Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness: A Graphic Novel by Reinhard Kleist 782.421642 KLEIST

Johnny cash was the Man. The Man in Black to be more specific. This visual powerhouse, fittingly in stark black and white, tells the early rise and near death and destruction of one of music’s greatest outlaws. Spanning from an impoverished childhood, through his meteoric rise to stardom, to his near death and rebirth, Cash gained and lost love several times along the way and sang songs loved by generations of fans.

I am a gigantic fan of Cash and have so many of his albums, so I am very picky about fiction about Cash, but this book totally grabbed me. Even though as a huge super fan I knew every detail in the book the art and storytelling worked so well I read the whole thing in one sitting. I especially love the spots where Kleist illustrates songs of Johnny’s. Seeing A Boy Name Sue as a comic was a true highlight. This is an absolute must read for Cash fans ,casual or hardcore. I think anybody that like crazy rock star stories would also love this book, because Cash was tearing apart hotel rooms while the Stones were just kids (for our younger readers the Rolling Stones were a popular rock band your parents liked). If you like this book, you’d probably also like Johnny Cash’s insanely great music which we have several albums of (CD COUNTRY CASH) or the movie based on Johnny’s life Walk the Line (DVD WALK).

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