I know you can see colors on poodlepedigree.com, but I have to click on each dog and it takes a while to load. Offa.org also list color and parents, so you could use that to research pedigrees. Someone else might have a quicker, easier method.
That's not necessarily true if they are bred properly. Blacks shouldn't just "fade out" and become grey at an early age.I don't know what you mean by "bad black". Most black poodles will begin to fade out fairly early. You can look at the parents to see how black they are at their current age. But this is no assurance.