REVIEW: The 27 Club, A Comic Anthology

Title: The 27 Club, A Comic Anthology
STORY BYÂ Erica Jang, Various
ART BYÂ Mario Candelaria, Alex Cormack, Chuck Harrison,Shaun Manning , Ryan Schrodt , Erica Schultz ,Jennie Wood , Jeremy Whitley , Various
COVER BYÂ Mark Mullaney
PUBLISHERÂ Action Lab Comics

The 27 Club anthology focuses on telling stories that relate to some of rock and roll’s most famous patron saints. For those who do not know, the “27 Club” is a grouping of famous musicians who all died at or around the age of twenty-seven, often as a result of drug or alcohol abuse or some other sort of tragic demon. The stories contained in this anthology are not biographical. They are fictional tales, often somewhat supernatural, that involve some of the 27 Club’s most famous members, such as Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, and Janis Joplin.

The art in The 27 Club varies in style and quality, but overall, I found it to be decently good for an anthology, if sometimes a bit abstract. The styles often fit the content of the stories well, which additionally ranged from believable to bizarre. Some are comical, like an afterlife gang-war amongst deceased musicians, and some are darker, like a possessed man channeling a typewriter’s former owner to finish his novel. They all, however, contain lovely reference (and respect for) the artists that inspired this anthology. My favorite, personally, was the introductory story by T. Perran Mitchell and Mark Mullaney, involving the Crossroads, the patron devils of artistry, and Robert Johnson.

If you’re the type of soul who enjoys comics as much as you enjoy music (or vice-versa), then this is likely something that you’ll want to add to your bookshelf or coffee table. I don’t think that you’ll regret it, and I think anyone’s “music room” would be better for having it. This anthology isn’t going to blow your mind, and it isn’t going to break your heart (probably). But, if you grew up with some of these musicians as heroes, then you very well might find yourself smiling.

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