The comic strips of Colin B. Morton and Chuck Death deliver an irreverent, heartfelt, and devastatingly funny history of rock and roll. Like Monty Python at its best, their version is surreal and ridiculous – yet somehow everything in it rings true. According to Morton and Death, the bass player in Led Zeppelin was Jean-Paul Sartre. And despite having been able to think up brilliant titles for their first three albums, Led Zeppelin were stuck for what to call the fourth one – so they put a load of prunes on the front. In strip after strip, Morton & Death pinpoint the absurdities and oddities of rock history. In the process, they often come closer to its truth than conventional accounts do, as well as being far more entertaining. As for the drawings, their caricatures of rock stars from Mick Jagger to Frank Zappa, Johnny Rotten to Courtney Love, are in themselves worth the price of admission.

Ian Keogh:
When respected rock critic Griel Marcus can be persuaded to write a fawning introduction it indicates that Great Pop Things might be slightly more than a four panel cartoon strip used as filler in the NME back in the days when the NME mattered.

This isn't a collection to be read from cover to cover in one sitting, but a book to left lying around and dipped into. Presented en masse rather than a single strip week by week there's a considerable density. Colin B. Morton and Death (actually musician Jon Langford, best known for The Mekons) pack their panels with verbal and visual gags, but when gathered the reliance on repetition becomes more obvious. Of course, that enshrines the strips as truly rock'n'roll.

The 1999 American edition is more complete, but reconfigures the strips to fit a portrait format publication, while the 1992 Penguin book retains the original landscape format.

Links

Review by Ian Keogh

An earlier version of Great Pop Things was published in the UK by Penguin Books in 1992. This new edition, expanded and includes later strips and takes account of the ongoing "real history of rock and roll." Because of differing production conditions over time, and the varying requirements of the range of journals in which Great Pop Things has been featured. drawing and lettering may somewhat inconsistent throughout this book.

Links

amazon.com
Review by Ian Keogh

We tried to list below all the comics where Zappa is mentioned. Zappa 1 to Zappa 4, see also LA Weekly.

Why is U2 strip named "Bongo Fury" is explained in book's notes.
"The secret origin of the name "Bongo" lies with Capt. Beefheart. After Beefy had been retired from music for about 10 years, Bongo rang him up to ask him to do something on Rattle & Hum. The Capt. rang his manager & asked him, 'Who exactly is this guy Bongo?'"