Somewhere high above the Atlantic ocean, mid-1964, each of the Fabs were sharing downtime with a group of reporters tasked with following them around to score soundbites for radio stations during a whistle stop tour of America’s east coast. Amongst the usual questions on moptops, girls and general Beatlemania, Paul McCartney drops a nugget that this writer and Beatle nut has neither read nor heard elsewhere. When asked what the foursome enjoy reading, Macca replies simply, “Comic books.” So it should come as no surprise that this adaptation was first mooted by The Quiet One almost immediately after the film’s release. What kept this away from the printing press for so long is beyond this review’s word count, but nevertheless we have it now so let’s take a looky see.

This book absolutely nails the art style of George Dunning and his crew of animators. It is testament to their work that this still looks as fresh as newly inked celluloid. Unfortunately this also gives the effect of what might as well be screenshots cropped and cut to fit the panes on the page. This starts a little voice in the back of the head asking “what’s the point”. What we have here is the Beatles equivalent of a photo reconstruction of a missing episode of Doctor Who. Without the soundtrack.

Let’s not forget, Yellow Submarine is a musical. The Beatles’ music is probably more intrinsic to the film than the previous two movies combined, each set piece cued up and inspired by the lyrics of a song from the soundtrack. While we concede that tracks written especially for the film like “Hey Bulldog” and the tossed-off-in-two-minutes “All Together Now” are hardly glorious, the rest of the songs here are some of the finest penned by the boys. Without “Nowhere Man” to accompany proceedings, the scene where we meet Jeremy is missing the surreality of the music that inspired it in the first place. “Eleanor Rigby” becomes flat images of Liverpool’s back streets and landmarks, missing the jagged fluidity that the moving visuals and soundtrack imbue the film with. Imagine putting on your Blu-ray, turning off the volume, repeatedly pressing the freeze frame button and you have a good idea of how this graphic novelization feels.

While this sounds like a damning indictment, the book is not without its plus points. As mentioned, the artwork is very good and probably more detailed than that which we see on the screen. The artists try to add movement to the page using different effects with varying amounts of success, but at the end of the day it’s that one ingredient (the music) that hoists this by its own petard. Not one for those with a passing interest in the Beatles, or even for the hardcore fan, this is one for the completionists. Stop pressing the freeze frame button, turn up the sound and enjoy the movie instead.

THE BEATLES: YELLOW SUBMARINE / WRITER: BILL MORRISON / ARTIST: BILL MORRISON / PUBLISHER: TITAN COMICS / RELEASE DATE: 28TH AUGUST 2018