A Confederacy of Dunces

by Albert Monteys (Illustrator), John Kennedy Toole

Genres: Graphic Novels

240 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication September 29, 2026

About the author

Albert Monteys Homar es un historietista nacido en Barcelona.

Reviews

[Amanda Iman · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 25%
I truly hated every minute of this graphic novelization. No judgement on the illustrations at all. From what I can tell, those fit the characters well. But, the characters themselves are awful. I have heard my whole life that A Confederacy of Dunces is this great hilarious satire, but it did not work for me at all. A comedy writer friend of mine keeps talking about how in 2026 we've entered a post-satire world and maybe that's it. The dunces peopling this book are too close to reality now.

Thank you to NetGalley and BOOM! Studios for access to this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[lilac · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy!

I didn't find it funny. I think it was supposed to be funny, but I didn't laugh once. It reminded me of Tintin, only I love Tintin and I didn't love this. Maybe it's just not for me - America in the 70s. I am never one for American classics as I usually don't get them. This was one of those American classics.

Lovely art though, very retro style and yet distinctive.

[Stephanie (aka WW) · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a well-done graphic novel! My only complaint is that it’s a little text-heavy, but a good bit of the text is journal entries by Ignatius J. Reilly and that can’t be helped. I had a hard time warming up to Ignatius when I first read this book many years ago, but I now fully appreciate and embrace his absurdity. One can absolutely read the graphic novel without cracking the pages of the book. It’s a complete and faithful adaptation by a master illustrator (Albert Monteys). Highly recommended.

Much thanks to NetGalley and BOOM! Studios for allowing me to review this graphic novel prior to its release. Opinions are my own.

[Dustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just could not continue anymore. The drawing is fine and well done, but the story it is based on is just not my style whatsoever. I am not sure who would ever want to read that.
Thank you for the ARC from Edelwise+ though.

[Sookie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dropped it at around 25%

This wasn't satire I enjoyed and didn't induce any humor for me. The characters are awful, obnoxious and even for the time it was written, its wildly un-amusing.

[Stephen Reyes-Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read A Confederacy of Dunces a long time ago when the word about a movie adaptation from Will Ferrell was supposed to be in the works. I remember people talking about how it's ones of the funniest books ever written and just heaping praise on it like crazy. It's definitely a classic, but I just find it hard for a book to be funny. For me, a lot of comedy is in the delivery, so it's like very audio/visual medium and I don't really find books funny because of that, which was for sure the case with this. I thought it was just ok as a novel. A graphic novel definitely worked way better for me. I enjoyed it a lot more this time around. For a book as old as it is, a bunch of the jokes still hold up. I mean, yeah there's stuff that's pretty offensive by modern standards, but it's still got some really solid comedy. I don't really understand why a movie adaptation never worked out. This isn't like Blood Meridian or anything. Nothing in this is unfilmable at all. I think it would have probably been more successful if it was made in the 80s, but it would still be pretty good. Anyway, yes, if you've never read this book, this is for sure the format to do it in. It's pretty fun.

[Curious Madra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks Netgalley and BOOM Studios for giving me this graphic novel!

Well it was quite a decent storyline involving our boi Ignatius causing havoc along with his poor suffering mother Irene. Yes it’s 110% completely homophobic, sexist, racist, you name it but it was just really well done and does age well since it still goes on in this world today in 2026. You get laughs as well with such silly nonsense every character goes through and I just like the fact we can step in time without the use of social media and phones. Yes I sound like a boomer and Idc tbh lol.

Ending was questionable but the rest was really well done!!