Review: The Beatles Story

The first time I heard Strawberry Fields Forever as a five-year-old child, I was hooked on the music of The Beatles forever. Their music has been the fabric that makes up the soundtrack of my life and it holds a special place in my heart. The story of The Beatles is something I“ve read several times over the years. The Beatles Story, by Angus Allan and Arthur Ranson (Rebellion Publishing) is a retelling of this story, with artistic recreations of photographs that I“ve seen in numerous publications.

This Graphic Novel is a reprinting of a series that was originally released in Look-In magazine in 1981-1982. This explains a lot, as during the early 80“s, after the tragic death of John Lennon, there was a renewed interest in the Fab Four. The world was mourning the passing of this musical giant, and the craving for more and more content became insatiable. At the time of original release, I“m sure the content was received quite well. Today, in 2018, it does come across as a bit dated. There is nothing here I“ve not seen or heard before. The content is fine, and it matches up with just about everything I“ve heard or read about the band in the past.

Angus Allan, (writer) told a story that had been told before. There is not much to say about the creativity, since this is a non-fiction piece of work. What I can say is that the all the key points are here. If you like the music of The Beatles, but never knew much of the back story of the band, this book is just as good as any to give you the details.

The art of Arthur Ranson is good. The one issue that I have is that most of the panels are drawings of photographs I“ve seen documenting the band’s history. Many publicity shots, several stories of fans going crazy for them, and documentaries about different members of the band all are seen in this work. As drawings of historical photographs of the band, the work is very nice.

The back cover of this graphic novel proclaims “The Beatles as you“ve never seen them before,”“ but that is not true. This is exactly as I“ve seen them before. If you“re a long-time Beatles fan, and want a graphic novel of the bands story, then this would work well. If you“re a new fan of the band, and want to learn more about them, then this book would be a good place to start. It“s nothing new, but the story is still one that I love.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

(W) Arthur Ranson (A/CA) Angus P Allan
Publisher: Rebellion / 2000AD

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Bryan Spaulding

In his free time, other than reading comic books, Bryan enjoys listening to his ever growing record collection and driving his 27 year old roadster named Mingo.