Graphic Novel Review by Kerey McKenna
Keen-eared aficionados of American Jazz, Rock, and R&B might recognize the name Stagger Lee (or Stagolee) as a legendary outlaw. He entered the American mythology when he shot down card sharp Billy Lyons in an old west Texas saloon. Or was it because Billy Lyons was sleeping with Stagolee’s woman and it wasn’t Texas but the gold mines of California? And was it because Billy messed with Stag’s wife or Stag’s Stetson hat? Or was it an act of self-defense in a bar brawl in Mississippi? Or was it Georgia? Were Lyons and Lee not figures of the 1890’s but rival pimps in 1970’s Detroit? Over the years Lloyd Price, Fats Domino, Wilson Pickett, Bob Dylan, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ike and Tina Turner, and the Grateful Dead have been just a few of the musicians to sing Stagger Lee’s song of murder and revenge.
In the graphic novel Stagger Lee, author Derek McCulloch and illustrator Shepherd Hendrix seek to untangle the story of Stagger Lee from the garbled and contradictory tales that have been springing up since the 1890’s when “Stag” Lee Shelton shot Billy Lyons in a St. Louis, Missouri saloon. The manhunt for Shelton and his trial became quite the local sensation as white St. Louis authorities rarely took interest in black-on-black crime. If the actual prosecution of the murder was odd then it was even stranger when some prominent whites arranged for a vigorous defense of Lee by gifted lawyer Nathen Dryden. McCulloch and Hendrix dig into the context of the shooting and trial, local politics, race relations, and growing class and wealth disparities within the black community itself. It is also explores the creation of mythology by examining how the tale of Stagg Lee changed as it was passed from musician to musician, down through the years, crossing over from “black music” into the “white mainstream” and back again.
McCulloch and Hendrix present their version of the famous killing (and despite a great deal of research they freely admit in their notes they used a great deal of supposition, interpretation, and artistic license to create their version). They also provide fictional subplots around the trial, chiefly a love triangle between one of Lee’s defense attorneys, a saloon musician who is the first to put Lee’s tale down to music, and the mysterious woman they both love. This historical (or historical fiction) narrative is interspersed with segments exploring the musical mythology that grew from the murder and trial. In these segments Hendrix’s art adopts more cartoonish sensibilities as Lee and Lyons morph and change with each telling of the tale, from thugs to cowboys to gangsters, from black to white, from 1800’s desperados to 70’s pimps. In a visual medium it is hard to provide a musical score but the creators attempt to incorporate the lyrics of many of the Stagger Lee songs and for the most part give a good sense of each interpretation. At the very least, providing the lyrics demonstrates clearly how the story changes in each telling. But comics are a visual medium so I often found myself finishing a chapter and then going over to YouTube to listen to a version of the song referenced in the text.
Illustrated in black and white (although my edition actually looks like a deep chocolate brown; I’m not sure if they deliberately used an off black ink to give the whole thing a sepia tone or if that’s just how my copy aged), Hendrix’s art handles both the narrative and comic strip style segments very well. Reading as many superhero comics as I do, and being inundated with their overpopulation of hyper-muscled strong men and pin-up babes with painted on costumes, it can actually be hard sometimes to find comics artists who illustrate normally proportioned people. The writers allow many moments of the book to hang on subtle visual tableau without superfluous purple prose from the writer (sometimes a problem in comics when a writer doesn’t trust their illustrator to accurately display what is going on). McCulloch does a fine job in weaving their version of the story and in examining how the Lee legend has changed through constant re-interpretation.
I would certainly recommend this to anyone who can appreciate some Rhythm & Blues mixed in with Law & Order. And to learn how a bit about how a tall tale grows in the telling.
Kerey McKenna is a contributing reviewer to Nerds who Read and SMOF for the annual Watch City Steampunk Festival, coming to Waltham, Massachusetts on May 7, 2016. Learn more at www.watchcityfestival.com.
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