A graphic novel biography following the life of Bobby Fischer, from
chess wunderkind and national hero to his eventual spiral into madness
and infamy
The life of Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) had many unexpected moves--from
his solitary childhood to his stratospheric accomplishments in the world
of competitive chess, and eventually, his decent into mental illness and
disgrace. Black & White begins in Brooklyn, where Fischer was born and
raised by a single mother. By the time he was a teen, he had established
himself as a loner and dropped out of school. But none of that mattered;
he had found his true calling--chess.
In 1972, Fischer played what many consider "the game of the century"
against the Soviet Union's chess champion Boris Spassky at the height of
the Cold War. Later, Fischer became the youngest-ever US Chess Champion
and the game's youngest grandmaster. Never before had chess received
such international attention. Fischer, whose sole focus in life up until
then was chess, reached the Olympus of chess at 29, and then . . . he
disappeared.
Suffering from mental illness, the chess genius became increasingly
paranoid, lost in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories--despite the fact
that he himself was Jewish--and died as a fugitive in Iceland. With
Black & White, author Julian Voloj and illustrator Wagner Willian have
crafted a beautiful and fascinating work that reveals Fischer's history
while also contextualizing his lasting impact on pop culture. Black &
White is the first-ever graphic novel to tell Fischer's story and
examine the legacy he left behind.
