By David Beard
NEW RELEASES – Books
FROM ENDLESS SUMMER QUARTERLY – THE BEACH BOYS PUBLICATION OF RECORD
The Beach Boys: Official Coloring Book (Fantoons)
It’s admittedly a challenge being 58 years old and trying to revisit my childhood, or – at the very least – think about a Beach Boys-related product in a somewhat childlike manner. The Beach Boys Official Coloring Book is, for all intents and purposes, something for a younger demographic.
For me, to remember what it was like to have a coloring book by my favorite music act I had to think back to the late 1970s when I was a devout KISS fan and recall buying the very cool KISS comic book where they actually ‘mixed their blood with the ink used for the comic.’ Now, not everything KISS did was interesting. Take, for example, the disaster that was the 1978 TV movie The Phantom Of The Park, but this new Beach Boys coloring book is not a disaster; it’s a home run.
With this official coloring book, I wasn’t sure what to expect or if I would appreciate it. Happily, I found it surprisingly creative. It’s replete with imaginative alternate realities … spanning everything to their very own Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band style artwork, to movies they ‘never’ made … you name it. Granted, the book focuses its intentions on the – I guess you could call it – most recognized lineup of the group: Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Alan Jardine, Dennis Wilson, and Carl Wilson. While it’s true that I wish there had been illustrations that might have included David Marks, Bruce Johnston, Blondie Chaplin, and Ricky Fataar – because the book does cover the different eras when they were actual members – it still delivers.
Ultimately, this book, and the bundle extras – a mock Little Froot Scoup cereal box (complete with nutritional facts like ‘Added Harmony’), two collectible pins, a sticker sheet of the Boys riding in deuce coupes, and a mug – are simply built around the fun, striped-shirt imagery appropriately associated and conjured up in the early 1960s when the group hit its stride.
So, with complete and absolute justification I can recommend that any fan that has a son or daughter who is still of the age where they would enjoy a coloring book, I say go for it. As for the collectors themselves who just want to buy the bundle and store it in their ‘Beach Boys mancave.’ Again, it’s a yes! As for me, I think I might keep the mug, enjoy some hot tea, and look upon the illustration painted on the mug with a smile as I recall the first time I discovered The Beach Boys. It will be a nice reminder of the incredible impact their music had on my life. As for a comic book? Fantoons has published comics about several different recording acts, so let’s hope that’s in the works. I for one would love to see them use my interviews with the guys and incorporate them into a storyline for a graphic novel about the making of Pet Sounds, Sunflower, or even the history of The Radiant Radish.
©2023 David M. Beard/All Rights Reserved