Below you'll find an article by Reinhard Kleist written in Spring 2023 at the time of publication for STARMAN: Bowie's Stardust Years, reshared here to whet your appetite for the May 2025 publication of the concluding part: LOW: Bowie's Berlin Years!
Dear readers,
“David Bowie saved my life”: I wrote that sentence in the list of thanks at the end of STARMAN, my graphic novel about Bowie, because it has twice been true. I was a kid of about eight or nine when I first heard “Ashes to Ashes” on the radio, and was transfixed. Though I didn’t understand the lyrics, the music made me somehow afraid and fascinated at the same time. The singer later appeared in teen magazines like Bravo, and in music videos on the TV and… I was smitten! Not only was he extremely good-looking, he was also, it seemed to me, in some mystical way, announcing the presence of another world that someday could be mine; that it was possible for me to leave behind the fenced-off environment of my little village outside Cologne and become, quite simply, somebody else. That was the first time Bowie saved my life. And, as I later found out, the lives of so many others.
Over the last few years I have written a number of graphic biographies about sporting champions (the boxers Emile Griffith and Hertzko Haft and the athlete Samia Yusuf Omar), the revolutionary Fidel Castro, and even a couple of musicians (Johnny Cash and Nick Cave). But creating something about Bowie has always been a long-lasting dream. I had to wait for the right moment to finally grasp how to convey a character with so many different aspects to him: where to lay the focus, what biographical span to include, and how to portray him, not just from my perspective of loving admiration, but also to include his many dark sides, and those of his personas.
One recurring theme in particular suddenly emerged: I call it “the abandoned mission” – a mission to save the world, and everyone in it, that somehow ends up in the gutter. The arc of that storyline leaves its traces in Bowie’s songs (“Space Oddity”, “Ashes to Ashes”), films (The Man Who Fell to Earth), and above all in his Ziggy Stardust album. That masterpiece seems to me a deeply dark portrayal of everything it means to be a “rockstar” – a hero who lives and fulfils the dreams of so many, and shows them the way to the top. But as Bowie was absolutely aware, stardom is closely aligned to the abyss.
So I started work on this first book – with the second already germinating in my mind, which will address some of the questions left hanging at the end of the first. At least, I hope it will. In STARMAN, I focus on how Bowie became Ziggy, and how that character increasingly engulfs his creator – before, of course, having to be killed off on stage, before an unsuspecting audience, for Bowie to become Bowie again. He will go on to lose himself again in the USA, and resurrect his career in what is now my hometown: Berlin…
But that is a theme for LOW: Bowie’s Berlin Years. As for STARMAN, it was enormous fun to draw the crazy costumes and haircuts of Bowie’s 1970s heyday, and the book looks as good as it does thanks in part to an amazing designer called Thomas Gilke, who chose a colour palette I would have never even dreamed of, but which perfectly captures the life and spirit of the Ziggy Stardust performances. I used a vast amount of archive material that helped me find images, but somehow the most important footage was of the audience and their reaction to what was happening on stage, which became a huge part of the finished book. They were so happy – dancing and screaming, laughing and crying, dressing up as Ziggy, living the moment – and not a smartphone in sight! How I wish I’d been there.
The second time David Bowie saved my life was during my work on this book. We all suffered from the worldwide impact of the Covid pandemic, but I must confess that it hit me hard. So many aspects of my life seemed to be going down the drain, and I struggled to either fix them or know where to turn. So instead I focused on drawing Bowie, and as I did so, it appeared that the work itself extended a helping hand to stave off the depression forming around me. So there he was again for me: the trickster messiah from outer space with the crazy hair, telling of an inner world of salvation and potential. And then… he disappeared. Because in the end it is only us who can save ourselves (though possibly with a little helping hand from a friend).
So thank you, David Bowie – and thank you for reading this. Reinhard Kleist, 2023Thank you from us, as well, for joining in on this little look back through time to the release of STARMAN, two years ago!
***
Thank you from us, as well, for joining in on this little look back through time to the release of STARMAN, two years ago!
LOW: Bowie's Berlin Years is set for release on May 22nd in the United Kingdom, and July 8th in North America!
In association with Comica and VIP Brands, join us at The Century Club in Soho on May 30th for a special launch event and talk by Reinhard Kleist! Tickets here: https://centuryclub.co.uk/bowie_celebration/
Or, catch Reinhard signing copies of LOW at Gosh! Comics on May 31st between 1 and 2pm!
– The SelfMadeHero team
Be the first to hear about forthcoming releases, events and more
