Ludwig van Beethoven was inarguably one of the most accomplished and talented composers and musicians in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. But what was he like as a boy? Ross tells the story of Beethoven, from his boyhood in Bonn to his arrival in Vienna and his first large concert hall performance. Ross portrays Beethoven as a bullied misfit e child of an overwhelmed mother and an alcoholic father and brother to two younger "brain eater" boys o turns into an angry adult who feels like he deserves better opportunities. Unlike most biographies, this graphic novel has a somewhat flippant tone, which some readers may find off-putting. The lively artwork has an exaggerated and colorful style, which adds to the light and offbeat feel, and disarming visual shifts in the expressive scenes depicting Beethoven's own music are a wonderfully chaotic representation of the composing process. With an unconventional writing style and such a narrative-driven account, this might have more appeal for readers looking for artful fiction than a biography.

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)