Golden Boy: Beethoven’s Youth

Beethoven’s volatile youth is recounted in this frenzied graphic biography by Ross (The Thud). At age seven, “Luddi’s” drunkard father promotes the image that his temper-prone child is a piano prodigy, but refuses to let young Beethoven play his own compositions. During his public debut, a concert for an elector in Cologne, Beethoven succumbs to smallpox and nearly dies in the midst of an alarming vision. After recovery, he is hired to teach piano to the daughter of a wealthy family, before setting off to Vienna in hopes of studying with Mozart. Rudely rebuffed, he meets Haydn and embarks on a grueling program under his instruction, with twists and turns, which leads to his first public acclaim, but also growing agitation over persistent buzzing in his ears. Ross’s cleanly lined character portraits include ample crosshatching, coloring, and shadow emphasizing the spiking intensity of emotions. (Beethoven’s frequent digestive issues are given ample, lurid detail, in the art as well.) The portrayal of performed music as messy waves of color that envelop the scene is particularly clever and offers a striking update to the staid, fussy image of classical music figures. It’s a fast and furious contemporary take on the upbringing of a tortured genius. (May)