I love the films starring The Tramp, but looking at Charlie Chaplin's life story I can't help but cringe. Somehow his pedophile behaviours were overshadowed by his genius, and he was hailed as a great person. Also he was a tyrant filmmaker, and he undermined other artists' creativity.

As for the graphic novel itself, all I can say is that the illustrations were great.

I already knew the story of Charlie Chaplin and his life; I was blessed to have a teacher in High School that loved all things movies and music and radio and in one his classes, we had a three week block of nothing but Chaplin. We watched his movies, talked about his life and then we each wrote a paper on him [this was just one of many "stars" we studied. I loved this class]. It was a very enlightening time as we also learned about "McCarthyism" and just how pervasive that was and how absolutely damaging it was to so many people.

This graphic novel was a wonderful refresher course for me and for anyone who wishes to learn about the great man, this is a stellar introduction to him and his life and films. The artwork by Bruno Bazile is top notch, as is the translation by Dan Christensen. I was thoroughly captivated throughout the whole read and would absolutely pass this on to any new [or old] film buff. I can only hope that this trio works together again as they really accomplished something wonderful here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Europe Comics for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have long been a fan of Chaplin so loved that this was published. The panel layout, colouring and story flow is really good. the graphics are superb.
The story takes us from the slums of London to Chaplins rise to fame in Hollywood, through his exile from the USA and his triumphant return.
This is a great graphic novel for fans of Chaplin and those that are unaware of his story. Hope there are more in the series

Of course I knew who Charlie Chaplin was - via his films and iconic imagery - particularly that of 'the tramp'. But I had no clue about his own personal story.
I found this book completely heartwarming, and heartbreaking. It's amazing that a graphic novel can make you feel so much! That's when you know it's special! (I've read so many books that don't grab me as emotionally as this graphic novel did!!)

Whether you're a fan of Chaplin or not, I think any film lover would enjoy this - and learn a lot too!

I can see this graphic novel staying with me for a long time!

The superstar Charlie Chaplin is favourite of each soul who loves comedy. And many of us do know about his struggle from his birth to being a superstar of the silent-film era. I too have read his biography earlier but I still chose to read this book as this was the first to have it in a comic form.

The Stars of History: Charlie Chaplin.
This is a graphic novel which illustrates the biography of the Legend, Charlie Chaplin. This book is a part of a series of biographies of some famous people being published by Europe Comics.

The book is a nice bound of the dialogues and illustrations. Each artwork perfectly fits the plot of the script. The language is kept simple and easy to understand. But yes as each character doesn't have a unique description it gets confusing at times. Other than that the book is nice. And I will try some other from this series.

Thank you Netgalley and Europe Comics for the Review Copy.

I received an e-copy of this graphic novel memoir from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

As the last page says, "Charlie Chaplin is no more, but the tramp will live on forever, crossing generations like he crossed continents, with over eighty films to his credit". Charlie Chaplin is a legend even in 2020. Throughout my life, I have seen his films and many people my age would also only have to hear his name to know he created silent films. While I didn't realise the character was called the tramp, his easy to bring to mind.

Seeing Chaplin's story from birth to death was interesting. He didn't have it easy, at all! His father was a drunk who didn't care, his mother was penniless trying everything she could to bring money in to house and feed her sons, Sydney and Charles, and eventually was hospitalised as she began to 'lose her mind'. Charlie's career seemed to properly start when he joined Fred Karno's troupe. Karno's troupe took him to America and Chaplin began to direct his own films. From there the tramp that we all know and love really grew. Charlie was a hardworking man who challenged society through his films, which caused a lot of backlash. Regardless, he continued and grew even more successful. Charlie Chaplin is legendary and this graphic novel was great.

For fans of Charlie Chaplin who want to know more about his life and how the tramp came to be, this graphic novel is perfect. I really enjoyed this and I'm so glad I've had the opportunity to read it.

There are certainly problems with this biography. For one, it spends the largest part of the narrative on Chaplin's childhood, and once he really gets into the film making years it jumps and jumps forward in time at breakneck speed, so that the second half if more like little vignettes than a continuous narrative.
Also, the dialogue in the second half is incredibly clunky, with the author having the characters say the names of famous folks out loud as the only way to identify them ("Get out of here Truman Capote" etc.). Most egregiously of all, it completely glosses over the fact that Chaplin was an absolutely awful person. Yes, you get a small glimpse of his more negative characteristics when he acts like a tyrant on sets, but deliberately rushes past the fact that Chaplin was a pedophile who got two VERY young girls pregnant, and was often accused of being abusive to the women in his life. As an intro to Chaplin the book is fine, but it barely scratches the surface of who he really was.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this graphic novel, I only knew of the basics about Chaplins life and didn't realise how much he struggled growing up. This novel was informative and kept at a good length. I've never read a nonfiction book in such a format nor have I seen one, but I am glad to say this was my first one. I also loved the Illustrations in this graphic novel, the pictures were a great companion to the story. The only thing I disliked about this was the formatting of the speech bubbles, some of them were too close together at times making it hard to read. Overall I'd recommend this graphic novel for anyone interested in learning about Chaplins life and what he had to do in order to become who he was.

"The music shouldn't compete with the image, but instead must be a counterpoint of grace and charm."

I'm beginning to realize that biographical graphic novels can be a really hard sell when it comes down to it. As much as I adore Chaplin and as excited as I was to read this, <em>The Stars of History: Charlie Chaplin</em> wasn't great. Author Bernard Swysen and illustrator Bruno Bazile really did their best, of course. But, at the end of the day, this book had a lot of issues, some more difficult to solve than others.

<b>A Biography as a Graphic Novel</b>

Part of the problem with this book ties directly into the fact that it's a graphic novel in the first place. With each new book that I read in this format, I find myself realizing that it's incredibly difficult to tell someone's life story in this way. There are a lot of things you have to account for and adapt and if you don't do it the right way, it all kind of falls apart.

<em>Charlie Chaplin</em>, unfortunately, suffers in a similar way that the one I read about Albert Einstein did.

<b>Too Much in One Novel</b>

Something I've noticed with biographical graphic novels is the ones that try to tell an <em>entire</em> life story usually fail. In my experience, if this is the type of story you're looking to tell you really need to split it up into several books and focus more-so on the really important aspects of their life. In a similar vein to Einstein, this Chaplin has the misfortune of following Chaplin from birth to death.

And there's just far too much in a lifetime, especially one as full as Chaplin's to fit into a single volume. As a result, we get a lot of time spent with Charlie as he is growing up--which is great, mind--but it all ends up tapering off as he is an adult. The author had to rush through many moments of his life in order to fit in all the events that he wanted. And the book suffers for this. it would have been infinitely better if this had been split into multiple volumes and followed a similar pattern to that of <em>Irena</em>.

Namely, Swysen should have chosen big and important events from various stages in Chaplin's life and focused singular volumes around those moments.

<b>Show, Don't Tell</b>

I never thought I'd have to say this about a graphic novel, but <em>damn</em> did this book have an exposition problem. It's deeply ironic to me that this happened because the whole purpose of a graphic novel is to have the visuals there for you. You don't <em>need</em> to tell the reader things because you have one of the best tools for showing them possible. And yet, for some <em>insane</em> reason, Swysen thought was necessary to have this overlaying commentary telling the readers everything that was happening.

This honestly just kind of blew my mind and I'm still a little baffled by it. There were far too many instances of this and it just got so ridiculous after a while.

That said, the show part of this graphic novel was pretty fantastic. I loved Bazile's artwork. Not only was it excellent, but the continuity over time and the subtle differences that you saw in Chaplin as he aged was exceptional. I had a lot of fun with the visuals and getting to know the characters this way. In fact, this was probably the best part of it all.

<b>So, There You Have It</b>

And that's really what it comes down to. Biographical graphic novels are incredibly difficult and should probably be split into parts. This one, in particular, really needed to cut back on all those moments of exposition in which shoving information into the readers' faces somehow seemed necessary. There are a lot of different ways that Swysen could have given us that information without being very tell-y about it.

In the end, I wanted to love this, but I can't help feeling disappointed.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>

This review will go live on the Reader Fox blog on September 30, 2020.

From the cover to the final cell, this “The Stars of History” issue exudes the comic pathos of Charlie Chaplin’s life and work. Bruno Bazile’s artwork draws the eye from scene to scene with fluidity and passion. Swysen’s text, while perhaps a bit dense in spots, gives a legitimate biography in comic book form. I was only a couple pages in when I relaxed and settled into the nostalgia of losing myself in a good comic book. There were a handful of moments in which the magic faltered; however, considering the tall order of not only conveying the long and eventful life of Chaplin in text and image, but also achieving the desired effect in translation (the work of Dan Christensen), it’s safe to say that this collaboration is a real success.

Thank you to Europe Comics and NetGalley for an Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

A non-fiction bio-graphical, with a lot more of the young Charlie Chaplin's life than I expected, but major flaws. These early scenes, and the almost ligne claire style, made me think this was for a younger audience, but when we get deeper into music hall history and how Chaplin (and his brother Sydney) built up their careers it probably is for an adult. Whatever age you are, the script is quite horrid to read at times, with copious pages bursting with exposition, of the worst "listen son while your mother tells you what you undoubtedly know – it's just the author doesn't know a better way of getting the information about you across" kind. I think the most sinful example of many is when Charlie tells his mother's corpse which month she's just died in – I nearly did myself.

Less false at least is the biographical detail here – I didn't know anything about the workhouse, seamstress-for-a-mother, broken home, poverty and everything else Chaplin experienced as a youth. I didn't know any of the minutiae about who produced which film and where and who for, either, and it's debatable whether we need such completist, forensic detail in a populist book like this. But still, it is what it is, and it was certainly readable (apart from oddly unseparated speech bubbles), and definitely educational. That style, though – two and a half stars maximum.

Like every successful person, Chaplin was a failure too at the beginning, but those failed attempts never stopped him achieving the longest standing ovation in history. He had grasped every chance which was given to him. From starting his career with a broken family to delivering one of the greatest films, 'The Great Dictator' he survived a long way. You will definitely love this comic. I can give all the stars and my love to the illustrator for those brilliant illustrations.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for providing me ths e-ARCs in exchange for these honest review.

This is a very informative biography of Charlie Chaplain in graphic novel form. I had no idea how hard his life was before stardom. Of course, I also only had a small idea of how problematic he was as a person when it came to his relationships. Yet, he did a lot of good work. He was a paradox and now I want to learn more.

I knew a little about Charlie Chaplin going into this book, and by a little I mean the bare minimum, that he was from the UK, and was a silent movie actor. Which is a pretty basic understanding to say the least. So, a book that would provide an overview of his life in a clear and understandable way was something that definitely piqued my interest.

I've not read any of the Stars of History series before, so had no idea what to expect going in, and at first I was a little surprised at how quickly the book moved. Sometimes the narrative would jump by months or years, but I never felt lost because of it, and it quickly became clear that if the book didn't move through events quickly it would have to be five times as long.

There were occassions where I wished more time could have been spent establishing some of the people who appeared in the narrative, and exactly who they were, as some people appeared one page, has an effect on Chaplin's life, then is gone by the next page. I know that it's because of the limits of the format, rather than an issue with the writing, but it did leave me feeling lacking at times.

However, the book covers a lot of ground, and manages to include a huge amount of events that happened during Chaplin's life, events that I had no idea about. I didn't know that he made as many films as he did, that he played a part in founding United Artists, that he was chased out of the US because of McCarthyism, or that he has multiple sexual encounters with underage girls.

Bernard Swysen doesn't hold back some of the less savoury aspects of Chaplin's life, he doesn't try to make him a saint or a villain, but simply allows the reader to make their own decisions based on the events as they were. It allows the reader to decide themselves how they think of him, whether they consider him a good person or not.

The book also made me want to learn more about the man, to go and find another biography about him, so that I can delve a little more into some of the details that the book is unable to cover in depth. I went into it not knowing anything about Chaplin, but came out fascinated by the man, eager to learn more, and feeling like I had a decent grasp of the broad strokes of his story, and all from a graphic novel that's only ninety pages long; I think that's pretty incredible.

‘The Stars of History: Charlie Chaplin’ follows Chaplin’s life from his music-hall beginnings in South London, through to movie stardom in America, McCarthy witch-hunts, to his death in 1977.

At first the pace of this seemed too fast, but you quickly get used to it as you realise that Chaplin’s life really was filled with that many twists and turns. I would have preferred if this had selected a few moments from Chaplin’s life to dwell on in greater depth, as moving as it does at such break-neck speed doesn’t allow the reader to feel the full emotional impact of such moments.

The book doesn’t shy away from problematic aspects of Chaplin - his workaholism, his demands as a director, and (most troublingly) relationships with underage women. Yet because of the pacing of the book, this is one of the many aspects of it that could be dealt with in greater depth if only the authors

I’m not too keen on the art style, although I must say that I enjoyed the subtle changes in Chaplin’s face over the years. The changes were barely noticeable, and done incredibly smoothly.

As a silent film fan myself, I thought I enjoyed seeing the inclusion of other filmmakers and stars of the period, including Stan Laurel, Gloria Swanson, and Edna Purviance.

I’d recommend this for those looking for an introduction to Chaplin, as it outlines most of the major achievements that hardcore Chaplin fans will probably already know.

While I knew bits of the history of Charlie Chaplin, such as that he helped found United Artists, and how he was locked out of the United States when he was older, I did not know all the details. I did however watch his most famous movies as part of a film festival, so it was quite cool to see what lead up to some of his greatest films, such as the Great Dictator and Modern Times.

However, with my knowledge, and my passing memory of all the affairs he had, it was still hard to get through all the references that were not given more than a passing footnote, or nothing at all.

However, as often happens, sometimes a graphic novel is a step to the next book to read about the person, as it just whetted your interest.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This biographic graphic novel explains the life of Charlie Chaplin and how he came to be this famous person we all know. I found it really interesting and, even though I knew the character, I learnt many things about the man behind. The drawings were quite nice but, as Charlie grows and ages through the pages, I was sometimes lost as to who is who. Moreover, there were some characters that did not get any descriptions, so it was a bit difficult to understand what role they were playing in the story. Therefore, that’s why I am not sure the drawing worked well with the narrative. Apart from the sometimes-unclear drawing, the narrative was really nice and easy to read. It gave me the desire to see more of his movies. This comic is part of a series of biographic graphic novel about famous people so maybe I’ll try to read the other ones too as it was quite a nice read. Overall, if you want to learn about Charlie Chaplin in a quick manner, this comic is for you.
3.5/5

I received this graphic novel in exchange of an honest review from Netgalley.
"Charlie Chaplin is no more, but the Tramp will live on forever, crossing generations like he crossed continents, with over Eighty films to his credits."

Wow, coming from nothing then becoming something so legendary. He made himself by himself. Who doesn't know Charlie Chaplin?
I love his movies and they still made me laugh with my family. I wrote once a play based on his character The Tramp, it was for school and I made the teacher laugh then I got the best mark with my group. See, Charlie is still working.
I loved this book very much and it was pretty good, we have a nice biography of Chaplin in pictures. His life wasn't easy from start, he worked so had to achieve what he wanted and what was done to him at the end with all those accusations, it was really unkind. But whatever they did, he is a lengend and will remain a legend.

Through multiple panels and beautiful layouts, this book tells a rich and layered story of a popular figure. I appreciated both the depth of research that went into this book, as well as the detailed artistic work. Perfect for cinephiles and those who love a well-drawn visual text.

• The stars of history: Charlie Chaplin

So the comic book is about the life story of famous actor, musician, dancer and our one of the favorite most iconic Charlie Chaplin.

We all laughed once on the way charlie chaplin made jokes in black and white television and this story is about his life. We only knew about his performance. Very few of us knew about how he became what he is.

He came from a family where his dad was a drunkard and mother used to sing to pay her Bill's. As after a while his father and mother got separated her mother started working double triple jobs to make the ends meet which made his childhood very very struggling but on the other hand charlie never liked school but loved to perform for an audience

And some people saw the talent in his simple performances, he got rejections too but he never stopped trying

And this story is an inspiring novel for us to pick in this quarantine time to get motivated to do what we love.

So I recommend this graphic novel to anyone who wanna dive in some inspiration without any proper knowledge of starting or end cause that's what will hit you hard

Also last but not the least kudos to the graphic artist. You did good.

• Character development- 4☆
• Story Plot- 4☆
• Side characters- 2☆
• Flow of the story- 3☆
• Overall - 3.5☆