The Trouble with Igor

by Christopher P. Reilly

The Trouble with Igor is a Zen-like tale, or as close to Zen like as one can get without actually being Zen, but it's definitely a tale - a tale of a bald mutant/hunchback/zombie's epic journey, a wordless cartoon novel, told entirely in pantomime. Throughout his odyssey, the poor hunchback is just looking for a morsel of food and a shady tree under which to eat, but this tragic hero has a heart of gold... unfortunately accompanied by the touch of death. The well-meaning bald-mute-mutant tries to help everyone and everything he meets, but things can -- and do -- go horribly awry.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comics

64 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2006

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hapless hunchback goes on a series of adventures involving headless chickens, various stabby creatures, some extremely toothy monsters and a bloodthirsty grim reaper hand puppet.

It's kind of weird and definitely not for the squeamish.

I was fine with the book until I saw the back cover which features all of the players in living (or dead) color which only made me think how much better the whole book would have been in glorious technicolor.

Eh, what can you expect for $3.95?

[Sachi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't understand the book, but three stars for brilliant graphics.

[LALa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this a decade ago because I was a huge SLG fan and forgot about it. I always found their morbid, gothic, and overall weirdness in titles appealing. This little gem I got on a whim. I call it a gem because it's a graphic novel in the most literal sense in that there is really only illustrations and no dialogue or written narration. A few sound effects here and there, but ultimately "a comic without words."

The team did a good job illustrating an odd little story. It's gruesome, morbid, a bit violent and even a tad creepy much like other titles common with SLG. I also liked the art style, and found it matched up well with the story. I don't think, and it's clear from other reviews, it was or will be a hit with too many people because of it being wordless. Some situations might be a little harder to follow, however I think that it does offer something in the way of being open to interpretation and other situations spell things out very clear. It was an amusing read, I don't know why it took this long for me to get around to it. Although I kind of wish I had held on to it until Halloween. It's very fitting for that time of year :P

[Renae · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm generally a big fan of really bizarre books and graphic novels...this one was a little too weird for me. Not because of the weirdness factor itself, but because the story really didn't make much sense to me. It was pretty much impossible to follow and the only unifying element for me was gruesomeness.

I don't know. Maybe I needed a cheat sheet to follow it or something...just not a particularly strong read for me.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the heck did I just read? Grotesque, loopy, hard to follow and kinda trying too hard. There's a few moments of wonderfully twisted illogic, but the recurring gruesomeness and non sequitur train of narration gets a bit wearying.

[Vanessa Vallos · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read it several times to understand it. That is not a good point ...

It's creepy, but I liked it.

Not much to say about it exept there is no storyline.

[Rusty · Rating 2 out of 5]

The character is a gentle and humble soul who wants to help others but nothing seems to turn out right for him. Rather interesting approach to telling a tale. It takes study and concentration to understand what the author intended and get through the book.