GONZO
A Graphic Biography of Hunter S. Thompson
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“No sympathy for the Devil, keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride.”
Over the course of Hunter S. Thompson’s extraordinary life he was publicly branded a bum, a vandal, a thief, a liar, an addict, a freak and a psychopath. Only some of which are true. Even in a 20th century crowded with celebrity, his legacy retains a brilliantly vital force.
The great American iconoclast, the great American outlaw, the great American hedonist... However you choose to view him, Thompson remains the high-water mark for all social commentators the world over, and a truly fearless champion of individual liberties.
This is his story... the story of a troubled kid from Louisville, Kentucky, who went on to become an international icon. This is a story that charts the legendary heights of so-called “Gonzo Journalism”, plumbs the darkest depths of American politics, and presents a lifestyle beyond imagination.
Reviews
“With taut and evocative writing from Will Bingley and superb black and white illustrations from Anthony Hope-Smith, Gonzo is a meth-soaked journey down the path of self-destruction that defined 20th century counter culture.” – Esquire Magazine
“Thompson is rendered not as the hedonistic outlaw superman of legend but as a twitchy and surprisingly sensitive human being.” – The Wall Street Journal
“Text and image interact and collide with audacious, intuitive logic, capturing the essence... And when you get to the end, you realize the whole damn thing was pulled off without a single cliché.”
– Michel Faber, critic and author of The Crimson Petal and the White
“A history of modern America.” – The Sunday Herald
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This diamond-sharp graphic biography is a witty, thoughtful book that pays about as much attention to chronology and the strict reportorial truth of the matter as Thompson ever did himself. The early years of roustabout freelancing are covered in brisk fashion, as the acid-tongued writer was briefly at home among the beatniks and covering outlaws like the Hell's Angels. The rise of hippiedom and his getting worked over by said Angels put an end to that, leading to the bug-eyed phantasmagoria that would become Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Throughout, Thompson's self-doubt is plainly, sweetly evident on the opening page of his Vegas odyssey is stamped this pained quote: "I'd just as soon not be dismissed as some drug-addled clown." The rest of the book illustrates his descent into that same clownish, blocked self-parodic figure he wanted to escape. In a bravura move, the 1980s and 1990s are each handled by exactly one, very similar page. Bingley and Hope-Smith's portrait of the man is brave and badass, taking the kind of chances Thompson would have appreciated, with buckshot impressionism, crisply scripted and drawn with Loony Tunes panache.
