Reinhard Kleist weaves the gripping tale of this dazzling character's genesis, tracing both Bowie's hapless efforts on the London music scene before Ziggy's conception, and his struggles with his own creation at the height of his fame. As Bowie transforms himself, ever more dizzyingly, into a self-portrait of an egocentric rock star, his extravagant lifestyle threatens to bring the real world collapsing around his ears. 

Reinhard Kleist, born in 1970 in Hürth, Cologne, has worked and lived as an illustrator and comic book artist in Berlin since 1996. He made his international breakthrough in 2006 with the biographical comic book Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness, which was awarded the renowned Max and Moritz Prize and nominated for both the Eisner and Harvey Awards. With The Boxer in 2013, Kleist became the first cartoonist to receive the German Youth Literature Prize. In 2017, Kleist once again tackled one of music’s great storytellers in Nick Cave: Mercy on Me, which was simultaneously released in many languages. In 2018, Kleist was honored for his work with the Max and Moritz Prize for Best German Language Comic Book Artist. In 2021, Kleist tackled another extraordinary boxing champion, Emile Griffith, in the comic book Knock Out!