In The Talk, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Darrin Bell delivers an intimate, incisive depiction of coming of age as a Black boy in the United States. This full-length graphic memoir debut about growing up, building a career in the public eye, and raising a family begins and ends with "The Talk," in which parents teach their Black children about anti-Blackness: why the people and institutions they encounter will treat them differently, and how to try to stay safe in a racist world.
In a style quite different from Bell's syndicated editorial cartoons and comic strips, The Talk is illustrated with inks primarily washed with deep blue or tan. Color is employed strategically: the dark blue-gray, initially seen on aggressive neighborhood dogs from his childhood, haunts Darrin through the pages; while occasional full-color images attract the reader's eye. When Trayvon Martin is murdered, for example, the word "thug" is written in red over white text that reads "child."
Bell has mastered the art of distilling powerful messages into just a few panels. Shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal and named one of the Washington Post's 10 best graphic novels of 2023, and one of Time magazine's Must-Read Books of the Year, The Talk speaks to a wide audience, with humor (which Bell used early on as a form of self-defense) and wisdom accrued through experience. This is a depiction of one man's journey to unlearn the Black exceptionalism programming instilled in him by society and to find his authentic voice in the process. --Suzanne Krohn