Just Read

Lady Gaga has a hit song called “Bad Romance” and this is going to sound like a bad dream to some. But not to me. Lady Gaga is getting her own comic book thanks to Bluewater Productions. Don’t worry…just dance, gonna be ok.

Lady Gaga by Chemsem on DeviantArt
The comic is titled Fame, which just so happens to be almost the exact same name of Gaga’s debut album (The Fame), but does not belong to the singer alone. Granted, she dresses like a superhero on a daily basis but the book is actually the start of a new biographical series from Bluewater that focuses on pop culture icons and celebrities. Successive issues will focus on Twilight star Robert Pattinson, musicians 50 Cent and Taylor Swift and soccer dad David Beckham.
The preview issue featuring Gaga will be Bluewater’s offering at Free Comic Book Day this year. “Over the past year we saw an opportunity to broaden the scope of who reads comics,” said Bluewater president and former marketing executive for E! and Lionsgate Darren G. Davis, “There were many who had never picked up a graphic novel or comic book buy our biography titles like Female Force and Political Power. Fame is the natural extension of that trend.”
According to Bluewater, “the Female Force series will feature Nancy Pelosi, Michelle Obama: Year One and Ellen DeGeneres. Other biographies filling out the first half of the year’s schedule include Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor, news anchor Meredith Vieira, and novelist Anne Rice. The Political Power series will feature Al Gore, Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton followed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Franken, and Rush Limbaugh.” In the past they’ve featured authors J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer and politician Sarah Palin.
Artists and writers for the Lady Gaga section were not named in the Bluewater press release but the FCBD site lists S.E. Hinton, CW Cooke and Dan Rafter as scribes for the entire preview book and Vinnie Tartamella as the cover artist. I’ve never picked up a single one of these biography titles, which are in fact unauthorized biographies, and I wouldn’t pay for this one either. Luckily for me, my love for Lady Gaga gets a free pass.
For further reading, take a gander at what Davis has to say about his new line of biographies, “Some have praised them, some just sit back and heap scorn because the subject matter doesn’t fit their narrow view of what a comic book should be. But the argument is, and always will be, that these books sold. I sold more units for these titles this year than all of my other titles combined. There is a market for these titles.” What do you think dear readers?

9 Responses to “Just Read”

  1. Anonymous says:

    I love Gaga. I hope this does well. :)

  2. d0nnatr0y says:

    Hey if it brings new readers to the comic book fold, I'm all for it!

  3. At least they don't have to design any costumes for her ;-) I think she's too cool. :-)

  4. Randy says:

    While I disagree about Lady Gaga, Robert Pattison and Fitty Cent being considered pop culture 'icons,' if there's a market for this sort of thing then more power to them.

    I saw the Michelle Obama book at my local comics shop. Thumbed through it and thought the art was pretty bad.

    Reminded me of the crappy Blackthorne or Solson books that used to flood the market in the late 80s.

    We'll see what happens, I guess.

  5. TS Hendrik says:

    Reminds me of the cartoons that they used as filler for bugs bunny with all the old celebrities. They were dated and boring beyond belief. I imagine this will have the same feel.

  6. I will pick up multiple copies since they are going to be free, put them in a big ol' stack in my bathroom and use them as buttwipes, why you ask because it's garbage! There are many musicians out there like Fall-out Boy, Chemical romance to name a couple who have pretty darn good comic books based on some of their own ideas. This along with those Oprah, Obama and various other bio comics out there r a waste of trees.

  7. Anonymous says:

    I got the female force issue of stephanie myer off a book swap site for a friend. I was suprised to see the price tag was 6.99 :o i was very dissapointed in the content and the art,but done properly I think these books are a good idea and may create more comic book readers

  8. Philip P says:

    If there is still a market for Polka music, there will be a market for these kinda of comics/graphic novels. Plus it's Lady Gaga! Who can resist?

  9. Arturo says:

    … well, it can't hurt as an experiment, I guess. If people buy them, cool. It doesn't compete with anything the Big Two are releasing and gets readers' interest.