Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness (Paperback)

~ Reinhard Kleist (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Kleist taps into the mythic quality of the Man in Black's rise from impoverished farming in Depression-era Arkansas to his early success in the 1950s, pulling no punches depicting Cash's drug dependency and the gradual erosion of his first marriage thanks to constant touring and run-ins with the law. He takes readers through Cash's evolution as an artist whose work and social consciousness reflected the changing and volatile times in his troubled country. There are few figures in the history of 20th-century American music whose impact and appeal bore the resonance of Cash's, and this stark and stunning graphic novel—winner of several awards in Europe—is a marvel of visual storytelling that does great honor to both his distinctively American epic of triumph and tragedy and to the universality of the songs he sang. A solid winner from cover to cover, this effort is highly recommended for just about anyone intrigued by an American icon. (Nov.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Kleist double-frames his starkly drawn, fluidly imagined graphic biography, the winner of three European awards, of country-music star Cash. The outer frame is provided by the scenarios of two lowering country perennials, Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” which Kleist visualizes so powerfully that the curiously off versions of the songs’ lyrics (perhaps re-Englished from German translations) can almost be overlooked. The inner frame homes in on the book’s ostensible narrator, Folsom inmate Glen Sherley, whose song “Greystone Chapel” Cash added at the last minute to his famous 1968 recorded performance at the prison. (A brief flash-forward to Cash in his latter years, choosing repertoire for his American Recordings, forms a handsome buffer between the two frames’ closing parentheses.) The book covers Cash’s earlier life, from Depression-era childhood to the Folsom performance, but since the only major development of his career missed is his gospel period, it satisfies pretty keenly, not least because Kleist, whose style suggests Will Eisner heavily affected by film-noir lighting and composition, segues often and beautifully between the life of the man and the lives in his songs. --Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Abrams ComicArts (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810984636
• ISBN-13: 978-0810984639
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #46,114 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Save me from this darkness., December 8, 2009

By	Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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This graphic novel is a biography of Johnny Cash. It doesn't go into all the major events in Cash's life, but instead dramatizes a few big moments in detail. The Folsom Prison concert in particular gets several pages. The artwork is great and the story is riveting, even if you already know a lot about Johnny Cash. This is a great book that I highly recommend.

4.0 out of 5 stars Unusual Christmas gift!, February 16, 2010

By	Doris J. Nash "djnash" (Ames, IA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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My mom asked me to order this for my Dad for Christmas. I figured it was a biography of Johnny Cash, but imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a graphic biography! I have not read the book myself, but in looking through it, the artwork looks terrific. I would like to borrow it from Dad once he's finished it. It looks really interesting!

5.0 out of 5 stars Darkness Revealed, February 3, 2010

By	JMS "Sabbath Solider" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

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If you are a Johnny Cash fan, a fan of good graphic novels or just a music lover, but this book ASAP. It does a great job covering a lot of the inner details of Cash's life, including a lot of those left out from the entertaining, but flawed "Walk the Line." Klest gives us a fuller, more textured image of Cash, more in-line with the portrait painted by his recordings. Cash as an artist defied broad brush analysis. He could be passionate, profane, reverent and crude, patriotic and doubtful and could meld these contradictions almost seemlessly (sometimes in the subject of one song!). For whatever reason, get this book!