The McKissacks' (Black Diamond) outlandish but true story of African American cowboy Nat Love, also known as Deadwood Dick, feels tailor-made for a graphic novel treatment.
The action begins in 1902 Denver, with an African American porter who grabs the reins of a runaway horse, and saves a child in its path. One of the passengers recognizes the man's skills: "Deadwood Dick! I knew it was you," the man says. He turns out to be Billy Bugler, a longtime friend that Nat Love met in 1869 when he was but a 15-year-old "cowpuncher," delivering horses and cattle to market and to ranchers across the West. Bugler, now in publishing, invites his buddy to submit some cowboy stories about "the Old West." The authors, who based their account on Love's own autobiography, thus create a segue into the man's reflections on his past. He discusses his birth into slavery, being freed shortly after the Civil War, and then working to support his family. He found his calling breaking colts at 10 cents each.
Through his predominantly black-and-white ink-and-acrylics sequences, with just a dash of color, DuBurke (Malcolm X) hastens the story's pace. When Nat Love connects with the horses, the artist zeroes in on the hero's face, his hands when he grabs the reins, and his foot when he clears the horse, then opens up the panels' borders and conveys the speed with which the horses travel in full-bleed pages and spreads. He contrasts these scenes beautifully with the tranquility after the horse is broken. DuBurke makes expert use of the panels again to depict a thunderstorm's effect on a herd of steers the cowboys are driving to Dodge City, and also when the hero earns the name "Deadwood Dick" in Deadwood, South Dakota's "Great Cowboy Games," for being the first to rope a wild mustang and also the best shot. At times, key characters' faces appear a bit inconsistent, but DuBurke gets the atmosphere of the Old West and the action sequences exactly right.
The McKissacks' selection of milestone moments gives readers insight into Nat Love's character. He narrowly escapes a buffalo stampede, and is captured by Yellow Dog and his tribe and escapes. But the authors also depict other tools that kept Nat Love alive: he could read, thanks to his father, and he always treated others with respect. His story will keep readers turning the pages, absorbing a fascinating period in history--the aftermath of the Civil War--and meeting a remarkable man in the process. --Jennifer M. Brown
Shelf Talker: This succinct and gripping graphic-novel biography brings a formidable African American cowboy hero to the fore.