Posted in: Comics | Tagged:


California Dreamin' With Pénélope Bagieu

penelope-bagieu_george-baier-iv

Jason Borelli writes for Bleeding Cool,

When a casual fan looks at the American folk music scene in the 1960s, they might think of The Mamas & The Papas right away. The attention would probably be drawn to Cass Elliot, the larger-than-life singer who would before a breakout star and solo artist before her untimely death in 1974. However, what her fans might not know is that she was known beyond the United States.

This past March, an English adaptation of California Dreamin' was published by First Second. Written by Pénélope Bagieu, the graphic novel follows the life of "Mama Cass" from her childhood in Baltimore to the cusp of stardom with The Mamas & The Papas, including the development of their hit single, California Dreamin'.

"What the people [in France] listened to in the Sixties was similar to what was listened to in the U.S.," Bagieu explained at the MoCCA Arts Festival in New York. "We didn't really have a musical scene that was big enough to compete with the rock scene and the folk scene in the Sixties in the U.S. Even today, if you turn on French radio, you're pretty sure that you will hear "California Dreamin'" at least once a day. They had a huge impact. Everybody knows them, and even the younger generation because it has been sampled so much by all sorts of DJs. It's really part of our culture, too."

What drew Bagieu to Mama Cass and The Mamas & The Papas? "I've always been really fascinated by her since I was a child," she recalled. "My parents had a lot of their albums, and I remember that I was really focused on her voice in the songs, the parts she was singing, and also her looks. [She] really had unique looks within the band. I guess I've always been drawn to her, and then I started reading things about her. I discovered that she had this crazy yet short life. Usually, when there's a subject that you seem to go on it for about hours and annoy your friends with. That's a good sign that you're able to write a book about it."

For Bagieu, the process of developing Mama Cass as a character was painstaking, taking her two years to write and draw the graphic novel. In a departure from her usual style, the creator of Exquisite Corpse exchanged her tablet for pencils and paper, switching to a black-and-white format.

"I had her in my mind for a long time," Bagieu noted. "More precisely, I saw what she would look like, and then I started to kind of doodle her until I was familiar with her. To me, it's a long book, so I knew that Cass and I were going to spend a lot of time together. I knew it would take me maybe two years to draw that book, so I had to be extra sure that I really loved her because I was going to draw her many, many, many times."

California Dreamin' was released in France in September 2015 to acclaim. For Bagieu, the recent release of her book in the United States has also been warmly received.

"People were surprised that people knew [Mama Cass] outside of America," she noted. "I don't think people in America realize how much this band was huge, how much of this was timeless and universal."

Bagieu wishes her audience to get a full picture of Mama Cass and her tribulations.

"I would very much like them to feel like they would've been great friends with Cass," Bagieu said, "that she was an amazing cool woman, and that we just want to be friends with her. It was not about trying to teach something to a reader or tell what it was like back then. It's not a historical thing. It's really about how she was so cool. If you don't know their songs, that's why I put a playlist at the end of the book. If you don't know the song "California Dreamin'," I hope that after reading my book, you'll be curious and listen to it. Furthermore, I hope that after the song, you'll be curious to know a lot more about her and listen to her amazing voice."

Pénélope Bagieu's next book – Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World – is scheduled for American release in March 2018.


Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!

Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
twitterfacebookinstagramwebsite
Comments will load 20 seconds after page. Click here to load them now.