Michael Jackson the comic

This week another one of Blue Water Comics' biography comics came out, this one on Michael Jackson written by Wey-Yuih Loh and illustrated by Giovanni P. Timpano. I haven't enjoyed many of the other biographical comics that Blue Water Comics have done, but they had a good one last week with their comic on Oprah and this Michael Jackson one is another good overview on a person who had a lot of talent and affected so many people.

Michael Jackson Tribute is narrated by a Jiminy Cricket cartoon grasshopper character and I thought that was a nice way to touch upon the high (and low points) of Michael Jackson's musical and personal life. These biographical comics done by Blue Water Comics are only twenty five pages in length and because of this, I think it's amazing that any of them are good at all as most of them are just by-the-numbers soulless stiffly drawn attempts at cash grabs directed at completionist fans of the person being profiled. This Michael Jackson comic biography works though because while it does enumerate the events of his life, it does so in a well illustrated fashion and the reader can tell that the creators cared about Michael Jackson as a person and as a musician.

Strangely, I've never bought a Michael Jackson album, cd, etc., but I like a lot of his music, especially his early songs with the Jackson 5 (my favorite Michael Jackson song is Ben). I also appreciate Michael Jackson's solo work (especially the Quincy Jones albums) on a technical, polished level, that changed music in a lot of ways both pro and con, even when the songs themselves didn't connect with me. Regarding the personal side of Michael Jackson, I wish he didn't get all of the cosmetic work done that he did (but that's of course ultimately his choice) and whether he actually molested the children that he was accused of doing - well, based on what I've read / heard, he doesn't seem guiltless, but there's enough questions surrounding what actually happened that I'm not going to put Michael Jackson in the evil category. Thus, I'd recommend Michael Jackson Tribute to anyone who wants to get a sense of the kind of life Michael Jackson led and how inspiring his music was to many people all over the world (and as the comic details he did do many charitable events / donations for children, especially those with critical diseases and injuries).