LI's Joan Jett to be celebrated in new comics anthology
Tara McPherson's cover image of Z2 Comics' upcoming anthology, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of albums "Bad Reputation" and "I Love Rock 'N' Roll." Credit: Tara McPherson
Longtime Long Beach rocker Joan Jett is the focus of a planned anthology of 20 comics stories celebrating her 1981 albums "Bad Reputation" and "I Love Rock 'N' Roll."
New York City-based Z2 Comics said Friday that the authorized "Joan Jett and the Blackhearts: 40 x 40" graphic anthology will feature female creators selected from comics and "pop culture worlds." Artist Tara McPherson, known for her posters and for her vinyl figures for Kidrobot, created one of two available covers, with French watercolor artist Clara Tessier contributing the other.
Prices range from $24.99 for the softcover edition up to $999 for a "platinum edition" that includes an oversized hardcover hand-signed by Jett, various collectibles and a new Epiphone guitar. The book is due this autumn with a planned 200 pages of stories plus additional material, a Z2 representative said.
"When we began working with Z2 Comics on 'Joan Jett and the Blackhearts: 40 x 40' … we reflected on all the rejection and opposition Joan faced from the industry as a woman with a guitar, especially at the beginning of her career," said Carianne Brinkman, president of Jett's Blackheart music label, in a statement. "Luckily, she blocked out the noise and showed the doubters she could do it herself."
Brinkman added, "The comic world, much like the rock 'n' roll world, is fairly underrepresented in terms of women, particularly in the mainstream. We thought this was a great opportunity to celebrate comic writers and illustrators who happen to be women, and who, like Joan, are constantly being asked what it's like to be 'a woman' in their respective industries."
Among the contributors are writers Amanda Deibert, Cat Mihos and Jazzlyn Stone, artists Liana Kangas and Cat Staggs, and writer-artists Jamaica Dyer, Wiktoria Radkiewicz, Evgenia Vereli and Annie Zaleski, said Z2.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Long Island Music Hall of Fame inductee Jett, 62, has lived in Long Beach since the late 1970s. She first broke out with the Runaways, whose 1976 single "Cherry Bomb," while not a hit at the time, has since become a girl-power anthem that has appeared on countless albums and on the soundtrack of Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy."
With the Blackhearts since the 1980s, Jett has toured stadiums with The Who — including Nassau Coliseum in 2015 — Green Day and the Foo Fighters, and has often played at Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater. She was the subject of the well-received 2018 documentary "Bad Reputation." Her August 2020 concert at Citi Field in Flushing as part of a tour with Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard and Poison was postponed to June 24, 2022.
