.: JOHNNY CASH :.

"'What makes Cash stand out from the pack... is Kleist’s stunning brushwork. Time and time again... he captures, in swaths of black ink and gray tones, the essence of coolness that permeated Cash’s persona.

There are... several wonderful scenes in which the artwork transcends reality for the sake of a visual metaphor. The most stunning is when Cash, sequestered in his home in order to cleanse his system of prescription drugs, endures a profound out-of-body experience.

a very satisfying read... it is enough just to gaze at Kleist’s beautiful renderings of some of the key events of Cash’s life.'"
Mark Sobel The Comics Journal, (February 2010) Read review

"An intriguing approach -- Kleist dramatizes Cash's songs without reprinting the lyrics, and fills the page with heavy ink, as befitting the Man in Black."
National Public Radio, “Monkey See” (February 2010) Read review

"[Kleist] fluidly depicts the late Man In Black’s rise from Depression-era poverty, through to his early 1950s jam sessions with Elvis to 17-time Grammy winning legend. No veils are drawn over Cash’s drug abuse and womanising; here myth doesn’t overpower the man... Kleist’s inky, impressionistic brushwork gives Cash’s story a strong, fresh, dark edge."
METRO (December 2009) Read review

"Kleist’s stark, stripped back visualisation is a worthy extension to the work of a songwriter whose songs pictured the light and dark of the human soul."
Varoom! Magazine (December 2009) Read review

"Kleist’s dramatic monochrome pen-strokes of wild parties, car crashes, drug binges and care-worn, world-weary faces seem like the perfect treatment. Johnny would certainly have approved."
Esquire Magazine (December 2009) Read review

"lyrical and haunting"
The Miami Herald (November 2009)

"Kleist is a master of the genre... like Rubin, and the late Cash himself, Kleist found a way to push an old story in a new direction."
Mother Jones (November 2009) Read review

The Man in Black and White from SelfMadeHero on Vimeo.

"A stark, fittingly black-and-white retelling of the Man in Black's life story."
San Francisco Chronicle (November 2009) Read review

"a graphic novel is perhaps the ideal medium for Cash's biography, not only because it allows for revealing imaginative digressions, but because Cash has become something of a superhero, with a built-in origin story and a great costume (all black, of course).

Aside from Elvis and the Beatles, Cash is perhaps the most popular and respected pop artist of the 20th century, although his catalog is arguably much more substantial and his backstory much more compelling. However, his myth constantly threatens to eclipse the man himself, and I See a Darkness finds little of the real man behind the legend. But perhaps this is not necessarily a bad development: Cash may be six years dead, but the Man in Black is alive and still kicking."
Express, The Washington Post (November 2009) Read review

"The stunning black-and-white artwork... gives the book a real sense of gravitas. Even if you know nothing about the Man in Black, this is a worthwhile addition to any comic book fan's library."
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (November 2009) Read review

"The ruggedness of Kleist's black-and-white illustrations suits their subject, as the stark portrayal of Cash's withdrawal from drugs is inventive and harrowing. An award winner in Europe, this thoughtful and compelling portrait of a towering talent with a tortured soul is recommended for all teen and adult music fans."
Library Journal (November 2009) Read 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."
Publisher's Weekly (November 2009) Read review

"the man in black has become the man in black and white... a handsome addition to Cash mythology."
The Financial Times (November 2009) Read review

"way beyond any stereotypes people may have about comics and graphic novels"
The Independent (November 2009) Read review

"I See A Darkness has a wonderfully true feel - this feels like Johnny Cash’s life, every dark moment, every song, every emotion. It’s a great read."

"I’d add just one thing to – take a little time with this and soundtrack it – set up a playlist, get all those classic Cash songs on and you’ll realise just how well Kleist captures the essence of Johnny Cash. And be sure to end the soundtrack as Kleist ends his book; with Cash’s American Recordings work with Rick Rubin. End it with Cash’s voice, cracking and fragile singing his version of Hurt. Tears should flow."
Richard Bruton, Forbidden Planet (November 2009) Read review

"A Folsom inmate serves as the book's narrator, and several of Cash's grimmer lyrics ("I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die", and so on) are enacted in fantasy interludes. Even the comedy ditty "A Boy Named Sue" is given several pages of Scorsese-style mayhem. Once Cash hits the road, it's one long streak of drug abuse, delinquency and crashed Cadillacs. Kleist's drawing style is restlessly kinetic and this, along with his decision to steer clear of the calmer phases of Cash's life, makes the book an enjoyable if sometimes bewildering ride ...

So, why am I writing about I See a Darkness? Because I like the way Kleist handles a brush. Because I like how he draws raindrops impacting like bullets on flooded farmland. Because he does a great job of the bit where Cash, spooked by a Benzedrine hallucination of insects crawling on his hands, attacks the footlights at the Grand Ole Opry (never mind that alternative accounts of this incident allege it was a mishap caused by a faulty microphone stand). ...

It's a work of visual art and, as such, arguably has no obligation to be true or comprehensive or fair or any of the other things that we might demand of a biography. Just as we can admire Goya's Disasters of War or a Jan van Eyck portrait without any intention of researching the Napoleonic campaigns in the Iberian peninsula or of establishing who this Giovanni Arnolfini geezer actually was, so we can thrill to Kleist's version of the Man in Black as a dynamic pattern of black lines, a 220-page portfolio of inky expressionism. ...

At its best, though, the book moves away from the biographical and generates the sort of nightmare imagery that Kleist has explored in previous works such as Lovecraft, Amerika and the Berlinoir vampire trilogy. There's a frighteningly good sequence where amphetamine withdrawal causes the spidery network of Cash's nervous system to hover free of his feverish body. In the finale, Kleist pulls off an exhilarating segue from the concrete walls of Folsom to the log cabin where Cash made his valedictory recordings. Taking a breather in the forest, our dying hero sees an apocalyptic vision of "Ghost Riders in the Sky". It's this artistic chutzpah, rather than any educative value, that makes I See a Darkness a tour de force."
The Guardian (October 2009)

"To say award-winning German comics creator Reinhard Kleist’s graphic biography of the late, great Johnny Cash arrived with a fair weight of expectation – mixed with anticipation – on my part is an understatement.... Was it worth the wait? Was it worth the effort? Oh yeah. It was."

"Its a wonderful read; in fact I found after I’d finish I had to go back and re-read it more slowly and enjoyed it even more on the second reading and I know its going to be one of those special books that I go back to every so often and read once more. Its a story of a 20th century icon, a man who bestrode pretty much all normal boundaries of genre to appeal to a far wider audience and a remarkable life."

"This will be going on my books of the year list."
Joe Gordon, Forbidden Planet International blog (Oct 2009) Read blog

"Fall Non-Fiction selection"
San Fransisco Chronicle (September 2009) Read review

"Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness vividly portrays the unpredictable life of a loner, patriot, outlaw, and music rebel, making this unique biography a compelling read for multiple generations of graphic novel and music fans"
Comic Book Resources (Aug 2009) Read review

"It is already a bestseller in Europe, and it will, without a doubt, do well in the states."
Pure Country Music Blog (Aug 2009) Read blog

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