Albert and the Others

Petits livres #2

by Guy Delisle

Limbs are swapped and pants are dropped in Albert and the Others, a collection of wordless strips that expose the pleasures, pitfalls, and perversities of masculinity. In this companion volume to Aline and the Others (2006),Guy Delisle delves deep into the male psyche and emerges with twenty-six alphabetically arranged strips, named after the men who tumble through the pages. These elastic protagonists risk damnation and dismemberment in a series of improbable slapstick relationships with women, which veer from the titillating to the downright macabre.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Bande Dessinée, Humor, Canada

72 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2001

About the author

Born in Quebec, Canada, Guy Delisle studied animation at Sheridan College. Delisle has worked for numerous animation studios around the world, including CinéGroupe in Montreal.

Drawing from his experience at animation studios in China and North Korea, Delisle's graphic novels Shenzen and Pyongyang depict these two countries from a Westerner's perspective. A third graphic novel, Chroniques Birmanes, recounts his time spent in Myanmar with his wife, a Médecins Sans Frontières administrator.

Reviews

[Bogdan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn`t expected this from a Delisle work.

This volume has some short stories with really bizarre and sureal themes with a lot of amputation and strange things happening, for no reason at all.

Not my cup of tea!

[Carrie Rolph · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a lot of boobs in this book, but not really in a good way.

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non ricordavo nemmeno di averlo. Mi è capitato in mano mentre ero già sotto le coperte, rilassata, ed è stata una buona lettura.
In questo alfabeto maschile, che parte appunto da Albert, Delisle presenta i difetti degli uomini in vignette brevi e silenziose: non c'è infatti alcun testo, solo disegno e una satira non eccessivamente cattiva.
Pare ci sia anche un alfabeto femminile, che devo subito andare a cercare.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, surreal, and often disturbing short stories about a strange cast of characters. There aren't any words but Delisle's sick and twisted humor comes through in any language. He's lives in France so there's a lot of strange sexual twists and plenty of juvenile humor. Just my kind of stuff.

[Ill D · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bizarre smorgasbord of multiple unrelated vignettes that serve merely as a vehicle for Guy Deilsle to get one thing, cold hard cash.

Unlike Aphex Twin's stellar 26 Mixes For Cash, Guy's take on income production is weak. Weak, weak, weak.

Bizarre themes of amputation, zoophilia, and pederasty, not only run rampant but, are repeated continuously in this work. These sick motifs are presented with a jarringly warm and simple palette that belie that perverted fetishes of the author, I would assume.

Sure, there is some charm. And sure there are some funny and *semi-well done segments. However, without thematic bridges, Albert and Others seems equivalent to a hip-hop album of just skits, in visual form of course.

Indubitabley, his weakest offering.

Unrecomended...

Unless its used for kindling.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very weird and even shocking in places.

[Leah Coffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing, especially given how much I've enjoyed Delisle's other work. A couple of funny sections, but the majority were disturbingly misogynistic.

[Anna Cuccuru · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite author.
Limbs are swapped and pants are dropped in Albert and the Others, a collection of wordless strips that expose the pleasures, pitfalls, and perversities of masculinity. Guy Delisle delves deep into the male psyche and emerges with twenty-six alphabetically arranged strips, named after the men who tumble through the pages. These protagonists risk damnation and dismemberment in a series of slapstick relationships with women, which veer from the titillating to the downright macabre.

[Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Albert and the Others is an excellent collection of comic shorts. I imagine if Edward Gorey, Thomas Ott, Chester Brown, and Yoshihiro Tatsumi had a radioactive child after the much anticipated Apocalypse, Guy Delisle's work would be it! Of course, this is very different than his journalistic works, like Burma Chronicles, and his fatherly musings, so I'd say this one is not for everyone. I am surprised that some people thought the work is misogynistic; I'd argue that most of it is misanthropic, as Delisle does not do any favors for his loser, disagreeable, fumbling, lost, unimaginative, neurotic, thoughtless, and yes, misogynistic male characters. Perhaps Urbain's story touched me the most, Zoltan's following as a close second. I loved Isidore and Fernand. And Christophe revenge was perfect (Note to Guy: to avoid accusations of misogyny, try to write stories about female vacuum cleaner salespersons in the future! tsk tsk tsk :) )

Recommended for those who have a twisted sense of humor and do not get offended by un-PC stuff. Also recommended for those fascinated by the neuroses of modern men.

[Ademption · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short pieces without words, Albert and the Others is a cross between The Ghastley Crumb Tinies and Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Each comic strips examines an alphabetically named man as he behaves badly (with maybe two exceptions: decent guys). Delisle limits each strip from 10 panels to 3 pages, while cramming in complex ideas like work-life conflicts, sexual manipulation, and idealized women into these tiny panelled strips. He handles the comic strip like a master.

Delisle's crowning work, in my mind, is still Pyongyang, in which he drew a travelogue through the rarely seen, and more rarely depicted, North Korean capital. But, Delisle demonstrates very cleanly in this work that he can shift gears and conquer the shorter forms of his medium.

[Mycala · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading as much of the English-language catalog of Delisle's work, I decided that I very much like his travel journals and I can leave the rest of his stuff. This one was sometimes funny, sometimes huh?, sometimes wow. I wanted to see my other half's reaction, so when I was done I handed it to him. He made it through about three of the picture stories before closing the book, handing it back to me, and saying, "Wow. That's enough for me." I was surprised at his reaction, but thought it was worth sharing. My reaction was less visceral, but yeah... if it hadn't been such a fast book to go through I might have put it down sooner as well.

[Sai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short read, just like ‘Aline and the others’, This one is a series of comic strips without any dialogue. Still manages to have piercing insights about the core moralities and fantasies of masculinity. The author doesn’t hold back and is willing to tackle relationships between men and women from all perspectives, never hesitating to portray politically incorrect narratives while describing the psyches of either sexes.

It will make you chuckle as well as reflect in equal doses with a pinch of shock value. I certainly recommend.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twenty-six short, silent comic strips, started with Albert (A) and ending with Zoltan (Z), with nothing in particular to link them besides the alphabetical naming scheme and DeLisle's cartooning sensibility. Most have a surreal bent, often dealing with relationships or sexual politics. Few are outright amusing, or even thought-provoking, yet I still found the book oddly interesting. Not sure I can place a finger on it, though I do like DeLisle's loose, minimalist cartooning a lot, and he certainly has a viewpoint about masculinity. Peculiar, but a good peculiar.

[Verba Non Res · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una colección de veintiséis historias breves, sin palabras y de corte cronenbergiano, que algunos pueden encontrar un tanto reñida con el buen gusto. Hay que decir, sin embargo, que nunca se queda solo en el nivel de la repulsión o el absurdo. Los desmembramientos, las deformaciones físicas y la cosificada desnudez femenina están ahí como representación muda de conceptos y conflictos más abstractos. Mucho mejor que otras obras de Delisle.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Occasionally amusing collection of wordless comics about men with names from A (Albert) to Z (Zoltan). My favourites were those that approached the surreal, but many ended with a goofy "one-liner" visual joke that didn't really justify all the panels leading up to it, and there was a bit too much misogyny (and naked ladies) for my personal taste.

[Mon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of shorts with an absurdist twist, it's amusing without being laugh out loud funny. The visual is cute and mimics the energy of Herge's works with goofy motions and quick transitions. I find the individual tales unimaginative and indistinguishable, the casual misogyny is also jarring but overall it's too forgettable to be offensive.

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not care for this one. I found Guy's Burma book and really enjoyed it.
I found this one too dark (printing), making it hard to "read" the pictures.
Some of the stories were entertaining; some were odd.
They did provide a good insight/history of his early work as mentioned in the Burma book, when he is teaching the class.

[Hina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along with 'Aline and the Others', these short, wordless graphic novels about the inner lives of men and women will give you some serious food for thought about the desires, fantasies, and pathologies of the two genders and their interactions with one another. Two of Guy Delisle's criminally underrated books.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute series of non-verbal stories. I'm a fan of Delisle's drawing style, and he creates a distinctive character for each letter of the alphabet here. I wouldn't recommend this for kids, but his odd sense of humor is great for adults.

[Emilia P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guy Delisle, how delightfully, wordlessly, effectively, depressingly, hilariously, accurately, you send up the neuroses of the modern man.
Everyone is screwed up in secret yet mundane ways, you say. Why yes.
Thank you. You can do basically no wrong.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful and unexpectedly funny. Although the plot is based on a series of men by alphabetical name (Albert, Bernard, Christophe, David, etc) the rest is wordless, yet touches upon several universally human truths of life. Highly recommended.

[Shoshanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny wordless comics. 26 of them. All about men and their wierd situations. Lots of body humor, body parts falling off, reconstructed. Aline and the Others is a second book with 26 women. Pretty similar.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guy Delisle in non-travelogue format. Really enjoyed this, and reminded me of Edward Gorey a little in it's surreal and sometimes disturbing stories (obviously also in it's similarity to the Gashlycrumb Tinies in presentation)

[Kristina Gemzon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Featuring 26 characters in scenes both beguiling and bizarre, Guy Delisle excels at doodles done right. Albert and the Others is a study of our peculiarities as individuals and situations that may or may not happen the way you think they'll happen. A delightful and imaginitive read!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

После четырёх трэвелогов, Делиль уже считается членом семьи. Мы с ним практически прожили вместе множество приключений. Так что было весьма необычно наблюдать у него такие ээм... фантазии. Странные люди, расчленёнка, сюрреализм. Ох уж эти художники, поди разберись, что у них в головах.

[Liz Yerby · Rating 3 out of 5]

wait this one is about objectifying women too? i thought it would be objectifying men to parallel the lady version so now i'm upset. there's also too much hetero romance. i mean, delisle is a charming artist and you can totally see his skill at pacing, here, but blerrrrrrrrrrg

[Jonathan Karmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book has no words, but I did look at all of the pictures. I didn't get all of these comic strips, but I thought some of them were really funny. A lot of these have a somewhat disturbing, dreamlike quality. This book is for adults, not children.

[Ian Hrabe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is satire? I mean to say that I hope this is satire. I assume this is satire. It's a fun foray into wordless storytelling but occasionally a little too gross to be enjoyed (there are a couple of real winners though).

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast, sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing read!