Celebrating the history-making Black American who smashed world records and became a global cycling sensation! Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor was one of the greatest American athletes of the early 20th century, setting records in regional bike races as a teen and winning his first world championship by the age of twenty. But Taylor was born in 1878 in Indianapolis and came of age during the height of the Jim Crow era, facing racism at every turn. Cartoonist Frederick Noland is a cyclist himself and in this epic 400 page graphic biography of America's first Black world champion, he thrills in the records Taylor broke and the adoring public he found across North America, Europe, and Australia, all the while showing how the invention of the bicycle changed society. Yet Noland also documents how racism inflected Black life in the post Civil War era: cyclists would collude to injure Taylor, and he faced segregationist policies even in liberal cities such as San Francisco. And while Taylor found respite racing overseas, he soon found American-style racism exported internationally to sell tickets. Noland pens a gorgeous, humane, graphic paean to Major Taylor, illustrating how the fastest man in America also had a deep well of integrity and fortitude not just to succeed, but to overcome the racist abuse he faced from fellow athletes and society at large. Major Taylor is a loving tribute to an exceptional American. "Lovingly rendered, exhaustively researched...Fred Noland's indie comic style lends itself well to telling Taylor's outsider story. And I've seen Fred on his bike too many times to not know that this is the story he was meant to tell."–Keith Knight, cartoonist of The K Chronicles " Major Taylor is a work of wonder! Be prepared to be a tandem passenger on Fred Noland’s bike as his storytelling propels you forward. The reader feels every pedal stroke of this cycling pioneer's rise to fame, along with his challenges and heartbreaks. Expressive and affecting drawings powerfully communicate a passionate connection with his subject. Noland takes you to the end of the line both literally and figuratively with beautifully colored compositions.A master storyteller, this is a true page-turner!"–Mimi Pond, cartoonist of Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me “The saga of racing cyclist Major Taylor is not just one of the greatest in the history of sport. It’s one of the great American stories, period, a real-life tale that has the texture of myth. In The World’s Fastest Man, Frederick Noland gives us the Taylor epic in all its dimensions, bringing wit, soulfulness, and equal gifts as a visual and literary storyteller to a stirring blend of biography and social history. Like Taylor on his two-wheeler, this book moves with power and speed—a headlong journey through a singular life.”–Jody Rosen, author of Two Wheels Good: The History And Mystery Of The Bicycle "Deftly employing the visual vocabulary of superheroes and epic quests, Noland conveys the drama and emotion of a talented trailblazer’s struggles and successes against the odds. From the Gilded Age cityscapes to the sculpted calf muscles of the bicycle racers, “Major Taylor” captures the allure of the speediest, most popular sport in its heyday. Paced like the tense and thrilling showdowns it depicts, this graphic nonfiction book is the perfect engine to propel the true story of a forgotten champion into legend."–Lynne Tolman, Major Taylor Association, Executive Director Frederick Noland lives in Oakland, California, where he is an avid but unremarkable cyclist and a proud poppa. His comics have appeared in The New Yorker .