Cartoonist to Tackle Tragic Life of Legendary Jazzman

by BK Munn
Cartoonist Scott Chantler announced yesterday on social media that his long-simmering comics biography of jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke has been acquired by Simon & Schuster graphics imprint Gallery 13.  Bix is described by Chantler as a “dream project” and is his thirteenth book. The book has been described as “an experimental and mostly wordless black and white graphic biography highlighting the career of Leon Bix Beiderbecke, an early jazz cornet player, who rose rapidly to fame in the 1920s before falling just as quickly from grace due to a wretched dependence on alcohol.”
Known mostly for his young-adult fantasy series Three Thieves, Chantler’s most recent historical GN was Two Generals, based in part on the exploits of Chantler’s grandfather in World War II. Gallery 13 recently published Jeff Lemire’s Roughneck graphic novel.