Frank "Big Black" SmithReseñas

graphic nonfiction (176 pp) history: Attica Prison uprising, 1971, New York State. TW/CW: torture, traumatic violence and brutality, mass murder of prisoners and guards, systemic racism in the justice and political system, racial slurs, nudity.

One of those important chapters that doesn't get taught in the history books, skillfully told in graphic format in the words of a man tortured and beaten for being seen as a leader in a prisoner uprising that he didn't start or participate in (though he did take steps to save a friendly guard from being killed, and he did try to negotiate on behalf of the prisoners and keep order during the events); in the end the prisoners are blamed for the deaths of the hostages (actually shot by the police forces) and the civil lawsuit against NY governor Nelson Rockefeller (who had ordered the violent retaking of the prison directly resulting in a massacre) went to settlement. Bibliography included, as well as a list of those murdered.

see also: Steve Sheinkin's The Port Chicago 50½

I had no idea about what went down at Attica. It's hard to read about it knowing that prison systems haven't changed that much since then.

I wanted to like this, but I got worried as soon as I saw the secondary author's Poetic and Randomly Capitalized dedication. (Smith himself died in 2004, so I'm curious about the nature of his collaboration with a guy who is the step-son of his lawyer. This seems Green Book-y.)

And indeed, the writing was a bit of a mess with dozens of character names thrown out with little or no introduction and random changes between an old-fashioned comic-book vibe and Very Serious business. I appreciate the message being presented, but it sort of gets lost in the static.

As a work of nonfiction it does not sate, serving more to simply whet my appetite on the subject.

The art was okay, but randomly switched between single-page layouts and double-page spreads without much signal, leading me to read panels out of order several times.