Review by Ian Keogh

One can understand publishers Fantoons wanting to maximise the name of Henry Mancini in guiding this biography to those aware of his long and acclaimed career writing soundtracks. However, that’s absolutely no excuse for not bothering to credit the creators of this graphic novel on the cover. Indeed, they’re only named in small type on the indicia page. It’s shoddy behaviour, especially when the cartooning provided by Svetlana Pankina, Jorge Mansilla, Eliana Mirabal and Lindsay Lee is of such a high standard. Lee’s creative layouts are credited in the afterword.

Mancini might not be greatly known beyond film and music buffs, but the wider world certainly knows of his most famous compositions. Those would be Moon River and the themes to The Pink Panther and Peter Gunn, but before acclaim there were years of struggle. Mancini grew up in Ohio in a working class family, and the idea of composing film scores seemed an unattainable dream, despite a natural musical talent.

The title doesn’t lie. Considering where Mancini came from, his life was extraordinary, but his story isn’t quite rags to riches, instead one of an excess of talent honed by hard work and dedication. This is an approved biography, so any whiff of impropriety or nonconformity is absent, and indeed there may have been none. Unfortunately, despite the excellent art, it means this is a glossy hagiography covering the pertinent moments in the manner of a sanitised magazine article. Only the continuing lack of praise from Mancini’s father offers any kind of emotional contrast, and in the end that’s rather too comfortingly rationalised.

It is nice to read how big names of the era did recognise Mancini’s talent and enthusiasm, and there are sweet scenes, such as the early interactions between Mancini and his wife, but never any great insights. Mancini’s finest moments are all duly mentioned, but the best we get about the Peter Gunn theme was that it needed to be taken in a jazzy direction, while the Pink Panther theme was written without seeing the animation. There’s a little more about Moon River, but all too often what’s shown is Mancini sitting at the piano, and hey presto, there’s a song or a score.

Lovely illustration, but otherwise only for Mancini’s staunchest fans. The writer? Oh yes. That’s Fantoons publisher David Calcano.