On to the second part of my Zeptoons series.
There is much more to explore on Deviantart, including these toons by artist and writer electricsorbet, who, like her compatriot Nicola Rivka, mines LZ and other bands for worshipful and often satirical content. In her art she concentrates on the darker side of LZ: Jimmy’s heroin addiction. In this series, started but not finished, Jimmy passes out with his Nazi officer’s hat over his eyes and Robert and John Paul Jones are flummoxed about what to do.
Over the course of the panels the comatose Jimmy is bundled into a taxi and “thumps” into the side of the door. Strangely, her style doesn’t include any eyes for the boys.
She revisits the idea in “The Adventures of Heroin Jimmy” which is darker (and funnier) yet, which concludes with a panel about just how attractive the idea of Heroin Jimmy is.
The artist has her own style and it’s more than a little undergroundish. Except for Jimmy’s shades, the band members look alike and don’t have any of their real-life visual markers. The concept of it is very tasteless/transgressive though — and very bold — which is why I love it. It’s something I might have drawn way back when, but never shown.
Also very bold is this series of illustrations from artist Vltraviolet, whose Deviantart site has since been deleted. Which is a shame, as I wish there was some context for them. The eight illos might be illustrating the story of the naming of Led Zeppelin IV, in which the band members chose mystic symbols to represent themselves out of an occult book that Jimmy provided; yet, why is Robert drowning? Maybe Jimmy was tempting them with the power of black magic, and something went wrong?
The last two panels conclude with a slashy Jimbert moment. I can’t help feel the artist was trying out ideas for a webfic or a longer work. God, I wish I knew what it was all about. I especially love Jimmy’ s sly look in panel two.
I can’t read Japanese, but Jimmy was composing “Black Dog” obviously, and turned into one. Chibi toons of the band are pretty common.
This panel is more of an illustration, but I think it fits into toon category because a story is being depicted: the band gives out Halloween candy dressed as their fanon alter egos: Robert’s a Tolkien figure, Jimmy a vampire, John Paul Jones, the highwayman from The Song Remains the Same. Bonzo doesn’t participate. He’s already a Halloween character.
This cartoon might depict the band’s first tour of the U.S. in the late 1960s when Richard Cole rented a van and drove them around with all their gear. But I don’t recall any stories of the van breaking down. It’s amusing that Robert refuses to help.
After all this, the real — actually published — LZ graphic novel is something of a letdown.
Cover page
I
I mean, there is just no energy there, visual or otherwise. It’s dull and static.
A political cartoon from a few years back. Not sure if it was lauding LZ, or making fun of them.
