I am sure the type of outlook you called "the black" does exist. However, it certainly has nothing to do with Buddhism, early or not. Alas, casual observers often believe that about Buddhism.
The Buddha never said life was suffering, let alone that the goal of life was void. The Buddha did observe the existence of frustration in life (yes, frustration describes his idea much better than suffering). That is a far cry from identifying life with it.
As for the "void," Buddhism observes that reality as we perceive it is produced by our minds, hence "empty". (As pointed out in The Matrix, what we perceive is simply electric signals coming to the brain.) It is actually hard to think of anything being the "goal" of Buddhism, but the willingness to shed the delusion and perceive reality as it is rather than as it appears may come close to a "goal".
It is of course impossible for anyone to perceive reality as it is while feeling sorry for oneself (which is the idea behind the observation that there is suffering/frustration in life).
It is just as impossible for anyone to perceive reality as it is in the moments of feeling complete and utter satisfaction with oneself.
All in all, it is not possible to view reality as it is through colored glasses, no matter what the color of the glasses is. That is the basic idea behind Buddhism, which, when you get to understand it, is very simple. If anything, Buddhism fits "the grey" model described by xdjio: Life is. It is neither good nor evil, though we often like to turn it into one or the other.