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Nick Cave immortalised in graphic biography by German comic artist Reinhard Kleist

Words
Jenny Brewer
—
Date
4 September 2017
A black and white comic strip in two panels. The top panel shows a close-up of hands typing on a typewriter, with the sound “Tac” repeated in speech bubbles. The bottom panel shows a person with messy hair sitting on the floor of a cluttered room, typing intensely. They are surrounded by stacks of paper and books.

German graphic designer and comic artist Reinhard Kleist has created a graphic biography of Nick Cave, published by SelfMadeHero. The book, titled Nick Cave: Mercy On Me draws elements from the musician’s life story as well as his music and writing, much like previous books focused on Johnny Cash I See in Darkness and Somali athlete Samia Yusef Omar An Olympic Dream.

Nick Cave gave Reinhard biographical information and creative advice for the book, and comments on the final result that Reinhard has “blown apart the conventions of the graphic novel by concocting a terrifying conflation of Cave songs, biographical half-truths and complete fabulations and creating a complex, chilling and completely bizarre journey into Cave World”. He adds: “Closer to the truth than any biography, that’s for sure! But for the record, I never killed Elisa Day.”

In typical graphic novel style, the publication features dramatic hand-drawn imagery in panel comic format, starring Nick Cave and characters from his songs, all in black-and-white. It covers the musician’s childhood in Australia, his time fronting The Birthday Party, his time with The Bad Seeds and his battle with heroin.

A black and white illustration of a singer performing energetically on stage. They lean back with a microphone in hand, surrounded by a crowd of people and tangled cables. A speech bubble in the bottom right reads “’cause pleasure is the boss!”.
Above

Reinhard Kleist: Nick Cave: Mercy On Me

A black and white comic strip. In the first panel, a person drives a car as a speech bubble reads, “Came upon a crossroad. The night was hot and black.” The second panel shows a figure in a suit and hat standing before a towering, shadowy entity holding a scythe. Speech bubbles read, “I see Robert Johnson, with a ten-dollar guitar strapped to his back...” and “...looking for a tune.”
Above

Reinhard Kleist: Nick Cave: Mercy On Me

A comic illustration of a figure in a wide-brimmed hat and long black coat, their face obscured by shadow. The words “Red RIGHT HAND” are written across their chest in bold, white lettering. The figure holds their hands out as pieces of paper float around them. Speech bubbles contain text about a mysterious character who provides money and cars.
Above

Reinhard Kleist: Nick Cave: Mercy On Me

A black and white comic strip shows a person with long hair playing a piano. They are surrounded by scattered sheets of music and speak into a vintage microphone. Speech bubbles contain a monologue about being “in a state of nature” and a question asking if they know they are “back in London”.
Above

Reinhard Kleist: Nick Cave: Mercy On Me

An illustration of Nick Cave standing against a plain cream background. He wears a dark suit and looks downwards with a somber expression. Bold red text reads “NICK CAVE”, with “Reinhard Kleist” and “Mercy on Me” in smaller black type.
Above

Reinhard Kleist: Nick Cave: Mercy On Me

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Further Info

www.selfmadehero.com
www.reinhard-kleist.de

About the Author

Jenny Brewer

—

Jenny oversees editorial output across It’s Nice That. Get in touch with writing pitches for features or opinion pieces, big creative story tips, or questions about all things editorial. [email protected]

To submit your work to be featured on the site, please see our Submissions Guide.

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