Jimi Hendrix: Purple Haze, a new graphic novel from Titan Comics is out this week, and they were kind enough to send us an advance copy. This is the first graphic novel officially licensed by Authentic Hendrix, LLC in collaboration with Jimi’s sister Janie Hendrix.
Hendrix passed away at the young age of 27 over fifty years ago, but his music and his legend have only grown since then, as new generations have discovered and been influenced by his lyrics and his talents with the guitar.
Apparently Jimi Hendrix was also a closeted sci-fi geek. Authors Mellow Brown & DJ Ben Ha Meen and illustrator Tom Mandrake have built on that little known fact by taking the legend of Jimi Hendrix and immortalizing him in Jimi Hendrix:Purple Haze. They have placed him in a futuristic world where he is the hero in a psychedelic rock’n’roll odyssey. Hendrix embarks on a quest to the very center of the universe in search of a magical talisman powerful enough to unlock the incredible latent power of his music so that he can share it with a universe starved of the rock’n’roll by a tyrannical intergalactic force hellbent on silencing all music from the universe and enslaving all life.
For someone like me who grew up in the 70s, this book reminded me of the Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park TV Movie crossed with the visuals of the early Nelvana animation from projects like the Boba Fett Star Wars Holiday Special cartoon and the Iggy Pop/Deborah Harry film Rock and Rule. I mean that as a compliment. There’s a nostalgia factor that I felt while reading this–it feels like something that could have come out while Jimi Hendrix was still alive at the peak of his career and was just now discovered in a vault. It’s a pleasant blending of the past with the future.
Brown and Ha Meen have sprinkled easter eggs throughout the book– lyrics from Hendrix songs, appearances by other singers of the era, etc., and Mandrake has filled the book with beautiful portraits of Hendrix–with imagery based on famous Hendrix poses and photos that we are familiar with, but also with new images of Hendrix that we as fans never got to see because of his untimely passing. There is also a terrific section at the end of the book filled with concept art, character designs and vehicle designs, pencil sketches, script pages, and more.
This book is a gift to fans of both Jimi Hendrix and science fiction. It brings him back to life and we get to experience him and his music again in a brand new way. In some ways, it feels good to know that he’s still out there somewhere–saving the universe one guitar riff at a time.
You can buy Jimi Hendrix:Purple Haze at your local comic retailer or order online here: https://www.amazon.com/Jimi-Hendrix-Purple-Mellow-Brown/dp/1787731898
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