Adrian Matejka

“All we’ve gotten from the whites is THE WHIP, THE BIBLE and a FIST FULL OF PLATITUDES!”

This extraordinary graphic bio looks at the life of Jack Johnson, a black heavyweight champion, around the turn of the last century. Of course, I have heard about this man over the years and saw the film the Great White Hope but I did not know many of the details about this towering figure and the astounding amount of racial abuse that he dealt with all of his life. It truly is painful to read, but show more one everyone should read, just to remind us what we are capable of doing as a race. I highly recommend it. It will be one of my top reads of the year.

A big shout-out to Joe for recommending this gem. show less

World champion boxer Jack Johnson reflects on his life and the racism he has experienced against the backdrop of his prizefight agains "great white hope" James J. Jeffries in Reno, Nevada, in 1910.

Writer Adrian Matjka inserts poetic interludes into the narration and artist Youssef Daoudi utilizes numerous techniques to set the pace and add visual emphasis to the script. I was impressed by much of the storytelling, but stretching the fight out over the course of a very long book stretched my show more patience at times also. I was also disappointed that the narrative breezes past Johnson's domestic violence and the racial hatred that erupted across the nation following the end of the match; these felt in need of more exploration.

I recommend people check this out, but be aware that by necessity there is a lot of racist language and imagery. show less

This is some powerful poetry. A collection of pieces in the voices of fighter Jack Johnson and the white women he loved and betrayed, Adrian Matejka captures the rhythmic style of boxing in his phrasings, the lyrical punch of the pugilist in his words. I found myself going back and rereading passages just for their sheer impact, be it beauty or brutality.

This is fifteen rounds of pure and powerful poetry. Seek it out.

This is a historical graphic novel (thanks Mark for the suggestion) about Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century. It was the boxing match contested in Reno Nevada in 1910, where Johnson became the first African American Boxing Champion. Daoudi, used the rounds of the match as chapters to tell the story of Johnson's life and how the match came to be, his tumultuous personal life and what happened to him in the years after the fight. This was an excellent read. It has an interesting mostly show more monochromatic drawing style, and he uses poetry intermixed with regular prose to tell the story. Recommend.

When I hook a man, it's like being hit by frustration show less