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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 social commentators worldwide, and a truly fearless champion of individual liberties. This is his story. Illustrated and adapted as a graphic novel.
Trade review
The story of Hunter S. Thompson's life, told in a comic strip style, from his beginnings in Louisville to his suicide in 2005.
Book Details
Publisher:
Self Made Hero
Publication Date:
26-Nov-2010
ISBN:
9781906838119
Guardian review
Gonzo: A Graphic Biography of Hunter S Thompson, by Will Bingley and Anthony Hope-Smith review
the guardian Sat 22 January 2011
"Why isn't Hunter S Thompson taken more seriously," ponders the writer's longstanding editor Alan Rinzler in his enjoyable introduction. This passionate sprint through Thompson's life gives you some idea. The "King of Gonzo" binges on drink and drugs, is fired by publisher after publisher, runs for sheriff of Pitkin County, shirks the stories he should be covering and wrestles roadkill, before bingeing on drink and drugs again. Sensibly, Hope-Smith's dark, energetic and rather splendid illustrations and Bingley's sharp words (a fair few of Thompson's are thrown in to good effect) focus more on the creativity of the 60s and 70s than the decline of later years, dedicating just a few tortured pages to the remaining years. That means the action never lets up, and as a readable introduction to a wild life and an impressive, if patchy body of work, this works very well. It doesn't contain enough of Thompson's words to convince anyone of his impact or legacy, though: the figure that emerges feels more like an eloquent loon than a canonical writer.
