The Lady Gaga Comic Book Is Not Narrated From The Perspective Of Lester Bangs, Alas

​Yes, kids, the Lady Gaga comic book exists, and isn't terrible, if Jim DeRogatis is to be believed. The plot seems to involve a grousing, overweight schmo who becomes obsessed with -- and eventually actually becomes -- Lady Gaga. Unfortunately, this person is not famous grousing rock-critic Lester Bangs, nor named after him, as previously theorized, and while this is an awful shame, the result is nonetheless shockingly not terrible:

That issue out of the way, let me note that Rafter, who said he "didn't want to write a straight biography," did something much more interesting, creative, and true to the postmodern spirit of Gaga herself: He uses the book to ruminate about pop-culture obsessions, sexual and otherwise, and their relation to gender roles, our sense of identity and self-worth, and our lemmings-to-the-sea attraction to fame, sometimes with disastrous, destructive results.

These themes, by the way, were absolute favorites of the real Bangs, who examined them via artists great and minor, from Iggy Pop and the Clash to Blondie, ABBA, and Olivia Newton-John (disposable pop acts he loved). In the end, when the comic schmo in Fame: Lady Gaga transforms himself into an ersatz Gag--who is of course an ersatz Madonna herself--the notion that we can, all of us, be our own "stars," and that pursuing that goal is a much worthier endeavor than blindly worshiping the pretty packages that Big Media pushes on us, well, that's about as punk/Bangsian a notion as I've ever encountered, in a comic book or anywhere else. Highly recommended.

If that doesn't grab you, Bluewater has another series you might enjoy.

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