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A review by nooralshanti
Black Hat Blues by Gene Kendall
1.0
Black Hat Blues reminded me of those American cartoons like Dexter and the Jetsons and stuff. I really hated those cartoons so keep that in mind as you read my review. The book just isn't my type of thing. The first five chapters were almost incomprehensible. Finally, it started to make sense, but it was a little aimless and boring. I think it was supposed to be funny, but I don't really care for that type of humor.
The story centers around Mark, an old cartoonist who is retiring because he's been sidelined from the company who now owns the rights to his characters and also because his arthritis is making it difficult for him to draw or write anymore. The other main character is the main villain from his comics who ends up being transported into the real world and meets Mark. We basically get to see chapter upon chapter of Mark going about his boring and at times frustrating life and interspersed among these are "journals" from the villain Mr. Scratch who is, for a villain, also being pretty boring.
There's a running theme throughout the book that seems to be saying that anyone who complains about anything problematic in art is basically mindless. There are also several memories of the "good ol' days" of Mark's cartoon show and comic books. They're such brief glimpses, but many of them rubbed me the wrong way because they had a kind of offhand negative portrayal of a lot of different groups of people. And the way it was presented, when people voiced their concerns about this content in Mark's work it was done in a way that basically showed them as rabid mobs or something that didn't even understand what they stood for.
I won't go on, I'll just end it by saying this book really wasn't for me. I had to kind of drag myself through it to see if it got better or ended in an interesting way, but even the ending was kind of strange. And I never felt any real stakes because I never felt connected to any of the characters. Also, the cover with the people in space suits has absolutely nothing to do with the story. The story really is more like an American cartoon in the vein of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, or Dexter or something. If you like that stuff then check this out, otherwise skip it.
The story centers around Mark, an old cartoonist who is retiring because he's been sidelined from the company who now owns the rights to his characters and also because his arthritis is making it difficult for him to draw or write anymore. The other main character is the main villain from his comics who ends up being transported into the real world and meets Mark. We basically get to see chapter upon chapter of Mark going about his boring and at times frustrating life and interspersed among these are "journals" from the villain Mr. Scratch who is, for a villain, also being pretty boring.
There's a running theme throughout the book that seems to be saying that anyone who complains about anything problematic in art is basically mindless. There are also several memories of the "good ol' days" of Mark's cartoon show and comic books. They're such brief glimpses, but many of them rubbed me the wrong way because they had a kind of offhand negative portrayal of a lot of different groups of people. And the way it was presented, when people voiced their concerns about this content in Mark's work it was done in a way that basically showed them as rabid mobs or something that didn't even understand what they stood for.
I won't go on, I'll just end it by saying this book really wasn't for me. I had to kind of drag myself through it to see if it got better or ended in an interesting way, but even the ending was kind of strange. And I never felt any real stakes because I never felt connected to any of the characters. Also, the cover with the people in space suits has absolutely nothing to do with the story. The story really is more like an American cartoon in the vein of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, or Dexter or something. If you like that stuff then check this out, otherwise skip it.