Graphic novel from Munich: King Ludwig II as a comic hero – Munich


Was Ludwig II an unworldly, incompetent dreamer? Someone who has not even fulfilled the most elementary duties of his office and has left his country in the lurch in the war? Or, as an art lover and pacifist, did he just have different, higher values ​​and, as an idealist, was an anachronism and at the same time ahead of his time? In Wolfgang Keller’s comic “Ludwig II. A Myth in Pictures”, both perspectives are expressed, whereby he clearly favors the idealistic image of the Bavarian monarch. The illustrator and author, who lives in Riegel am Kaiserstuhl in Baden-Württemberg, shows as a pure “fairy tale king” Ludwig II. but then not. But as someone who fails because of his environment and his claims, is basically very lonely, who ends up breaking because of it. On June 13, 1886, his body was found in the Starberger See (then still Würmsee).

Was it suicide? “There are many theories”. This is what the 80-page book said in the Munich publishing house came out without actually calling into question the suicide thesis. Otherwise, there is no wildly fabulous and speculating here. Ludwig is not chloroformated by his psychiatrist Bernhard von Gudden, who was also found dead in the lake at the time, and then drowned or shot by gendarmes on the run. The book also only touches on the subject of homosexuality briefly. Fans of the cinema or historians do not have to worry that a Swabian is playing a ploy with a Bavarian myth. In a medium that has received literary consecration as a graphic novel, but that still not everyone perceives as a serious art form.

Ludwig II was already a manga star

Instead, Keller, who was born in 1965 and who also writes crime novels, orientates himself largely on the known facts. But that doesn’t mean that he only delivers ole camels. No, he does take a few narrative liberties. For example, all conversations are inevitably “imagined”, as Keller writes in the short epilogue. This applies to the dialogues between Ludwig II and the composer Richard Wagner, whom he idolized, as well as the conspiratorial conversations of his cabinet members, which in the end make him declare “insane”. The king was never in Cannes to visit his seriously ill friend Peter von Thurn und Taxis, whose relationship with the king plays an important role in the book.

In addition, Keller has invented a contemporary framework story with a student and an old man. It’s actually not worth mentioning, but a smart move insofar as it declares the story as the narration of a fictional character and thus secures it against criticism. Speaking of criticism: The anti-Semitism of the time and especially that of Richard Wagner is clearly mentioned. That alone makes the book a far more serious undertaking than the 2002 comic “King Kini: Der Märchenkönig” by Knut and Christian Eckert, which only string together bad gags.

The three-part manga “Ludwig II” by You Higuri, which appeared in 1996, was a bit more upscale. The Japanese tells of the homoerotic relationship between Ludwig and his stable master Richard Hornig. In the form of an enthusiastic dance that is committed to the conventions of the Boys Love Manga genre. But this also means that it doesn’t go beyond indulging and cuddling. Otherwise, Bavaria’s monarch experiences an extreme aestheticization, which extends to sacralization as an angel or crucified. Higuri even has her own explanation for the death of Ludwig.

Ludwig II (1845 – 1886) of Bavaria in a splendid uniform.

(Photo: Scherl / Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo)

A little more indulgence and pomp would not have harmed Keller’s comic either. After all, it is about a king who is remembered less for his politics than for the construction of summer palaces and castles in the air like Neuschwanstein or Herrenchiemsee. Because the watercolor pencil drawings are atmospheric, and Keller also cleverly uses colors such as red, black or blue as a mood generator. But in book form some things seem very gloomy and very detailed. As with the individual drawings attached in the appendix, one would have often wished for more air to breathe.

The fact that the foreword comes from the former CSU grandee Peter Gauweiler should not delight everyone. In any case, not the one who remembers Gauweiler’s unspeakable crackdown on homosexuals and AIDS sufferers in the eighties. Gauweiler also did not attract positive attention due to his role as an EU critic or his high additional earnings as a member of parliament. Apart from that, however, his introduction, in which he recalls Neuschwanstein’s role as a model for Walt Disney’s “Cinderella Castle”, proves to be knowledgeable. Just as the comic as a whole can be recommended as a good introduction to the life and suffering of Kini.

Wolfgang Keller: Ludwig II. A myth in pictures, 80 p., Munich publishing house, 20 euros

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