Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

by Troy Little

Overview

In proud partnership with the Hunter S. Thompson Estate, Top Shelf Productions is pleased to present Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a delightfully bonkers graphic novel by Eisner-nominated artist Troy Little adapting Thompson’s seminal book of the same name. Join Thompson's alter ego Raoul Duke on the mother of all Vegas benders, as he and his attorney Dr. Gonzo cover a motorcycle race, crash a drug-enforcement convention, and rack up obscenely large room-service bills, all while dosed to the gills on a truly spectacular assortment of mind-altering substances.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781603093750
Publisher:	IDW Publishing
Publication date:	11/03/2015
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Three time Eisner nominee and Xeric recipient, Troy Little began a career in animation after graduating college and In 2000 he began self-publishing his comic series Chiaroscuro which garnered him both a Xeric and PEICA grant and was eventually collected by IDW Publishing and published in 2007. His second book, Angora Napkin was published in 2009 with IDW and was nominated for the prestigious Eisner Award (Best Publications for Teens) in 2010. Angora Napkin was also developed as an animated pilot for Teletoon, Canada and was broadcast Halloween night in 2010. Angora Napkin: The Golden McGuffin, the weekly web serial was launched in 2012 and Angora Napkin: Harvest of Revenge was published by IDW in 2013 and nominated for an Eisner as well (Best Lettering). In 2013 Troy took on The Powerpuff Girls re-launch as series writer/artist/colourist. In 2014 he began adapting Hunter S. Thompson’s cult classic novel Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas for IDW / Top Shelf and was published in October, 2015. It was nominated for an Eisner and also won a Gold PubWest Book Design Award. Troy lives in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island with his twin daughters Alicen, Hayden and son Nathan. He is married to comic artist Brenda Hickey.

Editorial Reviews

11/09/2015
For fans of the book and movie, it may well take a few pages to warm to Little’s style in this rendition of Thompson’s classic. It’s not that it’s harsh or unwelcoming—quite the opposite. Little’s last major work was a comic book version of the Powerpuff Girls—not exactly the sort of resume item that calls to mind gonzo journalism. But even in the original, Thompson-surrogate Raoul Duke is, in many senses, a cartoon, and Little has tasked himself with constructing as literal an adaptation as possible. What his visual style lacks in drug-fueled chaos, compared to the previous takes by Ralph Steadman and Terry Gilliam, it makes up in sheer expressiveness, capturing the sense of immediacy and paranoia that saturated the original’s long, bad trip. For those who already know each typed letter of the book, this is a retread, but for a new generation never exposed to the original, it’s a vivid insight into one of the most fascinatingly creative and unwaveringly troubled writers of his generation. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"For a new generation never exposed to the original, it’s a vivid insight into one of the most fascinatingly creative and unwaveringly troubled writers of his generation." –Publisher's Weekly

"This 170-page graphic novel is nothing short of breathtaking. Little’s cartoony characters and herky-jerky frames and lettering add to the drug-fueled stories contained within. The colors pop on every page, whether you find yourself in a dark, seedy hotel room or the bright outdoors." –verbicide

From the Publisher

01/01/2016
Take one gonzo journalist, his lusty attorney, and a large red convertible loaded with booze and pharmaceuticals and point them to Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race and an antidrug convention. Thompson's manic satire on the American Dream—seen as mindless consumer hedonism—applies just as well today as in its original post-1960s context. Little's (Angora Napkin) visualization of this manic road trip comes off as more accessible and engaging than Ralph Steadman's original illustrations while preserving much of Thompson's personality. It's also flat-out hilarious. Polka dot pterodactyl-bats dive bomb the speeding car, casino furniture bends dizzyingly, and boozed-up reptiles munch on blasé starlets. Inevitably, aficionados of the semifictional novel will find favorite riffs missing, although Little has retained the overall narrative and Thompson's trademark prose: chaotic, intense intellectual cynicism spiked with obscenities. VERDICT Approved by Thompson's estate, Little's madcap portrayal goes a tad light on the darker side of Thompson's indictment, while offering his incisive, corrosive critique to a new generation. Best for older teens and adults. See also Will Bingley and Anthony Hope-Smith's Gonzo: A Graphic Biography of Hunter S. Thompson.—MC

Library Journal