There's a definite crossover amongst artistic people between artistic disciplines. You'll find any number of folks who create comics who are experts and fans of film, literature... and music. This has given rise to the occasional comic with strong music themes, and Cyclone Bill and the Tall Tales is one of those, an involved tale of a fictional rock band of the near future with a touch of the supernatural that is remarkably engaging. Dougherty's tale is presented as if it were the story of a documentary filmmaker who was working with the band, but the story also involves the filmmaker and her life outside of that documentary, which is an interesting structure and one that has plenty of storytelling potential. I'm not entirely sold on the inclusion of real musical personalities as background, as it feels like a distraction from the world of this fictional band, but I was engrossed in the story of Cyclone Bill and the Tall Tales, and I'm very curious to see where the story goes next.
Cyclone Bill starts off kind of weird, as we follow a documentary filmmaker (who seems to be cracking up a bit) around Graceland. However, the story quickly turns from a story of Margarita Bloom, filmmaker, to a story she is telling, the story of the rise and fall of Cyclone Bill and the Tall Tales, a rock band that rises to prominence in the mid-2000s. We've seen a small number of period tales in comics that look at the rise and fall of bands in the '50s or '60s, but Dougherty's story is one of the few that I've seen that actually looks at the modern music world. That alone makes Cyclone Bill unusual, but what's more unusual is the tone of the story, which is optimistic, hopeful, maybe even a little magical.
There are hints in this issue at supernatural overtones to the story of Cyclone Bill, and I'm sure we'll get more in upcoming issues, but in this first issue, the magic comes mostly from the feeling that this band was somehow destined to be. Margarita's (and by extension Dougherty's) continual footnotes about the important dates in the lives of the musicians are laid on too heavily, so that they essentially come off as more random and coincidental than any indication of destiny, but the way the band comes together and the way that Dougherty sells their popularity is pretty smooth. I found myself buying into this tale of a band's rise to stardom, and I like that rather than focus on rock star excesses or the politics of the music industry, Dougherty mostly focuses on the band making good music and becoming popular, and their struggles are more of an artistic nature than with the weaknesses of human character.
In terms of artwork, Cyclone Bill also has a touch of magic, just in the way it's presented. The art itself is generally solid at best, but the faux-painted, black and white approach, especially on shots like the final concert or the mock-up album covers, really helps to transport the reader into this world, and Dougherty's storytelling skills are really sharp. The multiple small panel sequence used to introduce Cyclone Bill to the world, opening up into more of a splash, is a nice build and release pattern and the splashes of the concerts really give a sense of the power and joy of the band.
The inclusion of Elvis, a real rock legend, into the tale of Cyclone Bill, a fake legend, actually weakens the story rather than strengthens it. There aren't any real parallels between Elvis's career and that of Cyclone Bill, and there have been so many tales that reference Elvis in some way that it takes away from the generally unique feel that the book has. Given that this issue is mostly the setup of the backstory, it's possible that Elvis's ghost and legend may start to make more sense later on, but for now, it makes the framing sequence feel like the weak point of an otherwise strong debut. 8/10
