Bobby Fischer, chess wunderkind turned outcast and hatemonger, would have turned eighty last month. He was raised by a single mother in Brooklyn, struggling to make ends meet. He became the G.O.A.T. (“greatest of all time”) in his field, celebrated by millions. He dropped out of school at age sixteen and was, by his own account, a genius who achieved all his goals by the age of twenty-nine. He then disappeared, only to return in very public celebrity meltdowns, spewing vicious antisemitism, despite being Jewish himself. Our graphic biography chronicles the cinematic life of Bobby Fischer.
Excerpted from Black & White: The Rise and Fall of Bobby Fischer by Julian Voloj, art by Wagner Willian. © 2023 Published by Abrams ComicArts, April 4, 2023. All Rights Reserved.
Julian Voloj is a New York – based writer whose work has been published in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, the Washington Post, and many other national and international publications. Born to Colombian parents in Germany, where he studied literature and linguistics, Voloj moved to New York in 2004. His fascination for forgotten heroes and hidden figures stems from his own family history and has been a leitmotif in his nonfiction graphic novels.
Wagner Willian is a comics artist, visual artist, writer, and editor. He has won the main awards in the Brazilian market, such as Prêmio Jabuti, HQMIX, and Troféu Grampo de Ouro, and has been published in France, Portugal, Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, and Poland. He lives in São Paulo.
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