REVIEW: Black

Taitt’s “Black” is nothing short of a visceral & blatant wide-shot through a lens often classified through a fish-eye. Tobias Taitt’s tale was made for the funny books (just take a glance at the alliteration in his name), yet although “Black” may feature elements of dark humor displayed at the perfect pressure points of the story to induce bouts of gut-busting hilarity; “Black” plays like an 80’s Ra single : the one-shot is no joke.

There is a mythological fascination that surrounds Tobias’ life, his origin story in the UK from a troubled childhood spent in a system built to make him buck. As a reader from the U.S., I was surprised to see so many similarities between myself and this man’s upbringing. It is true that we all have our own triumphs that tend to be outweighed by travesties, and the one’s that Taitt has expressed here are meant to be told and shared to the widest audience possible.

Smith’s black & white artwork accentuates the nostalgic blast from the past that Taitt shares with readers. Though Taitt’s narrative would be just as cutting without Smith’s pencils, I am happy to see the team-up between Taitt & Smith for the love of the medium. With “2000 A.D.” books and Superman candy cigarettes strewn across select pages, this autobiography is a special book that should be recognized to define the medium of autobiographies (comics too); and I am glad it was treated as such in defiance of the average memoir.

For a considerable one-shot, the autobiography is a thick one, and it will take some hours to leaf through; but every second spent on Taiit’s tale is worth the time.
“Black” is as heartbreaking and heartwarming as the potential within the abyss itself. A story that should by all counts be an enigma (but sadly is all too familiar), is recounted allowing readers to laugh at the pain of a man born to the outliers in the effort that it can only distract themselves from recognizing the reflections in the story that ask for the tears of the fool within every spirit bold enough to pick up Taitt’s bold tale.

Score: 5/5

by Tobias Taitt and Anthony Smith from publisher Soaring Penguin Press