Andrew Helfer

I really tried. I love Sienkiewicz's art, but I'm unfamiliar with Helfer's writing.

So...a few things here.

First, why oh why oh why do new writers think it's smart to take characters from the 1920s/30s/40s and bring them up to current times? Doc Savage, Tarzan, John Carter, the Shadow and a host of others were of their time. They fit nicely into those times. Bringing them forward where there's colour TVs and 24 hour news and cell phones and computers? No. Doesn't work. In fact, it's often show more terrible, because the writer has to bend and contort the original character in so many ways to first get them up to present day, then allow them to somewhat do their thing while adapting to progress, that the original sense of the character is lost. What made them fun is buried under all those mad contortions.

I don't have a lot to go on with Helfer's writing, but if this issue's any indication, I don't care to learn more.

And Sienkiewicz? He seems to be slumming here. Yes, there's his trademark messy, cartoonish style, but none of the bite and flair and experimentation. This one feels to me like just another paycheque.

Terrible stuff. show less

The drawings are stark black and white, no shadowing, not always finely detailed, but perfectly done to portray everything that needs portraying. The text was nothing special for me, I've read his autobio and this essentially serves as a very condensed version of it, but the art adds the detail that bolsters the text.

I'm probably being a little harsh in only giving 3 stars, as I don't see anything bad about the book, but my reviews are naturally subjective, and knowing his autobiography as show more well as I do, this just felt a little flat to me. But for anyone who enjoys graphic novels, especially if not having read much about him, this ought to be a good pick. show less

This started off like a bare reading of his life with pictures, and then started to develop its little thesis (even HE believed he wasn't doing anything wrong or illegal! He acted himself to himself as well as the world!) and nicely set-pieced a few arrestingly weird moments (Ollie North, man! And I sure didn't know about Alexander Haig's meltdown in State, or Reagan reading his instructions to himself off cuecards at the Iran-Contra hearings ("Tell him you don't recall," shades of Alberto show more Gonzales). So it has some merits. But the "and then this happened, then this, then this," the whole way through his damn life, is such dry cardboard. This was like an illustrated encyclopedia entry. And yo, construction paper cutout-lookin' young Reagan was weirdly compelling, but you have to make your old Republican men in suits look more different from each other when you're in black and white, even if it's hard, even if it runs against your whole graphic message that they're OLD, man, and in SUITS, because if you don't we won't be able to follow whole swathes of the story at all. show less

I picked this up because I saw a review of it; I can't recall where. I'll say that this is an interesting way to read about the life of Ronald Reagan. The art itself is pretty good. The story moves along, starting with his passing, which is conveyed in a very moving way, then moves on with his life from his humble beginnings to the end of his presidency. What the book conveys is the mixed legacy of his political life and presidency. At the same time, Reagan lived through some very show more interesting times in American history. Personally, I did not know as much about his early life, which I found very interesting. If nothing else, this little book has made me want to read more about him in other works. At the end of the book, they do provide a small reading list of the works that the graphic novel comes from. While not perfect, a good entry point for anyone wanting a look at Reagan. show less