David Bowie wasn’t just a musician but a comic icon
On Monday, the world lost one of the most inspiring musicians of the last century, but Bowie’s legacy isn’t just in music, but also in comics.
It’s another one of those moments isn’t it? Those moment’s that unite the world. For years we are all going to be asking each other ‘where were you when you heard David Bowie passed?’ David Bowie is was a musical legend and his impact on every creative genre and medium will be felt and remembered for years to come, including comic books. Bowie’s unique appearance and sense of constant reinvention impacted on many writers and artists in the industry and he has influenced some of the biggest comic series in the history of the genre. David Bowie was the Joker…
Around five years ago, Grant Morrison took over writing the main Batman series. Morrison’s series was insane, there is no other way to describe it. He had Batman fighting characters from Wind in the Willows and a version of the Joker heavily inspired by David Bowie. When asked about the character, Grant is quote saying, by Comicbuzz, “We’re bringing that sort of Euro kind of creepiness, David Bowie in Berlin seventies vibe, and really stick to that sort of shifting persona to the Joker.” The Joker took many forms across the series, some reminiscent of Bowie’s alter egos and personas, and the reinvention of the Joker has continued to influence the current version of the character. However, that isn’t the end of Bowie’s influence in the world of comics, he was also going to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In Guardians of the Galaxy, as the crew enter the city of Knowhere, Moonage Daydream begins to play creating one of the most memorable moments of film. Director James Gunn has mentioned in passing that the scene and the song where some of his favorited moments in the film and he has recently revealed, since Bowie’s passing, that Marvel where approaching David to appear in the sequel to the film. USA Today quoted Gunn as saying “I’ve been trying to work another song from Ziggy into the sequel, which would make Bowie the only artist to have a song on both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.” If this comes to light it could serve as a fitting tribute to Bowie in the Marvel Universe, but even if it doesn’t Bowie is immortalised in the world of Marvel Comics another way.
David Bowie starred in a Marvel Comic adaptation of the film Labyrinth as Jareth the Goblin King which has become a classic and sought after mini-series. Couple that with a series of one of references in comics from every genre and artwork from half of the industry’s best illustrators and it’s easy to see the size of Bowie’s impact on the world of comics. Ziggy, Duke, David you will all be missed and remembered.