NARCISSA

Narcissa, Tooks's protag0nist in this inventive graphic novel, is a talented young black filmmaker. She's part of the "hipoisie," the free-floating scene of artists and intellectuals congregating in the new Afro-bohemia of Brooklyn's Ft. Greene neighborhood. Impressed with one of her shorts, an indie film company signs her to write and direct a feature. But it's a Faustian pact, complete with a devilish white producer who specializes in making "black" films that don't use black production people. He also fills his movies with as many ghetto-hipster, pimp, ho and gangster rap black clichés as it takes to get the ethnic point across—not exactly Narcissa's vision of her film. As if that weren't bad enough, she's been diagnosed with a serious illness and may be dying. In a moment of psychic liberation, she buys a ticket to Spain, leaving it all behind. Spain's beauty and history, an interaction with an elderly woman she meets and a powerful romantic interlude show Narcissa life's possibilities with a new, stark clarity. The book has its problems—the rants on black stereotypes seem passé; Narcissa's reveries on love can lurch into sappiness; and her Spanish hunk is a bit too perfect. But Tooks has written an affecting book that skewers the movie business while offering a black heroine driven by both work and the possibilities of love. Tooks's page layouts are inventive and his b&w drawings are stylish and expressive of underlying character as well as appearance. (Oct.)