Best Of British: There’s A Starman… Discover The Man Who Sewed The World!

Something very different for you, although very much in keeping with the current vogue (at least in the movies) for musical bios… Starman – Freddie Burretti; The Man Who Sewed The World – a wonderful adaptation by comic maker Paul B. Rainey of a musical about Freddie Burretti, the young clothes designer that helped to create Ziggy Stardust with David Bowie.

Paul Rainey is the creator of the fabulous There’s No Time Like The Present, Thunder Brother: Soap Division and Book of Lists and is an occasional contributor to Viz. His current big project, Why Don’t You Love Me, appears regularly in ACES Weekly.
And this new book of his is a rather excellent bio adaptation of the musical of the same name written by Lee Scriven. It’s a fascinating look into a character I knew nothing about, Freddie Burretti, a costume designer responsible for one of the most iconic looks in music – David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust.

The idea of creating a comic from a musical is naturally a strange one, having to craft a storyline that relies on music into an artform that can only using sound effects, yet Rainey proves more than up to the task, delivering a comic that captures all the excitement and hedonism of the time, all set to a soundtrack that Rainey infuses his pages with. It’s a lovingly crafted thing and definitely one you should pick up.
I could give you a summary, but there’s no better one than that Rainey gives on the back cover…

Yep, that pretty much covers all you need to know about the comic.
Going from his early life through to success in London in those wonderful early 70s times through to his latter years and early death in Paris, Starman really does perfectly encapsulate a life.
Suffice to say, it’s hugely enjoyable and set me off looking deeper into the life of Burretti, a fascinating story of triumph and tragedy that Rainey summarises beautifully, capturing all the aspects of a complicated life. Another one for the Best of British lists and definitely one you should be picking up.

Starman – Freddie Burretti; The Man Who Sewed The World – by Paul Rainey, 40 pages, perfectly designed and printed to give it that old 7″ single feel. You can get hold of copies from Rainey at the store.