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Home page Highlights,
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KC Carlson
A KC COLUMN by KC Carlson
I first heard the song Yellow Submarine on a school bus driving to some museum or zoo or some other thing that got us out of the classroom for a few hours. everybody on the school bus was singing the song. except me. I had no idea what was going on. I had never heard it before.
The Beatles: Yellow Submarine
The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine film first played in theaters in 1968, but I didn’t see it then. I was 12 years old and not really into music yet. I did learn a little bit about the Beatles, however, due to regular check outs to see my cousin Margaret, who is close to my age. Margaret (and her two older sisters) were pretty Beatles-crazy around that time, and they played me a lot of their records when we met — especially during holiday visits. At the time, I thought they (the Beatles) were sort of interesting, but not as interesting as playing baseball at least three times a day during summer getaways from school…
Eventually, I saw Yellow Submarine on TV somewhere (don’t recall when) and really found it interesting, especially as I had started studying animation for my own amusement as I grew older. I think I got to see it again a couple of times (on TV?) before I got into college. While at college, I joined a film club that chose the films that the university center would run on the weekends, and part of the fun was being able to choose what (second-run) films we would bring to campus. The film I championed was Yellow Submarine, and surprisingly, it made the final cut, although there were a few much more “serious” film people who thought it was a frivolous choice and predicted that it would never do well. In reality, it sold out numerous of that weekend’s showings, and numerous people asked when it might be shown again.
Because of the exposure to Yellow Submarine (and also multiple showings of both A hard Day’s night and Help! on TV), I ended up being a substantial Beatles fan — owning all their records (in multiple formats), films, and dozens and dozens of books that either told (or retold) their history in multiple accounts, or (my preference) even much more books that sought to interpret all their various works (or, in Lennon’s case, trying to discuss what he was actually talking about many of the time). It’s a strange entry point because it’s not really a Beatles movie. Although their music is used throughout, and they approved the project, the band’s voices are done by imitators.
Jeremy and The Beatles explore the Sea of holes in The Beatles: Yellow Submarine.
Which finally brings me to the recent publication of a graphic novel based on Yellow Submarine by bill Morrison, who adapted the story based on the original screenplay by Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelson, and Erich Segal (the love story guy!), with thanks to Roger McGough. Morrison also adapted the artwork from the design and art of Heinz Edelmann, from the original film. also a part of the graphic novel creative team are inkers Andrew Pepoy with Tone Rodriguez (pages 25-96), colors by Nathan Kane, and lettering by Aditya Bidikar.
Published by Titan Books, The Beatles: Yellow Submarine is an outstanding package and quite faithful to the original film. (Although notably lacking the actual appearance by the Beatles from the end of the original film. Which, of course, would be pretty impossible to do today.) It feels like the whole film in comic form.
Also, due only to the limitations of the printed page, the book is, of course, missing the fantastic music from the film — both the Beatles’ tunes (It’s All too much is my personal favorite) and the original score composed and organized by producer George Martin. The score music is typically my “wind-down” music after stressful days. Although if you decide to seek it out, keep in mind that Martin’s score for Yellow Submarine is only on the original soundtrack CD. The 1999 Yellow Submarine Songtrack CD features only Beatles songs — and not any of Martin’s score.
Amazingly, while reading the graphic novel, my brain was frequently playing Martin’s score in my head — because that’s how ingrained this music is to me now. but it was the strength of the art and storytelling of the graphic novel that was bringing the music out from the depths of my brain, making for an remarkable reading experience.
I’m pretty sure that this isn’t going to be one of those graphic novels that I read once and put it on the shelf and never look at it again. one of the things I plan to do to make sure this doesn’t happen is to shelve the book with my other books about music — specifically with those about the Beatles and Martin. It’s a worthy companion.
Meet the baddies, the blue Meanies, in The Beatles: The Yellow Submarine.
Back to the book: if you love the film, the graphic novel will continuously remind you of the sly (LIVING IN A YELLOW SUBMARINE (###) This post is Filed Under:
Home page Highlights,
Interviews and Columns,
Product reviews
KC Carlson
A KC COLUMN by KC Carlson
I first heard the song Yellow Submarine on a school bus driving to some museum or zoo or some other thing that got us out of the classroom for a few hours. everybody on the school bus was singing the song. except me. I had no idea what was going on. I had never heard it before.
The Beatles: Yellow Submarine
The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine film first played in theaters in 1968, but I didn’t see it then. I was 12 years old and not really into music yet. I did learn a little bit about the Beatles, however, due to regular check outs to see my cousin Margaret, who is close to my age. Margaret (and her two older sisters) were pretty Beatles-crazy around that time, and they played me a lot of their records when we met — especially during holiday visits. At the time, I thought they (the Beatles) were sort of interesting, but not as interesting as playing baseball at least three times a day during summer getaways from school…
Eventually, I saw Yellow Submarine on TV somewhere (don’t recall when) and really found it interesting, especially as I had started studying animation for my own amusement as I grew older. I think I got to see it again a couple of times (on TV?) before I got into college. While at college, I joined a film club that chose the films that the university center would run on the weekends, and part of the fun was being able to choose what (second-run) films we would bring to campus. The film I championed was Yellow Submarine, and surprisingly, it made the final cut, although there were a few much more “serious” film people who thought it was a frivolous choice and predicted that it would never do well. In reality, it sold out numerous of that weekend’s showings, and numerous people asked when it might be shown again.
Because of the exposure to Yellow Submarine (and also multiple showings of both A hard Day’s night and Help! on TV), I ended up being a substantial Beatles fan — owning all their records (in multiple formats), films, and dozens and dozens of books that either told (or retold) their history in multiple accounts, or (my preference) even much more books that sought to interpret all their various works (or, in Lennon’s case, trying to discuss what he was actually talking about many of the time). It’s a strange entry point because it’s not really a Beatles movie. Although their music is used throughout, and they approved the project, the band’s voices are done by imitators.
Jeremy and The Beatles explore the Sea of holes in The Beatles: Yellow Submarine.
Which finally brings me to the recent publication of a graphic novel based on Yellow Submarine by bill Morrison, who adapted the story based on the original screenplay by Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelson, and Erich Segal (the love story guy!), with thanks to Roger McGough. Morrison also adapted the artwork from the design and art of Heinz Edelmann, from the original film. also a part of the graphic novel creative team are inkers Andrew Pepoy with Tone Rodriguez (pages 25-96), colors by Nathan Kane, and lettering by Aditya Bidikar.
Published by Titan Books, The Beatles: Yellow Submarine is an outstanding package and quite faithful to the original film. (Although notably lacking the actual appearance by the Beatles from the end of the original film. Which, of course, would be pretty impossible to do today.) It feels like the whole film in comic form.
Also, due only to the limitations of the printed page, the book is, of course, missing the fantastic music from the film — both the Beatles’ tunes (It’s All too much is my personal favorite) and the original score composed and organized by producer George Martin. The score music is typically my “wind-down” music after stressful days. Although if you decide to seek it out, keep in mind that Martin’s score for Yellow Submarine is only on the original soundtrack CD. The 1999 Yellow Submarine Songtrack CD features only Beatles songs — and not any of Martin’s score.
Amazingly, while reading the graphic novel, my brain was frequently playing Martin’s score in my head — because that’s how ingrained this music is to me now. but it was the strength of the art and storytelling of the graphic novel that was bringing the music out from the depths of my brain, making for an remarkable reading experience.
I’m pretty sure that this isn’t going to be one of those graphic novels that I read once and put it on the shelf and never look at it again. one of the things I plan to do to make sure this doesn’t happen is to shelve the book with my other books about music — specifically with those about the Beatles and Martin. It’s a worthy companion.
Meet the baddies, the blue Meanies, in The Beatles: The Yellow Submarine.
Back to the book: if you love the film, the graphic novel will continuously remind you of the sly (