Bowie Stardust, rayguns & moonage daydreams

More fantasia than rock-star biography, this gloriously over-the-top account of David Bowie's early career up through the "death" of his alter ego Ziggy Stardust refracts his climb to stardom through the lens of his alien imagination. Allred (Madman) presents the late 1960s and early '70s as a glitter-bomb rush of celebrity, glam outfits, and breaking barriers. The pages are packed with the people and works (Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Andy Warhol; 1984, 2001, A Clockwork Orange) that pushed Bowie's music from sensitive singer-songwriter folk toward the alien dystopias and lovesick outsider ballads that launched him into stardom. The narrative is embedded with a tapestry of sometimes subtle references, from William S. Burroughs to The Twilight Zone. Frequently overwhelming more mundane details of Bowie's recording and collaborations on albums including Hunky Dory and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust is Allred's art, a full-scale riot of color and sharp angles, with sensually rendered bodies, captivating eyes, and densely surreal montages. The attention to Bowie's shifting personae unfortunately crowds out much sense of him as a person, giving short shrift to what lay behind the feverish creativity boiling out of him and his drive to continually reinvent himself. Despite an overemphasis on surface imagery, this tribute is a ravishing spectacle. (Jan.)

Allred (Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive) and Horton (Satellite Falling) track rock-and-roll icon David Bowie's rise to superstardom in the early 1970s in this energetic and gorgeously illustrated graphic biography. After an opening that skims Bowie's early career in the 1960s, the narrative quickly moves to Bowie's decision to reinvent himself as the androgynous extraterrestrial Ziggy Stardust, and to rename his band the Spiders from Mars, in November 1971. The success of the ensuing album, combined with Bowie's charisma, fashion sense, and talent for creating stunning imagery, leads to near-hysterical devotion among fans and a massive world tour that lasts until Bowie abruptly decides to retire the Ziggy persona in 1973. VERDICT Allred's pop art-style illustration, heavily influenced by 1960s and 1970s fashion, pop culture, and psychedelia, is perfectly suited to the era, and his adoration for his subject shines through carefully captured period details and likenesses and lovingly re-created famous photographs and album covers. Most impressive, Allred employs superimposed imagery and surrealistic flourishes to capture the raw energy of live musical performances in scenes depicting Bowie and the band in concert.