‘The Cabbie: Definitive Edition’ (review)

Written and Illustrated by by Martí Riera Ferrer 
Introduction by Art Spiegelman
Translated by Andrea Rosenberg
Published by Fantagraphics

I have to confess that I have been trying for a really long time to get into this book. I have heard from many people that it is a book that is “right up my alley.”

Part of the reason it’s been so hard for me to get through is because I haven’t been able to find a good enough copy to read.

Nor have I been able to read a compete version of the series, which makes it kind of hard to get into and digest.

So I have our off reading it for quite awhile. I have finally read this collection from start to finish.

There is a lot to like in this book. It still was a bit hard for me to get into but I liked what I read and it was enough for me to make it tor the end.

This is described in the solicitation as, “Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver mixed in with the art of Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy.”

That is a pretty apt description of this book for sure. The history of this book has to do with the strip being produced in Spain in the early 1980’s under the rule of Franco and his fascist dictatorship. You can feel that in every panel of this book for sure. It is a charged book from start to finish. The books presented here have a strong connection to that time and the characters and their motives definitely reflect all of that.

The Cabbie himself is just called “the Cabbie.”

He is the main character and we follow his story of vigilantism throughout the book.

In the first story, The Cabbie’s dead father has his coffin stolen. This is bad enough. But then the Cabbie’s mom tells him that his inheritance is inside. This makes the Cabbie go a bit crazy as he then tries to find the coffin. If he can’t, both his father’s body and his inheritance will be gone forever. This segment is a lot of fun and full of some dark humor and some tough language. The resolution didn’t end up where I thought it might and that is a good thing. I was eager to see where the story might go from here for sure.

The second and third chapters of this story have never been available in English before this edition. They are a little more abstract in their storytelling.

It is full of a bunch of unusual characters in the book that the Cabbie has to go up against. It is wild at times and unfocused at other times. It gets a bit much too sometimes and I lost track of the plot for a bit.

The Cabbie himself has the idea that no matter what he does, that he is on the side of good. The thing is, he does do some pretty horrible things in these stories. That makes him a bit hard to side with at any point in the story. It also makes him a bit hard to sympathize with as well as relate to. There aren’t many other characters to hold onto as well, so it becomes a bit fruitless trying to find an “in” for the reader, or at least just for me as a reader.

There are many good aspects to the book, however. The artwork really is something else. With that, the storytelling in the artwork really is sublime. Marti knows how to keep the book and pacing moving in a positive and compelling way. The character designs are also pretty flawless and unique. I enjoyed the world that Marti creates and it is truly it’s own thing. The characters feel like people Marti has had in mind for a long time and they do have a depth with them.

Overall, this is definitely a good read, especially if you read it in context of the situation that it was created in. Marti clearly has a passion for these characters and this world in particular. All of these charged are horrible people but the Cabbie might just be the worst of all of them. And that is saying something.

This is a book that every comic fan should read at least once.

RATING: B+