in Germany, told from the viewpoint of his photographer girlfriend [later fiancée], gives a great view of the club scene in Hamburg, and some of the things that influenced The Beatles, and thereby all of 60's pop music.  Unfortunately, the focus is so narrow that it glosses over everything not directly related to Stu.  The author apparently felt that Pete Best didn't do anything noteworthy the whole time.  Some of the major unanswered questions about Stu's life and death are never addressed by this book.

What is included, in Bellstorf's simplified artistic style, is an overview of Stu the would-be artist, struggling with trying to divide his time between music and visual arts, trying to live a life half-British and half-German.  That part is compelling, and teens and adults interested in 60's music will find it worth reading.

--Nick Smith: Librarian Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.