David Bowie’s Influence on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

This article analyses the influence of David Bowie’s work in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, a manga known for its wealth of references to western popular culture. It is argued that David Bowie’s cultural reception can be attested via the presence of three narrative themes featuring in this manga series. The first theme is the exploration of diverse genres and an innovative, genre-defying attitude. The second theme is the use of avant-garde, flamboyant and gender-ambiguous aesthetics for its fictional characters. The third theme is a self-reflexive approach to the creation of fictional characters, intended as an awareness of the temporary, transient nature of their role as reluctant heroes in their own stories.


Introduction and Theoretical Preliminaries
Furthermore, as Araki acknowledged, the artistic methods and practices of his favourite artists, one example being Prince, strongly influenced JoJo's artistic evolution (Araki 2016). David Bowie seems also to be another key influence, although an indirect one. Araki has often stated that his goal as a mangaka was to set himself apart from other manga artists by creating a unique style when he began in the late '70s (Araki 2006). David Bowie's artistic trajectory also followed this goal, as his creation of several stage personae testify (e.g. the Thin White Duke; Stevenson 2006). Furthermore, direct references to Bowie's works abound in JoJo, one example being the character Scary Monsters in its seventh story arc.
The influence of these artists on the series, however, has never been studied in detail. One reason lies in the general dearth of research about the multi-mediatic influence of artistic figures in comics, a situation that this special issue aims to rectify, at least for David Bowie. A second reason is that such forms of intertextuality have begun to be investigated only recently within comics studies (Kukkonen 2013: 10-16). Thus, an analysis of David Bowie's artistic influence on JoJo is still outstanding.
The goal of this article is to analyse this influence, as an exemplary but perhaps less known case of the impact that Bowie has had across different artistic media. Therefore, in pursuing this goal we aim to answer a central question: which of the themes composing Bowie's artistic opus can be also found in JoJo, as Araki's main opus. Before we do so, however we introduce and motivate the theoretical notions we adopt in our analysis. Our analysis is centred on three core notions which we define as follows.
First, we follow Groensteen's approach of ' comics as a system' (Groensteen 2007: 90-100;2013: 130-140 comics as semiotic systems involving a visual and a textual modality. Their systematic nature emerges through the combination of different semiotic units (panels, pages, issues) that can be combined to form (possibly) coherent narratives. Hence, the different parts of a comic story are related to the story as a 'whole' (cf. also Cook 2011: 288-289). Crucially, serialised and complete works can be considered independent systems, in which each issue or volume presents a part of the overarching narrative. Thus, we can talk of a series such as JoJo as a single, distinct comic/ manga system, with its characteristic themes and narrative structures. Its structure is based on weekly/monthly issues, collected into tankōbon that cover several parts, or story arcs. The notion of 'part', specific to the JoJo system, will be fully discussed in the next section, given its importance for the analysis.
Second, we enrich this notion of system with Bateman's approach to multimodality and intertextuality, and its application to comics (i.e. the so-called 'GeM model': Bateman 2008;Bateman & Wildfeuer 2014). Via this choice, we can make precise the notions that the Groensteen's approach sketches only in an indirect manner.
The GeM model introduces documents as units used to convey information amongst individuals (or ' agents'). Documents that involve at least two distinct modalities are defined as multi-modal documents. The model uses the page as a basic unit realising a document. A multi-modal document can include a single page (e.g. a flyer), several pages (e.g. comic issues) and collections of connected pages (e.g. trade paperbacks).
Furthermore, comics include panels as semiotic units, which can be conceived as the basic building blocks (Bateman 2008: 100-138;170-176). Documents can convey coherent information when the different elements making up a document (e.g. text and illustrations within and across panels) establish thematically related semiotic relations.
Intertextuality is then defined as a semiotic relation between two different documents, whether this relation involves single panels, pages, chapters, or whole documents (Bateman 2008: 200-210). When this relation holds, one or more documents act as the 'source' documents (or 'sources'), providing information that a reader can access, to fully interpret a 'target' document (or 'target'). We thus say that the target document refers to its source documents for its interpretation. Intertextuality can also apply when the overarching narrative structure of a target document refers to a source document (e.g. Joyce's Ulysses and Homer's Odyssey: Allen 2011: 130-155). In the 'JoJo system', one can find both types of intertextual relations. One example of the first case involves characters resembling other manga characters, actors and so on. One example of the second case involves story arcs/ parts drawing inspiration from other literary works (e.g. part 3 and its plot resembling opus. The first theme pertains to Bowie's drive to push the boundaries of innovation within each medium that he has explored. Bowie's musical and cinematographic endeavours cover various shades of rock, pop, avant-garde and other music genres, and SF, horror, and biographic movies (Stevenson 2006). The second theme pertains to his choice of highly distinctive aesthetic creations. Bowie created flamboyant, unique, and perhaps eccentric characters such as Aladdin Sane and Ziggy Stardust (Bowie 1972(Bowie , 1973Stevenson 2006: 26-50). The third theme, which emerged from the 'Berlin trilogy' period onwards (1977)(1978)(1979)(1980), is that of a self-reflexive approach to the creation of identities (Brooker 2013: 390). Overall, Bowie has been an innovator of popular culture by building a complex 'David Bowie' celebrity sign over the decades. Thus, our research question focuses on how, and to what extent, these themes can be said to also be JoJo-esque themes.
We conclude this section by succinctly discussing previous research on JoJo, before moving to the analysis. Although an ever-popular series (or, perhaps, because of its popularity), few works have investigated JoJo in depth. Brief synopses of its overarching plot and themes have discussed JoJo as a complex, ever-evolving series (Thompson 2007;Thompson 2010). A recent essay has investigated Araki's use of splash pages as a narrative tool in parts 1-3, suggesting that it is instrumental in creating a dynamic, epic presentation of key events (Pigeat 2011). Other works have investigated how the special issues featuring Rohan Kishibe, a popular co-protagonist from part 4, have used horror and fantasy themes (e.g. ghosts, zombies and museums: Flinn 2013: 72-74; Howell 2015: 420-424). However, none of these previous works have investigated JoJo's intertextual relation to other cultural works, and certainly not its relation to Bowie's. Thus, our analysis can be considered the first that addresses JoJo's themes and influences.

The Analysis
JoJo is divided into parts, complete story arcs featuring each a distinct member of the Joestar family as the protagonist, and other family members and friends as possible co-protagonists. As of July 2016, seven parts have been completed, and an eighth Ursini: David Bowie's Influence on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 6 part has reached its 55 th monthly issue. Although each part can be read in relative isolation, the series forms an overarching narrative focused on the Joestars, their allies and enemies, and their bizarre adventures. The Joestars can be interpreted as heroes usually involved in journeys and fighting against villains/antagonists. However, their 'tales' cannot be easily reduced to a Campbellian model (Campbell 2008). For instance, each protagonist (usually nicknamed 'JoJo') seeks to defeat the current antagonist to save his/her community, rather than to bring back a treasure.
Parts 4 and 8 do not involve journeys, as the stories are set in a single city. Each antagonist is related to the JoJo protagonists, rather than an external threat to the communities that the JoJos wish to protect. The re-iteration of a protagonist type across parts, each with his/her unique personality and story, continues a method used in Osamu Tezuka's mangas and Michael Moorcock's fantasy/sci-fi works, to name a few (i.e. the 'star system ' and ' eternal champion' cycles, respectively;McCarthy 2009: 20-33;Greenland 2013: 35-43). Although relevant, this theme does not play a crucial part in our discussion, hence we will not explore it in any further detail.
The division of the series in distinct parts plays a key role in how Bowie's first theme, the exploration of different genres and themes, plays a role in JoJo. First, Araki uses mainstream horror and actions themes in an innovative manner, by setting each part in a different historical setting. For instance, Part 1 is set in the Victorian England of 1890, and presents a Victorian-esque family feud between Lord Jonathan Joestar and his antagonist and step-brother, Diego 'Dio' Brando, who turns into a powerful vampire. Part 2 can be conceived as a dark pulp adventure set in the 1930s, and part 3 as an action/journey adventure set in the 1980s. Part 4 marks a first departure from these themes, as its suburban, 'slice-of-life' setting (i.e. the Japanese 'Morioh town') also marks a shift towards subtler psychological characterisation and a different approach to action sequences. Parts 5 and 6 are crime fiction stories respectively set in Naples and its organized crime, and in a maximum-security prison in Florida. Part 7 is a re-interpretation of Jonathan Joestar's part, couched in a Western setting, and part 8 a mystery/thriller re-interpretation of part 4. Overall, Araki's constant exploration of new themes across various genres echoes Bowie's constant pursuit for musical and artistic innovation. In blending different genres while narrating the Joestars' adventures, Araki has always aimed at pushing the boundaries of the shōnen meta-genre beyond its traditional, fight-oriented model. In doing so, he parallels Bowie's attempt to push the boundaries across media (e.g. music, cinema) and genres (e.g. rock, horror). Hence, we can say that both artists have acted as innovators within their respective artistic fields, during their careers.
The second theme of Bowie's opus, which focuses on the creation of highly distinctive visual identities for characters, can be found in JoJo as well, under Dio is presented as charismatic, twisted villain, hence its intertextual relation with David Bowie may not appear obvious at first glance. Furthermore, since parts 1-3 feature a drawing style heavily reminiscent of Hokuto no Ken, all characters are extremely buff and with stereotypically masculine jaws. It is in part 3, set 100 years after part 1, that Dio begins to develop a more androgynous persona and appearance that better outline his similarity to two personae that Bowie created as an actor. First, as a vampire, Dio hides in the shadows of his base in Cairo and partly uses the suave mannerisms of 'John', the vampire from The Hunger, when he interacts with his minions. Second, when Dio engages in the final battle against the Joestars, his appearance bears more than a passing resemblance to Jareth, the dark Goblin king that Bowie impersonates in Labyrinth (1986, Fig. 1).
Other elements bear more general connections to Bowie's personae. For instance, his disturbingly magnetic charm and homoerotic innuendos with his male underlings suggest that their loyalty is in part love for Dio, who also appears to have vague bisexual appetites. His intense emotive displays with enemies and subordinates alike hide an extremely cold and collected personality, vaguely reminiscent of the Thin White Duke persona. Dio, from part 1 to part 3, seems to capture a dark interpretation of some of Bowie's personae up to the '80s, coupled with the intense charisma and ambiguity that pervades each of these personae.
Other characters become the main antagonists in parts 4-6, even though Dio's influence on the overarching narrative remains relevant. In part 5, the main protagonist is Giorno Giovanna, one of Dio's illegitimate and estranged sons, who aims to become a stern but less morally compromised leader of Naples' organized crime. Giorno does not bear a direct connection to Bowie, but his allies and enemies' fashion senses bear more than a resemblance to the eclectic outfits of   (Bowie 1980), which allows Dio to transform into a velociraptor-like creature. The two protagonists Jonathan and Gyro (Zeppeli) join Valentine and Dio in being indirect but explicit references to Bowie's ' classic' looks and aesthetic style of the '70s-'80s ( Fig. 2).
Furthermore, part 7 crystallizes two changes in Araki's drawing style that finds inspiration in a Bowie-esque aesthetics. First, by part 7 most characters are relatively individual who never stands out. This desire clashes with his ruthless killing habits: Yoshikage is a dangerous serial killer. His stand, Killer Queen, bears the name of a Queen's song, and vaporizes any object it touches. Yoshikage uses it to kill women and take their left hands as 'girlfriends', preserving them in jars when they begin to rot. Yoshikage's looks are not the only visual reference to the two Bowie's personae, since the stand Killer Queen has the same feline eyes and glacial expression of Thomas (Fig. 3).
As in the case of Dio, Yoshikage represents a re-interpretation of a Bowie persona.
Unlike Dio, however, he represents a much darker and more original re-interpretation.

Figure 3:
Yoshikage and his stand (vol. 33, p. 150, 1993, vol. 5  However, she finds himself fighting against the most powerful antagonist, Pucci, for two reasons. The first is a desperate attempt to save his father and reconcile with him, and the second is to avoid father Pucci's ultimately successful attempt to rewrite reality and the future, according to his idea of fate. Thus, the JoJos develop an understanding of their role as heroes and, at the same time, a sceptic attitude towards this role. If the future and fate of the JoJos is one in which they must fight against dangerous enemies such as Dio, Yoshikage, Diavolo, Pucci and Valentine, then the JoJos would rather avoid such a future. This echoes Bowie's take on his role as a celebrity, and his approach to this role as one that anticipates the zeitgeist of the time. Identities and roles, in JoJo as in Bowie's opus, are inherently temporary and inter-related, but nevertheless function as roles that individuals perform on a fictional stage. Grander philosophical themes are, for the most part, taken with a sceptical attitude (Brooker 2013: 391). With this point in mind, we move to the conclusions.

Conclusions
The objective of this article has been to analyse Bowie's influence on the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. As this discussion suggests, the intertextual relation between JoJo's and Bowie artistic works with respect to the third theme is indirect.
Nevertheless, Bowie and Araki's characters display a central awareness of their transient role as characters, and temporary realisations of a more abstract prototype (e.g. 'the artist' and 'the hero'). Their scepticism towards a pre-designed future can be thus seen as the core of the self-reflexivity theme that emerges in both works, thereby creating an intertextual relation as a parallel between the two works. We can therefore answer our central question as follows. The three Bowian themes of pushing genre boundaries, creating unique and flamboyant aesthetic identities for characters and personae, and pursuing a degree of self-reflexivity can be found in JoJo, as themes at least indirectly inspired by Bowie's artistic endeavours. By offering this answer, we have reached our goal of analysing Bowie's intertextual influence on JoJo.