I remember the first time I fell in love with a screen icon. It seems as though red-blooded male I knew, knew that they loved women from that first sight. One of my friends from work talked about this very instance he has with all three of his sons. They were watching a trailer for the Justice League movie and the moment they saw Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, they all had a big grin across their faces, as they all felt those proverbial butterflies about the same woman.

My first onscreen crush was Brooke Shields. I remember seeing her in the Blue Lagoon and being “smitten” with those sea blue eyes. Since then, I had a few, and even some from yesteryear, one of them being Hedy Lamarr. I remember the first time I saw her, it was in Samson and Delilah. She played the titular female protagonist and she captivated my attention the whole film. So, when I heard that there was a graphic biography of the film icon, Hedy Lamarr: An Incredible Life, I was definitely interested.

We first meet Hedy, when she was 5 years old, growing up in Vienna, as her father becomes the person who stoked her interest in understanding how everything works, including cars and lights, which will start a lifelong interest in inventions. As she became a teenager, soon her interests were enthralled by the movies, and soon she pursued a career in movies, working behind the scenes, until a casting director saw her, and put her in her first film. Unfortunately, her career would be derailed, as she gets herself in an unhappy marriage, the death of her father, and growing presence of the Nazi regime in Austria, pushes her to pursue her dreams in Hollywood. As her star brightens, she begins to catch the attention of many Hollywood luminaries, everyone from Howard Hughes to Errol Flynn, while the situation in Austria, begins to get more dangerous, she works to get her mother with her in America. By book’s end, one of her inventions, the wireless network, becomes a trailblazing idea, which has changed the world, and has made he world take notice that she was more than the most beautiful woman in the world, but also one of the smartest people on the globe.

Overall, Hedy Lamarr is the true personification of “beauty and brains,” as she not only marveled the world with her presence but changed the world with her mind. The story by William Roy is riveting, evenly paced, and articulate. The art by Sylvain Dorange is ethereal and vivid. Altogether, a life story that shows despite how much people underestimate you you are more than the sum of your parts.

Story: William Roy Art: Sylvain Dorange
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy