When I found this book, I decided to read it for though I have listened to his music and have actually found a few older records of his. I have also found that many jazzes and a few rock guitarists look at his music as where to start and to become. 
  The book opens with the story of his music and really how muscly everything came easy for him. It was not until a fire that would burn his left hand and left leg that he would need to work at just moving his fingers first then work to play the guitar once again. The book really goes into the struggles he was facing and how he overcame them. 
   The first part of the book is done in a graphic novel type which was okay. Once you get towards the end you have an actual written story which I personally liked better. Either way, this is a very good story and really worth the read.

Django: Hand on Fire by Salva Rubio & Efa is a free NetGalley e-comicbook that I read in late August.

An influence onto jazz, Django was born to Romani traveler parents just outside of Paris and was a very rebellious and boastful child. His mother redirects his energies toward music, so he takes up playing the banjo-guitar and re-adapts songs meant for other instruments. From there, he meets a caring, sweet girl in Naguine, then switches up to marry the blonde Bella, burns his hand in a terrible fire, refuses amputation, and recuperates successfully enough to master the acoustic guitar. It ends with biographical information and the reasoning behind the comic’s plot lines and descriptions.

With beautiful artwork and powerful storytelling, this graphic novel brings the story of Django Reinhardt to life in a captivating way.

According to Wiki 'Jean Reinhardt known by his stage name Django Reinhardt was a Belgian-born Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was the first jazz talent to emerge from Europe and remains the most significant.'

He was incredibly talented and in his lifetime played both banjo and guitar. I didn't know anything about him before reading this graphic novel and as I read I was amazed by the adversity Django went through and despite this he still managed to develop his considerable talent. It is an inspirational story and all the more enjoyable because of the artwork.   

This novel focuses on his childhood and early career and it would be great if there are future volumes exploring the rest of his life, especially how he survived WW2 but this is an excellent volume and well worth reading.

Copy provided by Europe Comics  via Netgalley

Paydirt.  I've never really been interested in the story of Django Reinhardt, the early jazz guitarist, but that's because I never knew it.  I'll never be a fan of his output – Sheik of Araby sounding like an incoherent mess to my 4/4-bludgeoned ears, and certainly not Arabic – but this book is a biography of the man behind the myth, the boy that became a legend – or, as the introduction says several times, a god.  We start with him as a youth slipping into cafes to hear the dance quartets and other musical artistes, until youthful vigour and malaise combine to make it known a banjo might improve his mood.  It did more than that – but then came the fire that nearly caused amputation of his limbs, a failure of a marriage, and so much more.

This comic book retelling of it all isn't a classic – it's not the most visually attractive thing, it shows his artistic progression just by dropping the names of the tracks he rehearses on his gypsy caravan stoop, and it has some annoyingly disposable Greek chorus members (apart from the female one, she's gorgeous).  Plus it has a really weird thing of dropping a bear and monkey into things.  Plus it's only an origins story.  Oh and also plus, it gives a little too much time to an essay form of what we've just seen, after the bluntest possible ending, which kind of embellishes and kind of negates the artistry and crafty authorial invention of the main part.  But I still think this is a presentation of Django's youth that will appeal to his many fans, and with me as evidence I know for a fact it successfully raises interest in the narrative of this man's life where it never previously existed.  A strong four stars.

A beautifully drawn, very well researched telling of the early life of Django Reinhardt. We are presented with the known details of his early life and musical influences through sensitive, beautifully watercolored drawings that present us with a detailed and evocative portrait of life in "la Zone." The attention to specifics of period dress and setting bring the reader into vivid contact with a long-gone era.

Although there are poetic liberties taken with the details of Reinhardt's biography, Hand on Fire does a wonderful job of maintaining fidelity to what we know of the great man's earliest years while still maintaining the mythical resonance of what is essentially a superhero origin story: a Manouche banjo prodigy suffers a catastrophic injury following a caravan fire. Nevertheless, due to his boundless belief in his talent and the support of his family, he was able to overcome his injury and emerge as one of the towering masters of the defining instrument of the 20th century, and one of the most influential musicians of all time.

This is a lovely first volume of what promises to be an excellent biography of the great Django Reinhardt. It should appeal to lovers of jazz as well as the general BD audience. Includes an introduction by Thomas Dutronc and a contextual essay by the author. Highly recommended.

I really loved reading this graphic novel! It tells Django Reinhardt's life story from his birth, through his childhood and initial attempts to break into the vibrant Paris music scene, and then his long fight to regain the use of his leg and hand after being badly burned in a fire. That he returned to music is incredible, but Django then went on to become one of the most proficient guitarists in the world. His is certainly a cautionary tale against underestimating anyone purely because of a physical disability!



Throughout Django: Hand on Fire, Efa's gorgeously atmospheric artwork fits perfectly to Rubio's well-researched text. There's an interesting essay at the end which discusses the difficulties faced in digging up truth from legend in Django's story and this book felt authentic and honest to me. The characters are beautifully portrayed with even people who only appear in a couple of frames having distinct personalities and expressions. Django himself doesn't come across as a particularly nice man, but there is no doubting his emotional strength and perseverance. I loved his mother's character too. A truly formidable woman!



I've enjoyed listening to jazz musicians playing Django-inspired Manouche music on several occasions over the years, but had never taken the time to find out about the man himself. I now have a new appreciation of everything he needed to overcome - poverty and social exclusion as well as disability - in order to become such a star.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Django Reinhardt biography. Although I have loved his music for a while and knew aspects of his story, it was fascinating to read and see the colour and life in this cultural and historical backdrop.  The book focuses mainly on his young life, but this is of course the significant period, leading to his later fame. In addition the detailed written account at the end of the novel with photographs, provide an excellent and enjoyable read. I loved the artwork for this graphic novel. The characters were depicted well and there was clarity on every page. All in all, an enjoyable and emotive read. Excellent.

I picked this comic up based on the cover alone, not knowing who Django Reinhardt was or his incredible yet tragic story. Reading through this comic has given be a basic understanding of his life but in such a beautifully drawn way that I am considering researching further into his life. The way it was drawn kept me hooked all the way through, it is a true beautiful biographical comic that catches us and doesn't let us go before the final point.