by
Jason D. DeHart Ballad for Sophie, by Filipe Melo and Juan Cavia, Top Shelf Productions, ISBN 978-1-60309-498-6, $24.99, https://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog/ballad-for-sophie/1068
First, here are some excerpts press release to summarize the plot and creators -
Top Shelf Productions (an imprint of IDW) will be
releasing Ballad for Sophie, a new music-themed graphic novel by Portuguese musician Filipe Melo and artist Juan Cavia that is packed
with all of the drama of a rock ‘n’ roll biopic and with more twists than a night at the opera. Ballad for Sophie is a sweeping tale about what happens when a young journalist
prompts a reclusive musical superstar to finally break his silence. Starring
child prodigies, bitter old men, beautiful dancers, demonic managers, Nazi
commandants, compassionate nuns and lifesaving animals, Ballad for Sophie
is a stunning graphic symphony exploring a lifetime of ambition,
betrayal, compassion anguish, long-buried secrets and flying pianos.
FILIPE MELO is a Portuguese musician, award-winning film director, and author.
With decades of experience in classical and jazz piano, he teaches music at
ESML, a university in Lisbon. He has developed commercials, music videos, and
award-winning short films such as I’ll See You in My Dreams and Sleepwalk.
His international writing career includes the Dark Horse Presents anthology,
a career award from the Amadora comics festival, and several projects with
Juan Cavia. JUAN CAVIA has worked as an art director and illustrator since 2004,
after studying illustration and painting with the Argentinean artist
Carlos Pedrazzini. His work includes graphic novels, advertisements, TV, music
videos, theater and nine feature films, including Juan José Campanella’s
Oscar-winning The Secret in Their Eyes. Listen to the beautiful Ballad
for Sophie theme song on Spotify HERE.
and now, the review -
Writer Felipe Melo and artist Juan Cavia collaborate to share a visually gripping story
that spans time, exploring identity, relationships, and music through the kinds
of work that only comics can do. The story begins frame from the view of a
journalist, and invites the reader into the narrative, with wordless panels giving
us a clear time and place, and the hint of some mysterious turn to come.
Setting the foundation this way, along with the realistic style, are notable moves on
the part of the artist and author, as the story travels back and forth across
decades, and yet keeps the reader in tow through these twists in time. Another
effective part of the storytelling is reader’s introduction to the maestro, the
focal point in the story, first revealed as a figure turned away who closes out
the inquisitive reporter, and then gradually warming to her questions. His
reclusiveness forms one side of the mystery, and the motivations this
interviewer create more questions for the reader.
Drawing on what can be communicated in the comics format, Melo and Cavia convey ideas
and emotions through expressions, movements, and gestures, sometimes with words
contained in panels, and sometimes not – and the hook of the story is set as we
wonder about the maestro’s silence. Through the narrator’s voice, the story travels
effectively, first revisiting events in 1933, expanding on elements of the
central mystery. The same intrigue that underscores the play Amadeus by Peter Shaffer is a feature
that works on these pages, probing into the hesitation and revealed genius of a
composer.
The emotional power of the story comes through in Melo’s use of historical points and Cavia’s clear depictions of suffering
and loss that build a foundation for the contemporary introduction the reader
experiences, filling in gaps in character and motivation in a visual and very
literary way. Working in a magical and supernatural way, the reader meets the character
of Triton, the producer, to convey the devilish aspects of signing a
professional contract for an artistic endeavor. This is another use of
symbolism that the author and artist include, adding suspense.
Ballad for Sophie depicts the price of fame, the weight of guilt, the development of a life across times
of war and affliction, and the emotional consequences of a life on display.
These are themes that such stories have gone to before and almost inevitably
address. Arguably, the comics page presents the emotion and experiences of
characters more effectively than a prose novel could. The swirling images of
sexuality, temptation, and addiction add to the reading, offering a storytelling
technique that allows the reader to imagine what the main character is feeling.
Movies have been more of mixed bag in exploring fame, sometimes pausing on
moments with thoughtful weight and sometimes glossing over them as scenery the
viewer expects to see along the way.
Though these themes may be found in other biographical and autobiographical works, the
power of Ballad for Sophie is the way
that the story is conveyed, including the ways the artistic choices support the
narrative, and the presentation of images that could only exist in the minds of
characters. The graphic novel and the innovation found in certain panels lifts
the book, as well as the creative turns in the storytelling. With all of this
taken in mind, I recommend this book for readers to enjoy.
As I've spent far more time at a computer screen during covid,
I've fallen way behind on doing book reviews. Thanks to Prof. Jason
DeHart of
Appalachian State University who reached out to volunteer to help, and
he will be doing more reviews for us. He also has his own site, Book Love: Dr J Reads. -
Mike
