Black Hat Blues by Gene Kendall is a darkly humorous tale
about an aging comic book artist whose supervillain creation comes knocking at his
back door. The villain and creator come into direct conflict with the current
cultural moment, and kidnapping, murder, and other hijinks ensue. Being a comic
book supervillain, Mr. Scratch’s inner (and outer) monologue is appropriately
over the top in contrast to his peace-loving hippie creator Mark.
Black Hat Blues lands Mr. Scratch directly in the current
cultural moment, grappling with such issues as the contradictions of the modern
social justice movement, the distortions of online culture and fandom, and the realities
of police militarization, all with commentary by a megalomaniacal psychopath. Not
only that, but along with the dark humor there are genuine moments of real
human connection that will tug at the heart strings, and the bittersweet ending
does not tie every thread into a neat bow – in fact, spending time dwelling
characters’ choices leaves some disturbing questions left unanswered.
I highly recommend Black Hat Blues for anyone who ever
wondered what it would be like if Lex Luthor or the Riddler stepped out of the pages
of the bronze age comics and into the real world. I only wish there were a
graphic novel version to accompany it.
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