Troglodytes

by Marcel Ruijters

This wordless graphic novel by Dutch cartoonist Marcel Ruijters contains several dark and grim stories of sex & death, power & religion, and decay & overpopulation. Visually inspired by fortean phenomena, medieval legends and faulty science, Troglodytes paints a picture of a bizarre underground society not that unlike our own.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy

80 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

About the author

Reconocido como el novelista gráfico más original de los países bajos. Estudió en la Academia del Arte de Maastricht y empezó a autopublicarse en 1988. Ha autopublicado más de 30 novelas gráficas. En sus primeros libros «Thank God is Ugly» («Gracias a Dios es feo») «Troglodytes» («Trogloditas») su fascinación por las criaturas malformadas y el misterio ya era evidente. Ese interés por lo grotesco se manifiesta en varios de sus trabajos; fijación que comparte con Hyeronymus Bosch, el pintor medieval que protagoniza su novela gráfica «El Bosco».

Reviews

[StrictlySequential · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only words are the explanatory introduction which should be read to aid understanding. His art holds true to the nature of the dark underground labyrinth which involves tremendous shading which he does masterfully. You really have to examine each panel carefully because an extravagant amount of detail rendering is unwavering throughout. For that reason this is the longest amount of time it's taken me to comsume a wordless book. I had to say what I was seeing out loud to make sure I understood and I was still frequently forced to re-assess what I thought was happening until I tied it all together.

The eight stories range from rough to BRUTAL. Don't infer comedy from the cover like I did- it's only humorous in the DARKEST ways. I wouldn't have enjoyed it without the IMPRESSIVE art because it makes his world fascinating and drives the emotions deeper than prose could dream of.

[Joshlynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of like Lynd Ward meets Johnny Ryan, with a sprinkling of lizard bestiality for good measure.