Ronald Reagan: A Graphic Biography (Hardcover)

by Andrew Helfer (Author), Steve Buccellato (Illustrator), Joe Staton (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Ronald Reagan was a controversial president, no question. Revered by some, reviled by others, he was acknowledged to be an orator of the highest order. This graphic biography sets out to explore Reagan's life, but the creative team seems unsure which side they're on, so they veer between gauzy hagiography and hard-fact criticism without ever offering a coherent thesis about Reagan's appeal or legacy. Helfer (Batman: Journey into Night) is strongest when he lets Reagan speak for himself (the dialogue on the page when Reagan is shot is particularly effective). Buccellato (Battle of the Bands) and Staton (Green Lantern) provide interesting graphics—showing the rapid successive deaths of the hardliners who preceded Gorbachev as a series of X-ed out portraits, or unraveling the complicated self-dealing behind Reagan's GE Theater job with a cleverly modified organization chart. Overall, the cartoony art fits Reagan's aw-shucks persona, but undercuts Helfer's discussion of Reagan-era scandals. Helfer also crowds more powerful images (like the Challenger explosion) with wordy caption boxes. This book makes an adequate primer of the Reagan era, but the lack of coherence limits its appeal. There are too many jabs for Reagan's disciples, and not enough bite for his critics. (Sept.)
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From Booklist
Opening with Ronald Reagan's death at 93 and continuing with a brief recap of childhood, early adult years, and such formative experiences as movie acting and union leadership, this graphic biography concentrates most on its subject's political career. Text and images present the 1960s California governor and fortieth president as intellectually shallow, ethically ungrounded, and somewhat supercilious. His various handlers appear ominous in their motivations and distinguishable by variously sized jowls and eyeglasses. As a brief introduction to Reagan from a blatantly liberal perspective, this works rather well. It hardly stands as a rounded biography or an investigation into the real complexities of military-industrial relations during the latter half of the twentieth century. The cartoon imagery suits the tone and scope of the presentation and is most successful in depicting the disjunction between the world of fact and that of Reagan's unscripted imagination. Reagan seems an ideal candidate for graphic-novel representation, but this book crucially fails to show why conservatives and others found him charismatic. Goldsmith, Francisca

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Hill and Wang (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809095076
• ISBN-13: 978-0809095070
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #267,975 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great art + biased opinions = not-so-great book, January 25, 2008

By	Nyghtewynd (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

Graphic nonfiction novels are not easy to review because they exist on two planes: they are both art and information at one time. But they must generally considered to be more nonfiction than art. If the content isn't any good, it's hard to enjoy the art. This book has that problem The art is very, very good...cartoony while still doing a good job at resembling the actual people and events. However, the content is biased at best and inaccurate at worst. If this were the only thing you knew about Reagan, you would be forced to assume (as the authors do) that the country believes nothing true about Reagan, and that the mass of them were simply deluded about the way things work in the world. If you do, that's fine, but it's not the truth. The authors here give Reagan no credit for anything and assign all of his successes to either deceit, luck, or pure stupidity. So, in the end, great art + wildly biased factual information = below-average book. If you know enough to separate fact from opinion, you'll like it. If this is the only book you care to read on Reagan's legacy, don't bother.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Reagan somehow fooled the world?, March 15, 2009

By	Morris's Codex (Phil-a-dump-ia, PA) - See all my reviews

Before I begin, I will state my political views, the last election I voted for anyone who was not a democrat or republican, my disdain for them has grown more so with each passing year.

Now on to this graphic novel, this is an absolutely biased piece of trash, throughout the 92 pages of the book, Reagan appears to be constantly not knowing what he is doing, is having his strings pulled behind the scenes (a vast right wing conspiracy?), falls asleep alot and somehow was successful in life reaching the highest office in the land by dumb luck! Yep, very believable.

I will tell you my story of Ronald Reagan. I never thought much about him, I did some reading about him, but in this life, there is so much to read and know, I cannot waste my time on one subject, especially something that I do not have a big interest about. Roughly four years ago, I was in Eastern Europe and when I was traveling around and seeing the sites, I met people who were older. They would ask me where I was from and I told them I was American, they all told me they love America and a few of them told me if it was not for Reagan, they would not be free. These are the words from the people WHO LIVE THERE, I remember especially one older couple who told me that Reagan saved their lives. I told them how some in America thought he did not do anything, and they told he they would slap their faces for telling lies, they were that adamant that is was REAGAN ALONE who they owe their freedom to.

I will go forward into the future, my dad was a Reagan fan and he always wanted to see his Presidential Library, so we went. It was my last trip my dad ever took (he just died 5 weeks ago). While I was there, at his grave there were four people from Poland, they were in awe, they wanted each so badly to have met the man and hugged him themselves, but were left only to cry and pray at his memorial. That was a powerful scene. They TRAVELED with a purpose to get to this place so they can give him their thanks. So as I and Helfer and Staton and Amazon reviewers pass into history as people of no concern, Reagan will live on.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice Graphic Biography on Reagan, September 14, 2007

By	Erin Esposito "esposito" (Rochester, New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What makes this book fascinating is that it is an illustrated biography, with a comic strip format, and covers the span of Reagan's political career.

The book is very clear and easy to follow. The details in the book are very educational.

This would be a great book to use for High School students studing Government or History.