One Model Nation

by Courtney Taylor-Taylor, Jim Rugg (illustrator), Cary Porter (illustrator)

In Germany 1977, music is violence. As the country is still shattered from the devastation of war, the youth fight back against a repressed nation with their only figurehead of this violent, well-dressed revolution -- a band later forever lost in time, Das Model. Dandy Warhols frontman courtney Taylor and Street Angel illustrator Jim Rugg bring you the complete story of Das Model, revealing just how they kick-started the revolution that revitalized a country and mysteriously disappeared without a trace only months later.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Music, Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Politics

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is Germany in 1977, and a revolution is underway.  As the revolution grows, one band is held up as a model for what the revolutionists want…whether the band likes it or not.  One Model Nation is caught in the crossfire of a war they didn’t create and could be destroyed while leading an army of followers that see them as everything for which they stand.

Written by Courtney Taylor-Taylor of the Dandy Warhols and illustrated by Jim Rugg, One Graphic Nation took a long time to make it to the shelves.  Taylor-Taylor began working on it years ago with the help of Donavan Leitch and Mike Allred and did publish it with Image Comics.  Now One Model Nation is back (with a companion CD also being released) in a nice collective hardback with bonus images by Titan Books.

The story of One Model Nation takes the fictious band and puts them in the middle of the attacks by the very real RAF (Red Faction Army).  Throughout the story, the RAF use One Model Nation’s music and style as their voice despite the fact that One Model Nation just wants to play music.  This leads to turmoil among the band and threats of breaking up as they become targets of the police and political leaders.

If you have no background in RAF this is a bit of a difficult read.  The story really hinges on known a little bit about this communist terrorist group also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang or various versions of that title.  I really didn’t know much about them or their beliefs and they are used in the comic mostly as a plot device since timelines for One Model Nation don’t really match-up with the activities of the RAF in reality.  With this in mind, I kind of wonder why Taylor-Taylor chose a real group and didn’t just make up a fake group based on the RAF...allowing him even more freedom to alter the story.

I do find the art and the style of One Model Nation good, but the problem is that it is also a comic based on a group where they are all trying to look alike.  With that, I had difficulties distinguishing the main characters from each other in scenes and that made the already difficult task of determining what exactly was going on more difficult.  After I finished the book, I had to go back over parts to determine what I missed.  That is not a necessary fulfilling aspect of a book.

One Model Nation is interesting but there is a lot I would change to make it better.  Maybe a page explaining the RAF to younger readers or readers like me who just missed the boat on the movement would help.  A page showing all the main characters with a one line background also would have helped clarify the story or at least give a reference to flip back to when you are a bit confused.  The nice design and layout of the book would have benefited from these little tweaks, but that doesn’t mean the book should be avoided.  Check out One Model Nation for an interesting read that at least challenges you to think while you are reading...unlike a lot of comics.

[Anna Hepworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is interesting, and I think if I'd read Stasiland more recently, or been generally more familiar with the histories of both West and East Germany, or the late 70s German art scene, I'd have been fascinated. Ditto, if I'd been more familiar with the stories of bands such as Kraftwerk, which is the one band name mentioned that I actually recognised as real. As it was, I found it incoherent and hard to follow. A bunch of young white fellas who all wear the same clothes becomes an exercise in frustration as I try to develop any kind of empathy for the stories, or even try and work out who is doing what.

I did know enough to be quite confused by the early presentation of one of the characters. Possibly if I'd remembered more about a particular part of West German history, it might have made more sense. Because for a lot of the time, I couldn't work out whether it was some kind of twisted alternate history or just using recognisable names to mess with the reader.

I do wonder, if I'd known nothing about the history that is being referenced, whether it would have worked as a fictional dystopia. Certainly, there are enough dystopia tropes that are true to history that they would work in this context as either.

[John Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this because I kind of like the music of the Dandy Warhols, and I'm doing a little reading challenge with some friends and one of them challenged us to read a graphic novel; not really something I normally read.

Most of the way through the book the story line was confusing to me. Then, towards the end I finally understood and the story made a lot of sense and I liked it a lot. SPOILER ALERT. The whole premise is that a band has gotten popular, particularly with a bad group of terrorists. The police think the band members are part of the terrorist group, as well, so they harass them. It was never really clear to me until the end; are they terrorists or just a band? And I'm not telling.

It was fun to read and very cool.

[Peyton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this was a disappointment. A story about an electronic group going up against a Communist Regime should be a dream comic to me, but I found the story pretty dull and I never connected to the characters. I found myself unable to care what happened to them. I wish I could have been rooting for them but for most of my time reading this book I was just bored. Most of the dialogue was pretty good, and the art wasn’t bad, but the story was terribly uninteresting to me.
Some reviewers say that the book is more enjoyable if you know about the gang that is featured in this book, but if a book about a gang requires me to already have knowledge about that gang, then I think there’s a problem.
I respect this book’s attempt at telling a compelling story. I wish it had succeeded.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set during the backdrop of of the German Autumn when the Baader-Meinhoff gang and the Red Army Faction were at their most violent, a band becomes intricately identified with the violence despite not having any political leanings themselves. It is the struggle for the band to form an identity yet remain independent of labels, which ultimately the are unsuccessful in doing, and finally are simply labeled as "nothing." Some people have dismissed this work as bland, but I feel that it deserves a good look

[Eternauta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Δεν είμαι σίγουρος πού ακριβώς ήθελε να καταλήξει αυτή η ιστορία που χάριν πρωτοτυπίας βάζει στο μίξερ την κρυπτοφασιστική αισθητική των Joy Division με το μουσικό κίνημα της γερμανικής ηλεκτρονικής ροκ των 70s (Can, Neu!, Kraftwerk) και την RAF.
Καταλήγει να μην αποδίδει σωστά τίποτα από τα τρία ενώ το σκίτσο είναι μάλλον ερασιτεχνικό.

[Daniel Bingham · Rating 2 out of 5]

A really cool setting, but it didn't really feel like there was a particular story they were trying to tell or characters they were trying to explore. Didn't really add up to much

[P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say that this book is an example of how not to do historical fiction. Although the characters are skillfully drawn by Jim Rugg and the colors are nicely 80s Germanic, the panels are just workmanlike, mostly 8 to a page, and much of the action is lost in their smallness and darkness. The plot itself is jumbled. Characters come in and out so fast that there's no way to track who knows who, where they are geographically, and if the story is in flashback or not. I think one of the band members was actually a terrorist, but couldn't say for sure, and the central guy (Sebastian) kept changing his actions and personality so much that I often had to go back and check that he was indeed the same person. None of the historical stuff is given a background, and the core mystery of the story - what is emphasized on the jacket copy - is never explained. There's an intro/outro by a different illustrator that I think is meant to bookend and take us into the story, but it's superfluous at best.

The book was just reprinted and will be coming out again this year. It will be interesting to see if they did anything to fix these problems.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't know anything about the RAF or any of the other historical backdrop of this fictional piece so it was a little difficult to follow. I wish there was some brief introductory material at least explaining which characters were true historical figures. I didn't find the design or layout very compelling and the writing felt disjointed, like panels might have been missing. There were a couple neat executions and the characters were interesting though overall underdeveloped.

[Shrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool atmospheric story. A fictional graphic novel set against the backdrop of some true-life events in 1970s West Germany. Would have been much cooler if this were about a real band - as a work of fiction it falls a little flat. Still, it totally inspired me to revisit the early electronic/kraut rock catalog from the 70s so I give it bonus points for that.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story (about a fictional 1970s German anarchist band that gets caught up in a political firestorm it's ambivalent about) is interesting in and of itself, though not the easiest to follow. But the artwork is superb, and makes it a worthwhile graphic novel pickup all on its own..

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a short review of this here:

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/20...

[Surfing Moose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like half a story.

[Jes Reaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Need to think before I say more.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting history/fantasy. I know I'll re-read it.