Full disclosure I received this from fellow Cannonballer Xoxoxoe as she frickin’ wrote/drew this. How cool is that?! All thoughts and opinions though are my own, but I’ll start with this one is definitely staying on my bookshelf.
There’s not much to plot here, it’s a biography of Marilyn Monroe. We start with Norma Jean and work our way through to the end of her too short life. I really enjoy history, and especially Hollywood history (the podcast You Must Remember This is amazing y’all go listen to it!), so I knew a fair amount of Marilyn’s life story. I did enjoy learning new factoids this time around, and it just adds to so much of the tragedy that was Marilyn’s life. I especially appreciated all of the direct source material and citations throughout. It makes my closeted history nerd self smile.
I loved seeing images and drawings of Marilyn as a young woman, before Hollywood got their hands on her. She was gorgeous, and it was striking to see how much her face changed over the years. I also enjoyed learning more about the behind-the-scenes on a bunch of her movies as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was a personal favorite growing up (although I always aspired to be Jane Russell and not really Marilyn). My only real complaint, which is more of a compliment, is I wanted more. But I always want more. Offer me a 200 page biography or an 800 page one, and I’ll always go for more.
Anywho, thanks Xoxoxoe for the opportunity to read Unfinished. It was fabulous, and shall sit in a place of pride with my other graphic novels. Go Cannonballers doing amazing things!