Review: Paul Is Dead: When the Beatles Lost McCartney

The realm of history is too often fodder for dull story-telling and strict nine panel grids. Paul is Dead takes a dramatically different approach, diving into the realm of historical conjecture and creating a fascinating book that fills it’s pages with emotion rather than exposition.

What makes Paul is Dead such a unique comic is that it does not try to revisit a large swath of history and relate a large amount of life events surrounding the Beatles. Instead it focuses in on just a few important days and showcases a group of brothers grieving over the death of one of their own. Both in the writing and the artwork, this allows a more focused and nuanced portrait of these creators.

Paolo Baron’s story has three main throughlines. One follows John as he is told of the death of Paul and must then tell George and Ringo. We see every moment of emotion John goes through, from the natural denial and anger to the LSD induced acceptance. Another flashes back to show Paul’s frustrations within the group and John attempting to modulate his voice hanging upside-down. The last is a black and white sequence where John conducts try-outs for a potential look-alike to replace him within the band.

All three are aspects of Paul’s own desperation as we learn that he faked his own death in an effort to free himself from the band and the overwhelming pressure that comes with fame. The plot is clumsy and in a rather ludicrous way, Paul inexplicably simply walks back into his own house right after faking his own death. But the plot is simply a showcase for the deep emotions and astounding art.

The art by Ernesto Carbonetti is a revelation. The title page lists Baron’s work as ‘Lyrics’ and Carbonetti’s as ‘Music’ and his fluid, emotive style of art truly is a form of music. It flows naturally and showcases the deep emotions through colors, light and darkness in a rare showcase for the comic form. It shows how the comic page can truly be both a mode of clear story-telling and an incredible work of art. The flashbacks and training sequences are more structured, contrasted by the main story which eventually crecendos in an LSD induced fantasia.

The entire work allows us to see these celebrities in a personal, specific way and puts us through their emotions in a way more strictly nonfictional comics might not. What results is a celebration not only of the comaradarie among the Beatles, but of the comic form. This is a story which could never be told as well without the visual media provided by comics. In spite of being quite simple on the surface, the comic form allows it to be deeply affecting and true creative harmony between the written and artistic form.

Writing: 3.5 of 5 stars
Artwork: 4.8 of 5 stars
Colors: 5 of 5 stars

Overall: 4.4 of 5 stars

Story: Paolo Baron
Art and Cover: Ernesto Carbonetti
Translation: Adrian Nathan West
Publisher: Image ComicsÂ

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Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.