Coupling the grand guignol morality of Paul Schrader and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver with the squashed black-and-white perspectives and grotesque human physiognomy (and humanity) that defines Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, Martí’s The Cabbie (starring the eponymous “hero” known only as the Cabbie) was first published in installments in 1980s Spain, a product of a life lived under, and coming out of, Franco’s fascist dictatorship.In Volume One (initially published in 2011), the Cabbie’s father’s coffin is stolen in an act of vengeance for the Cabbie’s vigilantism — right after his mother tells him his inheritance is inside! Cabbie takes to the mean streets in a quest to find it. In Volumes Two and Three (both never before available in English), Cabbie runs the gauntlet of mad science, dog races where the dogs chase humans, evil millionaires, presidents, and popes in addition to every nightmare scenario imaginable. Ultra violent, ultra profane, and ultra vicious, The Cabbie is filled with scummy noir characters exaggerated to the absolute limit — and the worst of them all might be the titular Cabbie, precisely because, not unlike Travis Bickle, he sees himself as a force for good.There have been various incomplete English editions over the last four decades, but this is the definitive Cabbie saga published in English for the first time, complete with “extras,” including a cover gallery!
