Reinhard Kleist

A sad and haunted dramatization of the life of a Black LGBTQ+ man who wanted to design women's hats but stumbled into a boxing career in the 1950s that would lead him to multiple championships and one of the most infamous days in the sport's history.

Reinhard Kleist's heavy and bold ink work moves the story along well, though I wasn't thrilled with the hallucinatory/supernatural framing device. And after detailing a lifetime of fights and struggles with homophobia and racism, the denouement show more fizzles as closing events are sketched out in a vague manner that skip past twenty years as if they didn't happen. Still, I'm happy for the chance to learn more about this amazing individual. show less

This is part biography of Cave’s rise to “stardom,” and part metafictional fantasy about what would happen if the characters from Nick Cave’s disturbed songs came to life in order in order to confront their creator. It is a very apt question: what kind of sicko writes songs like these?

Excelente obra tanto do ponto de vista artístico - desenho e roteiro - quanto do ponto de vista histórico. Os autores fazem uma narrativa criativa da história de Fidel Castro e da revolução cubana a partir da visão do personagem, Karl - um jornalista alemão que se apaixona pela causa e acaba casando com uma cubana revolucionária, Júlia - a qual mais tarde se desilude com a revolução e foge para Miami. O roteiro se baseia em profunda pesquisa histórica. O roteirista, Volker show more Skierka, autor de "Fidel Castro, uma Biografia", visitou várias outras biografias e documentários para elaborar o roteiro que, embora ficcional, é absolutamente coerente com a história, com o mérito de ser totalmente isento e não tendencioso, apresentando os fatos de modo que podem ser examinados e entendidos de diferentes pontos de vista, permitindo que o leitor tire suas próprias conclusões. O desenhista, Reinhard Kleist possui um traço vigoroso e expressivo que retrata com rigor o ambiente os personagens e ambiente. Antes de realizar a obra passou quatro semanas em Havana (experiência que registrou em outra obra, "Havanna: Uma viagem para Cuba"). É considerado um dos melhores quadrinistas alemães, sendo detentor de vários prêmios. Leitura altamente recomendável. show less

THE BOXER relates the incredible true story of Holocaust survivor Harry Haft. Written and illustrated by award-winning author/illustrator Reinhard Kleist, this graphic novel is largely based on the account of Haft's life story captured by his son, Alan Scott Haft. A more traditional non-fiction article / report is included in the pages following the end of the graphic novel, which give additional background information and facts about the people and places in the story and provide additional show more context. This report, "Boxing in concentration camps," by Martin Krauss, was especially enlightening, because it showed that--while Harry's story is indeed remarkable and unique--he was not alone in his experience of being forced to fight in death camps. I was particularly intrigued by the inclusion of scholarship around "Sport in Nazi concentration camps,' which explores the very real history of having prisoners compete in various physical endeavors, the most popular of which (among the SS and other German/Nazi elite) was boxing. These matches were an especially gruesome spectacle, since the fights were "to the death." Harry (born "Hertzko") survived some of the worst ordeals of WWII, and his story is incredibly compelling. He saw firsthand the horrors of Hitler's holocaust, from the establishment of ghettos to being separated from his loved ones to starvation and abuse in camps to being forced to work throwing bodies into the furnaces to witnessing cannibalism by desperate prisoners to the Death Marches. Understandably, these traumatic experiences had a profound effect on Haft, and his son describes him as a "violent, brutal man." Haft held onto his story for 40 years, only revealing his life story to his son in his old age. This prompted Alan to document his father's experiences in a book, HARRY HAFT: AUSCHWITZ SURVIVOR, CHALLENGER OF ROCKY MARCIANO. Kleist's graphic novel does justice to this account, and "although some details, on closer inspection, are historically incorrect or at least dubious," publisher Bernd M. Beyer claims that "this changes nothing about the truthfulness and forcefulness of his experience" (186).

The book has a tremendous scope, following Harry from his days as a young man in Poland, about to marry a beautiful girl, through his dark and painful odyssey, and then to modern day America, where Harry ultimately is reunited (for a moment at least) with his fiance from the old days in Poland. She is on her death bed, but lives long enough to tell harry (in Yiddish): "I never forgot you." Each page features beautiful, stark, black-and-white illustrations which capture the feeling and tone of Haft's story. The characters' facial expressions are especially emotive, and there are many panels in which no text is required to express the characters' depth and intensity of feeling. Other times, the illustrations really add to the content of the story and enhance the text, such as the description of cannibalism and working in the body furnaces. These images are haunting, and allow readers to better understand those horrible experiences. The appended materials at the end of the book provide context, insight, and a scholastic foundation for the story, which is, in a word, unbelievable. I was riveted, and I couldn't put the book until I was finished. Highly recommend. show less