Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix

Published by Kitchen Sink Press, 1995, hardcover, illustrated, hardcover, A4 format, 128 pages, CD not present, condition: very good.

This is a graphic docudrama, an account in comic-strip format of the turbulent life of rock star Jimi Hendrix. Like a cinematic docudrama, it hews to the events of Hendrix's career but creates dialogue and uses various devices--notably, snippets of Hendrix's lyrics as commentary on the action at appropriate moments--to heighten the drama of the guitarist's colorful life. Unfortunately, the events themselves are overly familar to most rock fans, and their treatment here generally falls into rock-star cliches. The banality of much of the imagined dialogue, which frequently lapses into sixties-speak ("Far out," "Dig it man" ), doesn't help. The project is saved, however, because it marks the return to comics of one of the medium's most innovative artists, Bill Sienkiewicz, who's been largely absent from the field for several years. His imaginative, evocative full-color illustrations and narrative mastery supply much-needed substance that turns a rock-bio-in-comics into a genuinely compelling package. 

Often cited as one of the most innovative and influential rock musicians, guitar legend Jimi Hendrix had a short and turbulent life, succumbing early, as did many other rock icons of his generation, to pressures generated by the conflicts between their creative visions and the economic imperatives of the music industry. He died of an overdose in 1970 at the age of 27. This collaborative tribute to Hendrix, described by one of its creators as "not so much outright biography as speculative fantasy," explores the excitement and the pitfalls of rock stardom sympathetically and perceptively.