A review by some_okie_dude27
Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, Denton J. Tipton, Troy Little
I'm not a reader of graphic adaptations of books that I enjoy, as I prefer to read books as how they were intended to be read. But, given on how much I enjoy the source material of Hunter S. Thompson's classic novel about the degradation of the hippie movement and the illusion of The American Dream, as well as the movie adaptation directed by Monty Python veteran Terry Gilliam and starring Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro as the two anti-heroes, which has become one of my favorites. So I decided to try and see what this book had in store in terms of adaptation.
The words and style of the novel are left relatively the same, and if you want to read my review on the original book, go here. But I'll be mainly focusing on the art of Troy Little to see if it's worthy of Hunter's time and effort. Now, if it were up to me, I probably would've had Ralph Steadman (Hunter's original artist) or Skottie Young do the graphic adaptation of the novel, but luckily Little's passion for the original book shines through and one could tell from the style of the book that Little didn't want to give the readers a bad taste when he went to adapt the source material (or should I say, give a worse taste than the book already gives you), his zany and cartoony style does Hunter's madcap and offbeat style justice.
There's also the depiction of the characters themselves. Hunter, or Raoul Duke, is depicted like a deranged tourist, one that would probably have people giving him the stink eye either due to his appearance or mannerisms, but one that you would also most likely have a beer with, Oscar Zeta Acosta, or Dr. Gonzo, is rather 'normal' looking, or, I should say, as normal as a hulking, deranged man could be. Little's depiction of them shows them as people, but also as the over the top, larger than life cartoons that they garnered through this book.
To end off this review, it's a book that captures what made the book great to begin with, in all its depravity and decadence.
The words and style of the novel are left relatively the same, and if you want to read my review on the original book, go here. But I'll be mainly focusing on the art of Troy Little to see if it's worthy of Hunter's time and effort. Now, if it were up to me, I probably would've had Ralph Steadman (Hunter's original artist) or Skottie Young do the graphic adaptation of the novel, but luckily Little's passion for the original book shines through and one could tell from the style of the book that Little didn't want to give the readers a bad taste when he went to adapt the source material (or should I say, give a worse taste than the book already gives you), his zany and cartoony style does Hunter's madcap and offbeat style justice.
There's also the depiction of the characters themselves. Hunter, or Raoul Duke, is depicted like a deranged tourist, one that would probably have people giving him the stink eye either due to his appearance or mannerisms, but one that you would also most likely have a beer with, Oscar Zeta Acosta, or Dr. Gonzo, is rather 'normal' looking, or, I should say, as normal as a hulking, deranged man could be. Little's depiction of them shows them as people, but also as the over the top, larger than life cartoons that they garnered through this book.
To end off this review, it's a book that captures what made the book great to begin with, in all its depravity and decadence.