Fab4 Mania

by Carol Tyler

Overview

A graphic memoir about a 13-year-old girl’s Beatles obsession and the concert of a lifetime!

Critically acclaimed cartoonist Carol Tyler recreates the exhilaration and excitement of Beatlemania at its height in 1965, her personal obsession with the Beatles, and her odyssey that leads her to the famous Beatles Chicago concert later that year. Told in the voice of its 13-year-old author, Fab 4 Mania is a facsimile of the diary that she kept throughout 1965, and is brimming with rich period details, humor, and insight. It’s a look into the life of a teenager from a working-class family whose love of music awakens her senses and opens her up to the world beyond that of small-town Fox Lake, Illinois. It is also about the Beatles, as seen through the eyes of a young, giddy teenager and a reflective, adult artist, and the joy the band gives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683960614
Publisher:	Fantagraphics Books
Publication date:	06/19/2018
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Carol Tyler is an American painter, educator, comedian, and eleven-time Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist known for her autobiographical stories. She has received multiple honors for her work including the Cartoonist Studio Prize, the Ohio Arts Council Excellence Award, and was designated a Master Cartoonist at the 2016 Cartoon Crossroads Columbus Festival at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum.

Editorial Reviews

03/12/2018
Tyler follows her graphic memoir Soldier’s Heart with a lighter-hearted recollection, adapted from her 1960s teenage diary. The story largely focuses on her devotion to the Beatles, complete with authentic pages of cramped ballpoint scribblings of the band’s name, which culminates in her seeing them perform live at Chicago’s Comiskey Park stadium. Along the way, she describes growing up in a working-class Catholic family: enduring sibling spats, struggling to earn money for records and makeup, dealing with her father’s often rough personality, and beginning to wonder at the intertwining mysteries of love and boys. Her adoration of the Fab Four provides a cushion for her teenage angst and, implicitly, a safety valve for her hormonal yearnings. Her obsession with the band, while charming and sincere, is less salient than the surrounding family narrative. Tyler, with her characteristic grace and impressive skill, captures myriad specific details that help bring the era fully to life. But the story doesn’t have the depth of her prior work and may be too reliant on fandom for readers indifferent to the Beatles—though, given their enduring popularity and the nostalgic pull for Tyler’s generation, there’s a wide potential audience. (Jun.)

Publishers Weekly

"A fascinating and intimate portrait of one girl’s perspective at a time when music and culture were changing radically."

CityBeat

"If you own any pre-Rubber Soul Beatles records, you’ll probably want to put them on shortly after picking up this charming, evocative volume."

Forbes

"Fab4 Mania, a beguiling diary of seeing the Beatles at Comiskey Park in 1965, is not only among this year’s best books, but a rare treasure: Beatlemania from a female perspective, from one of the crying, screaming foot soldiers."

Chicago Tribune

"Tyler's innocence and honesty make the book effortlessly endearing. ... the excitement and seemingly never-ending thrill practically leaps from the page."

PopMatters

"Simply put, if you love the mop tops, you'll love Fab4 Mania."

Catholic Sentinel

"Tyler communicates the frenzy of navigating adolescence with grace and lyrical heft."

Hyperallergic