Bluesman

Overview

Now collected into one stunning paperback! This story, structured like a traditional twelve bar blues song, with three sections each made of four chapters, follows blues musician Lem Taylor's harrowing journey starting from juke joints he appears in to fleeing across Arkansas of the late twenties, a black man hunted down for a crime he didn't commit. A racially intense story presenting a significant aspect of black history, its music, its social injustice.

Reviews

"A moody masterpiece of fiction that is all the more compelling because every word of it could be true. [Uses] a broad visual palette that matches its dramatic variety of emotions." —Teacher Librarian  

"The stuff of legend blues" —Library Media Connection  

"Takes you directly into the world of the traveling bluesmen of that era. The story is thoughtful and engaging, and the art work is amazing." —Thedevilsmusic.net  

"In its knowing play of dark words and raw images, Rob Vollmar and Pablo Callejo's earthy graphic novel tells a tale worth hearing – and seeing. Bluesman, in the end, is a cathartic ghost story. Is there a better description of the blues?" —Laurel Maury, NPR

"A dramatic, exciting graphic novel, grounded in music history and the experiences of Black Americans." —Peter Dabbene, Foreword

Author Biography

Born in Leon, Spain, 1967, Pablo Callejo can't remember when he started to draw or when he first felt the need to tell stories through pictures, but he took his time, since he didn't try to get published until he was 32. After years of living in Madrid, he moved to Luxembourg where he lives with his wife and works for publishers in France, Spain, South Korea, and the US. Rob Vollmar has been writing comics and about comics for more than two decades. He has also worked as a professional musician and a lecturer on popular music. He is the book review and online editor for World Literature Today magazine and makes his home in Norman, Oklahoma.