Paul is Dead is due out April 22, 2020. — **Paul is Dead** is due out April 22, 2020.

By Zack Quaintance — If you’ve ever engaged in serious Beatles fandom (and even if you haven’t but just like a good crazy theory), chances are you’re aware of the Paul is Dead theory. Essentially, this idea posits that during the 1960s, Paul McCartney died in a car accident, and he was replaced by a look-a-like so as not to disrupt the Beatles absurd fame and profitability. The label and whoever else was in on it, and the other Beatles knew but were unable to really tell anyone, so they peppered (heh) clues to the Paul is Dead theory in their songs.

You can read about all of this on Wikipedia (it has its own page), and also in a new Paul is Dead graphic novel coming out later next month (if coronavirus issues don’t continue to disrupt distribution too badly) via Image Comics. The book itself dutiful depicts what it might have looked like within the band and behind the scenes had the Paul is Dead thing actually happened and been true, and even though I’m quite familiar with all the ideas and content, I have to tell you, I found the whole thing to be quite haunting, getting goosebumps all over again at the one pop culture theory I *know* is not true but has been brought up enough to always kind of linger in my consciousness.

And the artwork by Italian artist Ernesto Carbonetti is the perfect, fluid haunting aesthetic to really bring this whole concept and narrative to life. That word fluid is the one I keep coming back to in trying to describe this work. Reality itself in these pages is often loose and altered, adding yet another layer of unreality to the Paul is Dead concept. Carbonetti’s choices with the visuals often reel readers back in when the subject matter and scenes get too out there, as if to say, now now this whole thing is not that crazy. Before ratcheting up the absurdity once again. It’s a great choice, one that really reflects the content of the graphic novel.

In terms of scripting, Paolo Baron does a wonderful job as well, incorporating incidents from the Beatles history that are both true and almost true, like John Lennon being hung upside down from the ceiling for a vocal effect (this was a discussed thing that never actually happened). Baron also wisely uses some of the best lyrics in the entire Beatles catalog at a climactic moment for the story, and I won’t reveal what the song choice or the moment is here — it’s too well done to spoil. The final choice I liked a lot from this script was to save one scene to come after the backmatter, in which the creators elaborate on the validity of the Paul is Dead theory (they both do and don’t believe it, which I’ve always considered to be the right answer).

It’s all really well done, but the one word of caution I have is don’t expect this to really impart any new information. The Paul is Dead theory as well as the Beatles careers themselves have become far too overwrought during the years for there to really be anything new left, aside from the how of it all, which is exactly what this Paul is Dead graphic novel expertly grasps.

Paul is Dead: When the Beatles Lost McCartney
Writer: Paolo Baron
Artist: Ernesto Carbonetti
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $16.99
Solicit: November 1966. London. John Lennon can't speak. He can't take his eyes off the photo of a car in flames with Paul McCartney's body inside. His friend is no longer here, and that means the Beatles are no longer here either. But John wants to know the truth, and with George and Ringo, he will begin to re-examine the final hours of Paul's life. Set in the magical atmosphere of Abbey Road Studios during the writing sessions for Sgt. Pepper, PAUL IS DEAD is the definitive version of the legend of Paul McCartney's death.
Release Date: April 22, 2020. (NOTE: Image Comics distribution is currently in flux due to the coronavirus pandemic.)

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.