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Portrait of a Drunk
In this graphic novel, three cutting-edge, world-renowned cartoonists team up to tell a tale of an 18th-century pirate — one who's more gallows fodder than a Hollywood swashbuckler.
Guy is no master mariner, with a clipped red (or black) beard. He's just an ordinary member of the crew — able enough, but also a lazy, cowardly liar, a drunkard, and a thief. His story is told in two allegorical parts: "The Blowout" and "The Hangover." Three contemporary comics titans, Belgian Olivier Schrauwen (Parallel Lives) and the French duo Ruppert and Mulot (The Perineum Technique) collaborate to bring you the best pictorial and narrative elements of the great tales of the sea — bright colors, grand battles, gallows humor — in this tour de force of black comedy.
Guy is no master mariner, with a clipped red (or black) beard. He's just an ordinary member of the crew — able enough, but also a lazy, cowardly liar, a drunkard, and a thief. His story is told in two allegorical parts: "The Blowout" and "The Hangover." Three contemporary comics titans, Belgian Olivier Schrauwen (Parallel Lives) and the French duo Ruppert and Mulot (The Perineum Technique) collaborate to bring you the best pictorial and narrative elements of the great tales of the sea — bright colors, grand battles, gallows humor — in this tour de force of black comedy.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published February 15, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
September 22, 2020
This a beautiful production of a hardcover book by European comics giants Ruppert & Mulot and O. Schrauwen. So the latter, the chief attraction for me reading, is the illustrator here. I like his work for its experimental and surreal elements, his intention to not repeat himself. The last book was a collection of sci-fi meta-fictional experiments, a kind of reflection on the present and the direction we are taking to the future.
This one takes us back to the eighteenth century, a pirate story, though it's not called A Pirate Story, it's called Portrait of a Drunk, so you have to keep in mind that alcoholism is really the main focus of the story. And the synchronicity of my suddenly, not purposely, reading all these drunk stories is kind of amazing. I just read the towering, operatic Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry, booze on every page, I am reading of the alcoholic detective Harry Hole in Jo Nesbo's Redbreast, and now this.
The book begins with Guy waking on the street to begin drinking again, and going into a kind of musical number about himself begging money from people on the streets so he can buy more rum. So we begin lightly, he's almost likable. He gets a job as a carpenter on a boat, pirates attack them, he joins the pirates and is assigned a 12-year-old apprentice and we see that he will do any despicable thing he is asked to do as long as he can drink. So this is not Pirates of the Caribbean, played for laughs, Guy is not Johnny Depp-Pirate, since he is clearly a terrible human being. I mean, he's a sailor, he's a carpenter, but really, he's mainly a pirate!
The narrative in some sense is rather conventional for Schrauwen, but it gets a little crazy with Guy's hallucinations from delirium tremens, and we also see that now, dead people whom he has mistreated, some of whom he has actually killed, watch him from the afterlife, intending to exact their revenge on him. So that dimension of the story reminds me a little of George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo, where the dead visit the living, and the living visit the dead. The book ends as it begins, with music! With singing! Though of course the music makes you smile less at the end than the beginning! There's two parts to this tale, "The Blowout" and the "the Hangover" which may be as much an allegory of the drinking life as anything else. But it's all blowout, really, as it is all drinking, all the time.
The narrative is masterfully cartooned, though some may not care for the roughly sketched, pen and ink black and white parts. Some are minimally colored, and some pages are full, multi-colored. Overall, I liked it quite a bit. Hey, it's a pirate story, it's brutal with a mostly despicable main character. But it has this alt-comix feel to it that I like. Check out Schrauwen: The Man Who Grew His Beard (2011), Arsene Schrauwen (2o14), a kind of crazy fantasy of a biography of his grandfather who went to Africa in 1947 with the aim of developing some utopian colony. Schrauwen is the real deal, though, brilliantly inventive.
This one takes us back to the eighteenth century, a pirate story, though it's not called A Pirate Story, it's called Portrait of a Drunk, so you have to keep in mind that alcoholism is really the main focus of the story. And the synchronicity of my suddenly, not purposely, reading all these drunk stories is kind of amazing. I just read the towering, operatic Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry, booze on every page, I am reading of the alcoholic detective Harry Hole in Jo Nesbo's Redbreast, and now this.
The book begins with Guy waking on the street to begin drinking again, and going into a kind of musical number about himself begging money from people on the streets so he can buy more rum. So we begin lightly, he's almost likable. He gets a job as a carpenter on a boat, pirates attack them, he joins the pirates and is assigned a 12-year-old apprentice and we see that he will do any despicable thing he is asked to do as long as he can drink. So this is not Pirates of the Caribbean, played for laughs, Guy is not Johnny Depp-Pirate, since he is clearly a terrible human being. I mean, he's a sailor, he's a carpenter, but really, he's mainly a pirate!
The narrative in some sense is rather conventional for Schrauwen, but it gets a little crazy with Guy's hallucinations from delirium tremens, and we also see that now, dead people whom he has mistreated, some of whom he has actually killed, watch him from the afterlife, intending to exact their revenge on him. So that dimension of the story reminds me a little of George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo, where the dead visit the living, and the living visit the dead. The book ends as it begins, with music! With singing! Though of course the music makes you smile less at the end than the beginning! There's two parts to this tale, "The Blowout" and the "the Hangover" which may be as much an allegory of the drinking life as anything else. But it's all blowout, really, as it is all drinking, all the time.
The narrative is masterfully cartooned, though some may not care for the roughly sketched, pen and ink black and white parts. Some are minimally colored, and some pages are full, multi-colored. Overall, I liked it quite a bit. Hey, it's a pirate story, it's brutal with a mostly despicable main character. But it has this alt-comix feel to it that I like. Check out Schrauwen: The Man Who Grew His Beard (2011), Arsene Schrauwen (2o14), a kind of crazy fantasy of a biography of his grandfather who went to Africa in 1947 with the aim of developing some utopian colony. Schrauwen is the real deal, though, brilliantly inventive.
September 4, 2022
Soy incapaz de no darle cinco estrellas a un cómic de Olivier Schrauwen, hasta tal punto disfruto de su forma de dibujar. ¿Qué? ¿Le puse solo cuatro a Arsene Schrauwen? ¿Pero estaba tonta o qué? Ahora mismo voy y lo corrijo. No, de veras, qué trazo tan hermoso, qué destreza. Me recuerda un poco a los dibujos más sueltos de otro artista que me pirra, Pat Andrea, que nació un poco más al este y al norte que Schrauwen. Es que es inevitable pensar en pintores flamencos. Si estás un poco puesto en Historia del Arte, ves a ese Guy que te mira con cara de tonto desde la cubierta y se te va la cabeza de inmediato a los retratos de algunos pintores flamencos del siglo XVII. A los tronies, concretamente, esos retratos de medio cuerpo donde aparecían personas con vestimentas exóticas, pero también con expresiones muy marcadas producidas por la risa o la sorpresa, por ejemplo. Guy bien podría salir de un cuadro de Frans Hals, o mejor aun, de uno de Adriaen Brouwer, con sus escenas de tabernas y borrachuzos. Ah, que la historia está ambientada un siglo más tarde. Bueno, tanto da. La historia entretiene y tiene ritmo, y el personaje de Guy, que no es un «bebedor», sino un alcohólico con todas las letras, es un cabronazo caótico y tan imprevisible como afortunado. Pero incluso si el guión fuera más flojo, yo me habría chupado los dedos igualmente. Olivier Schrauwen, ¡maestro!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I simply cannot give less than five stars to an Oliver Schrauwen comic. That much I enjoy the way he draws. What? I gave only four stars to Arsene Schrauwen? I couldn’t be thinking straight that day. Ok, I’ve already fixed it. No, really, such fine strokes, such dexterity… It reminds me a little of another artist I’m really into, Pat Andrea, or at least of some of his loosest drawings. Schrauwen is from Belgium and Andrea was born in the Netherlands, and now I can’t help thinking about Flemish painters. If you are a little knowledgeable about Art History, you look at Guy with that dumbass face in the cover and it immediately makes you think of portraits made by Flemish painters from the Seventeenth Century. Tronies, in particular, those half-body portraits of people dressed in exotic costumes or showing striking gestures of surprise or laughter. Guy could perfectly fit in a Frans Hals painting, or even better, one of Adriaen Brouwer’s scenes of taverns and winos. Oops, but the story is set in the Eighteenth Century. Well, nevermind. The plot is entertaining and has the right pace. And Guy, who is not a simple drunkard but a full-fledged alcoholic, is a chaotic and awkwardly fascinating motherfucker. But even if the script were weaker, I would still have found this comic finger-licking good. Oliver Schrauwen, maestro!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I simply cannot give less than five stars to an Oliver Schrauwen comic. That much I enjoy the way he draws. What? I gave only four stars to Arsene Schrauwen? I couldn’t be thinking straight that day. Ok, I’ve already fixed it. No, really, such fine strokes, such dexterity… It reminds me a little of another artist I’m really into, Pat Andrea, or at least of some of his loosest drawings. Schrauwen is from Belgium and Andrea was born in the Netherlands, and now I can’t help thinking about Flemish painters. If you are a little knowledgeable about Art History, you look at Guy with that dumbass face in the cover and it immediately makes you think of portraits made by Flemish painters from the Seventeenth Century. Tronies, in particular, those half-body portraits of people dressed in exotic costumes or showing striking gestures of surprise or laughter. Guy could perfectly fit in a Frans Hals painting, or even better, one of Adriaen Brouwer’s scenes of taverns and winos. Oops, but the story is set in the Eighteenth Century. Well, nevermind. The plot is entertaining and has the right pace. And Guy, who is not a simple drunkard but a full-fledged alcoholic, is a chaotic and awkwardly fascinating motherfucker. But even if the script were weaker, I would still have found this comic finger-licking good. Oliver Schrauwen, maestro!
January 19, 2024
Reading this for the second time, a few years after it came out. It's such an odd intriguing story of a self-centered drunk who fails upwards. Each time he gets more and more drunk, but somehow things just work out for him. Beautiful artwork throughout, although I like the colored pages more than the blue ink pages. I enjoyed all the scratchy lines and ink smears.
*First review*
Another fantastic Olivier Schrauwen comic. This story was especially bonkers -- it follows a despicable drunkard with zero redeeming qualities on ocean adventure full of pirates, thievery, ship attacks and lots of random murder and death.
*First review*
Another fantastic Olivier Schrauwen comic. This story was especially bonkers -- it follows a despicable drunkard with zero redeeming qualities on ocean adventure full of pirates, thievery, ship attacks and lots of random murder and death.
December 1, 2021
What shall we do with the drunken sailor? In Portrait of a Drunk, Olivier Schrauwen, Florent Ruppert and Jérôme Mulot offer a nuanced, surprising, and unfailingly compelling response to the question posed by the world’s most famous sea shanty. The comic’s protagonist, Guy, is an alcoholic seaman with almost no redeeming qualities: ruthless, selfish, ignorant, cruel, capricious and short-tempered. The story is propelled by dramatic events like those that characterize swashbuckling adventure stories, but they’re thoroughly robbed of any romanticism: Guy stumbles through them in varying states of inebriation, surviving through a lucky cocktail of cowardice, betrayal and gall, rather than any kind of gallantry. Despite his lack of positive traits, he’s a fascinating figure: not just despicable, but also pathetic, nearly pitiable at times. Sometimes he’s outright malicious, but more often he’s simply chaotic – an unstoppable force of nature, wreaking havoc wherever he goes – though he’s also often amusing in his buffoonery. There are faint hints that this wretched man may have some goodness in him, and there are plot threads that seem to move in the direction of poetic justice, but ultimately the narrative steers well clear of anything as simplistic as a redemption arc or divine retribution.
Portrait of a Drunk is as interesting artistically as it is narratively. It’s fascinating from the perspective of process, as a truly collaborative effort, where all three of its creators contributed to both art and story, and there’s no way to tell what on the page comes from whom (though there’s an interesting French interview that sheds some light on this). But even putting aside the question of how it was produced, this comic does a lot of great stuff visually. Its loose, sketchy pencil-drawn style isn’t immediately stunning, and on a purely aesthetic level I find it less appealing than Schrauwen’s gorgeous work in The Man Who Grew His Beard, but in terms of using visual techniques to create mood, this work is as great as any other comic I’ve read. The roughness of the drawings and the shifting colour schemes reflect the chaos of the story and, especially, Guy’s intoxicated perspective. Characters’ faces only seem to come into focus when Guy starts to view them as human beings. Most impressively, when the story’s events reach a fever pitch just after the halfway point (pages 102–149, to be precise), page layouts and panel arrangements are used absolutely brilliantly to impart a tangible sense of pandemonium and delirium.
This comic really has it all: humour, depth, an exciting story, and technical mastery. It’s so rich in great elements, that I can’t possibly mention them all in this review, and my attempts to describe it feel grossly inadequate. Simply brilliant.
Portrait of a Drunk is as interesting artistically as it is narratively. It’s fascinating from the perspective of process, as a truly collaborative effort, where all three of its creators contributed to both art and story, and there’s no way to tell what on the page comes from whom (though there’s an interesting French interview that sheds some light on this). But even putting aside the question of how it was produced, this comic does a lot of great stuff visually. Its loose, sketchy pencil-drawn style isn’t immediately stunning, and on a purely aesthetic level I find it less appealing than Schrauwen’s gorgeous work in The Man Who Grew His Beard, but in terms of using visual techniques to create mood, this work is as great as any other comic I’ve read. The roughness of the drawings and the shifting colour schemes reflect the chaos of the story and, especially, Guy’s intoxicated perspective. Characters’ faces only seem to come into focus when Guy starts to view them as human beings. Most impressively, when the story’s events reach a fever pitch just after the halfway point (pages 102–149, to be precise), page layouts and panel arrangements are used absolutely brilliantly to impart a tangible sense of pandemonium and delirium.
This comic really has it all: humour, depth, an exciting story, and technical mastery. It’s so rich in great elements, that I can’t possibly mention them all in this review, and my attempts to describe it feel grossly inadequate. Simply brilliant.
March 25, 2021
ok i'm gonna just admit it: i don't think i understand olivier schrauwen. but despite the fact that this comic was almost like a fever dream at times with a terrible protagonist, i didn't hate the comic. i really enjoy his art style. and i really enjoyed parallel lives which is why i picked this up and honestly, i probably will check out more of his work.
September 25, 2020
The main character, Guy, is about as awful as they can be. A real bastard. An alcoholic to be sure, but, also, a murderer and thief. NOT a pedophile, as I worryingly thought his depravities had no boundaries, thankfully that’s not the case.
Our authors, especially our cartoonist (I’m familiar with most of his translated work), manage this tightrope of an atrocious human being carrying a fun, funny entertaining story without the reader’s interest flagging.
It’s great stuff. A beautiful physical object as well, Fantagraphics gave it the treatment it deserved.
One of the best cartoonists on planet earth. Go. Play.
Our authors, especially our cartoonist (I’m familiar with most of his translated work), manage this tightrope of an atrocious human being carrying a fun, funny entertaining story without the reader’s interest flagging.
It’s great stuff. A beautiful physical object as well, Fantagraphics gave it the treatment it deserved.
One of the best cartoonists on planet earth. Go. Play.
June 15, 2020
Gráficamente espléndido; literariamente, aunque tiene aspectos muy guays, me ha faltado algo de chicha en la historia.
January 21, 2026
Na pierwszy rzut oka piracka przygodówka jakich wiele, ale niech was nie zmylą opisy. Bohater - Guy - to naprawdę nikczemny pijaczyna, z którym się lepiej nie zadawać, bo ci którzy to robili, skończyli marnie. Trudno szukać w nim pozytywnych cech, chyba że za taką uznamy zdolność do rozśmieszenia czytelnika, choć to raczej czarny humor. Mam wrażenie, że jest to komiks przede wszystkim o uzależnieniu i sytuacji, w której każdy krok w twoi życiu jest determinowany chęcią napicia się czegoś mocniejszego. Zresztą końcówka miesza właśnie deliryczne majaki pijaka z rzeczywistością, nadając całości dosyć odjechany charakter
Chociaż fabuła jest świetnie poprowadzona, to nie ona jest główną siłą komiksu. Rozbraja mnie strona graficzna. Schrauwen miesza piękne malarskie kadry z luźnym szkicem, płynnie przechodząc od jednego do drugiego i raz za czas prezentując bardziej eksperymentalne plansze. Efekt jest znakomity. Kapitalny jest też pomysł, by wszystkie ofiary Guya, które pożegnały się z życiem, zaprezentować w zaświatach (symbolicznie odgrodzonych kotarą) gdzie prowadzą zabawne dialogi. Pełnią rolę swoistych narratorów, komentujących poczynania bohaterów. Ten teatralny zabieg bardzo urozmaica całość.
"Portrait of a Drunk" jest czymś na granicy komiksu mainstreamowego i niezalu, stanowiąc złoty środek, który z pewnością zadowoli różne typy czytelników
Chociaż fabuła jest świetnie poprowadzona, to nie ona jest główną siłą komiksu. Rozbraja mnie strona graficzna. Schrauwen miesza piękne malarskie kadry z luźnym szkicem, płynnie przechodząc od jednego do drugiego i raz za czas prezentując bardziej eksperymentalne plansze. Efekt jest znakomity. Kapitalny jest też pomysł, by wszystkie ofiary Guya, które pożegnały się z życiem, zaprezentować w zaświatach (symbolicznie odgrodzonych kotarą) gdzie prowadzą zabawne dialogi. Pełnią rolę swoistych narratorów, komentujących poczynania bohaterów. Ten teatralny zabieg bardzo urozmaica całość.
"Portrait of a Drunk" jest czymś na granicy komiksu mainstreamowego i niezalu, stanowiąc złoty środek, który z pewnością zadowoli różne typy czytelników
July 16, 2020
Portrait of a Drunk is the tale of a horrible drunkard named Guy. This graphic novel chronicles his Mr. Magoo-like adventures of backstabbing, swindling, and swigging copious amounts of alcohol. It is the tale of a user, a loser, and a bunch of dead people too. There was something of a Lincoln in the Bardo going on, but it ultimately never came to be of much import, though a section wouldn't have had the level of horror it did without the deadites and their antics.
The art varies greatly from page to page, panel to panel. There are full page spreads, sometimes of interwoven blue waves, sometimes of beautifully sketched scenes, sometimes the latter with color. The choice to range the artwork from sketches to detailed, colored images adds a layer of chaos to an already chaotic book. Faces are sometimes left blank, other times capturing fully visages of disgust and annoyance.
And this is a disgusting and annoying book because the protagonist is disgusting and annoying. But that's what this work was going for, no? It a portrait of a drunk. And it succeeded in this regard.
Anyway, it's horrifying and hilarious. 4 outta 5.
The art varies greatly from page to page, panel to panel. There are full page spreads, sometimes of interwoven blue waves, sometimes of beautifully sketched scenes, sometimes the latter with color. The choice to range the artwork from sketches to detailed, colored images adds a layer of chaos to an already chaotic book. Faces are sometimes left blank, other times capturing fully visages of disgust and annoyance.
And this is a disgusting and annoying book because the protagonist is disgusting and annoying. But that's what this work was going for, no? It a portrait of a drunk. And it succeeded in this regard.
Anyway, it's horrifying and hilarious. 4 outta 5.
August 12, 2022
Guy, retrato de un bebedor da exactamente lo que promete en su título: un retrato descarnado y sin concesiones romantizantes del alma de un pirata ebrio. No hay esperanza para la redención ni intención moralizante en esta anti-epopeya: sólo un reguero de cadáveres.
A nivel formal, destaca el dibujo y el manejo del color, pero sobretodo la maestría de Ruppert, Mulot y O. Schrauwen en el uso de las posibilidades del medio. Abren con tres potentes páginas completas que nos recuerdan, antes incluso de empezar la historia, que ya estamos todos muertos; y continúan luego durante toda la obra intercalando diferentes planos y superponiendo el más allá y el más acá, lo onírico y lo real, lo absoluto y lo fragmentario. Maestros.
A nivel formal, destaca el dibujo y el manejo del color, pero sobretodo la maestría de Ruppert, Mulot y O. Schrauwen en el uso de las posibilidades del medio. Abren con tres potentes páginas completas que nos recuerdan, antes incluso de empezar la historia, que ya estamos todos muertos; y continúan luego durante toda la obra intercalando diferentes planos y superponiendo el más allá y el más acá, lo onírico y lo real, lo absoluto y lo fragmentario. Maestros.
May 8, 2020
Art is very cool, wasn't as hot on the story but still a v good time
January 21, 2025
Was such a beautifully odd graphic novel, the illustrations perfectly enraptured this dazed drunk character and his blurred environment. I loved how they didn't stick to traditional panels and let the characters flow through the pages and frames. Got a bit wacky towards the end when monsters came into play but overall satisfying 😌
June 8, 2020
Another brilliant work by Schrauwen, dark, twisted, surreal, I loved every bit of it.
October 29, 2020
Great art and surreal story. I got lost in it.
December 15, 2022
Obra maestra.
June 22, 2020
A dark, funny and somewhat sad look into the life of Guy the carpenter. He’s a guy who thinks only in the moment, not worried about the future or past. He’s only worried about getting one more drink. We follow Guy as he goes with the flow in a world full of pirates and European sea dwellers. The world of Portrait of a Drunk is seemingly prior to the European discovery of The Americas, large ships on the sea seem to be the primary mode of long form transportation. In the story Guy goes from being a town drunk causing disturbances around taverns to being a lazy carpenter on a transport ship, to a carpenter on a pirate ship and many more hijinks I don’t want to spoil.
Portrait of a Drunk is done by Olivier Schrauwen and the French comics duo Ruppert and Mulot. I don’t know what the breakdown of duties were here, I’m sure they all had a hand in every part of the book, regardless the work done here is excellent. The art style is very unique and the sense of storytelling within the art and page layouts is very effective and clever. I also love the sparse use of coloring throughout the book. It creates a dramatic effect on scenes with the color and allows the reader to give focus to things they otherwise might’ve glossed over. It also gives this book a prettiness that the subject matter definitely does not call for. It’s a great contrast that I thought was used very very well.
The story itself I thought was also tons of fun to read. Guy does some truly awful things but witnessing the absurd and terrible things Guy does is endlessly entertaining. Lots of hilarious moments. I also thought the idea of having characters that die due to something Guy did or from Guy directly follow Guy along provides a well done break from the central narrative and a clever form of narration from several different voices.
This book was great. I could gush about it some more, but I’d rather you guys read it and experience it for yourselves.
Portrait of a Drunk is done by Olivier Schrauwen and the French comics duo Ruppert and Mulot. I don’t know what the breakdown of duties were here, I’m sure they all had a hand in every part of the book, regardless the work done here is excellent. The art style is very unique and the sense of storytelling within the art and page layouts is very effective and clever. I also love the sparse use of coloring throughout the book. It creates a dramatic effect on scenes with the color and allows the reader to give focus to things they otherwise might’ve glossed over. It also gives this book a prettiness that the subject matter definitely does not call for. It’s a great contrast that I thought was used very very well.
The story itself I thought was also tons of fun to read. Guy does some truly awful things but witnessing the absurd and terrible things Guy does is endlessly entertaining. Lots of hilarious moments. I also thought the idea of having characters that die due to something Guy did or from Guy directly follow Guy along provides a well done break from the central narrative and a clever form of narration from several different voices.
This book was great. I could gush about it some more, but I’d rather you guys read it and experience it for yourselves.
February 5, 2020
"Los muertos nos observan. Pero a Guy, bevedor incansable, truhán sin fin, le resbala, él sigue su fiesta permanente, su aquelarre etílico hacia ningún lugar. Aunque sean los muertos provocados por él los que le acechan detrás de una cortina oscura. Y es que, además de borracho, por supuesto, es vago, maleante, ladrón y –cuidado, niños y loros– asesino. Sin saber exactamente cómo, de borrachín de taberna pasa a carpintero de navío, y después de una batalla en la que se certifica como el cobarde más oportunista de los océanos (de vino, si puede ser), los piratas le harán uno di noi, aunque la aventura no llega a buen puerto. Schrauwen, uno de los mejores autores de tebeos del mundo (y a quien tuvimos hace poco en Barcelona, gracias al Graf y a sus nunca suficientemente amados Fulgencios), alguien que nunca hace un cómic de la misma forma que el anterior, que nunca recicla ideas y que mantiene un nivel gráfico y literario enorme, aquí se da la mano con los guionistas más heterodoxos del BD francés para traernos una historia de piratas, onírica a ratos, salvaje y ofensiva en otros, nunca complaciente, que vale su peso en oro." Daniel Parellada
November 25, 2019
Una historia aventurera un poco tópica sobre las peripecias de un pícaro hijoputa sin escrúpulos (que me ha recordado mucho a un cruce entre Bender Rodríguez y Rick Sánchez) capaz de cualquier cosa por otro trago. El tebeo lo fía todo al artístico dibujo de Schrauwen, lo malo es que a pesar de soluciones narrativas muy chulas (la narración en paralelo delante asalto al palacio árabe) su falta de claridad y su paleta de colores me ha dado dolor de cabeza. He de reconocer de todos modos que me he reído mucho con las barrabasadas de Guy y los burrísimos exabruptos de los personajes ("quita esa carapolla que tienes, me agotas"). Uno es así de básico, qué le vamos a hacer.
October 30, 2020
Guy is a drunk with no redeeming qualities who does whatever he can for the next drink. His misadventures lead to some weird situations. The art is interesting with different levels of detail and colour from panel to panel (eyes optional). I don't know if that worked for me in the end. I didn't mind the muted colour pallet but the inconsistency was a bit jarring and distracting.
November 18, 2020
Stunning artwork, deplorable drunk.
March 1, 2026
Follows a drunkard named Guy who miraculously stumbles from one precarious circumstance to another at the expense of others' lives, who in turn are cursed to watch his continued exploits from the great beyond.
This was a solid dark comedy with an enticing visual presentation that plays regularly with structure, style, and color palettes. It's easily my favorite looking work of Schrauwen's that I've read, with almost every page altering the visual language in some way and keeping the experience fresh. I also quite liked the design of the limbo-like afterlife and how it's integrated into compositions, as a sort of a lightly textured liminal void layered on top of the living world with windows to see through. It reminded me of the visual device from one of my favorite movies, Being John Malkovich, where a character is inside another's head and looking through their eyes.
Had the cover not indicated Ruppert & Mulot were part of the creative team I never would have known this wasn't made by Schrauwen alone. The main character is Schrauwen's prototypical oblivious, self-centered lead and the storytelling has that same signature blend of farcical whimsy and humorous mundanity that I associate him with. Perhaps he's one of those creatives like Frederick Peeters that can't help but leave an outsized influence on any project he works on, regardless of his role in its production. While the overall reading experience was damn fun, I will say I found the humor less potent than Arsene and the character study far less interesting than Sunday.
This was a solid dark comedy with an enticing visual presentation that plays regularly with structure, style, and color palettes. It's easily my favorite looking work of Schrauwen's that I've read, with almost every page altering the visual language in some way and keeping the experience fresh. I also quite liked the design of the limbo-like afterlife and how it's integrated into compositions, as a sort of a lightly textured liminal void layered on top of the living world with windows to see through. It reminded me of the visual device from one of my favorite movies, Being John Malkovich, where a character is inside another's head and looking through their eyes.
Had the cover not indicated Ruppert & Mulot were part of the creative team I never would have known this wasn't made by Schrauwen alone. The main character is Schrauwen's prototypical oblivious, self-centered lead and the storytelling has that same signature blend of farcical whimsy and humorous mundanity that I associate him with. Perhaps he's one of those creatives like Frederick Peeters that can't help but leave an outsized influence on any project he works on, regardless of his role in its production. While the overall reading experience was damn fun, I will say I found the humor less potent than Arsene and the character study far less interesting than Sunday.
February 5, 2024
Cinico, disincantato e rocambolesco. Smonta il mito della pirateria e dell'epopea Disney muovendo (sarebbe meglio dire facendo barcollare) un personaggio tremendo ma impossibile da non amare.
Il doppio livello di voyeurismo - noi che guardiamo gli spettri che guardano Guy - aggiunge un ulteriore strato di complessità alla narrazione, garantendo al fumetto l'accesso a un bagaglio della narrazione fantastica senza scadere nel già visto.
Il doppio livello di voyeurismo - noi che guardiamo gli spettri che guardano Guy - aggiunge un ulteriore strato di complessità alla narrazione, garantendo al fumetto l'accesso a un bagaglio della narrazione fantastica senza scadere nel già visto.
October 11, 2025
This was an enjoyable read for the most part.
Schrauwens art carries this book. The watercolor pages of scenery were beautiful, absolutely gorgeous.
The writing was decent, it just didn’t hit me like it should have. The story was executed well.
It’s about a drunk asshole, in maybe the 1600s? It shows how great things are in his mind, but as an outsider you see how terrible he is.
Recommend!
Schrauwens art carries this book. The watercolor pages of scenery were beautiful, absolutely gorgeous.
The writing was decent, it just didn’t hit me like it should have. The story was executed well.
It’s about a drunk asshole, in maybe the 1600s? It shows how great things are in his mind, but as an outsider you see how terrible he is.
Recommend!
June 27, 2020
I'm a huge Schrauwen fan but I'm new to Ruppert & Mulot. On the surface it seems heavily skewed toward Schrauwen, both in style and writing, so the lines of this collaboration aren't clear. It's satisfying as 'new Schrauwen' though not his best work. Visually it's fantastic but storywise it leaves a bit to be desired. Still, I'd rather read this than most other comics.
September 10, 2020
Of the three books of his that I've read so far, I like this one the most. (Others were 'Arsène Schrauwen' and 'The Man Who Grew His Beard'). The art style is similar, relying as usual on pages dominated by shades of just a few colors (in an interesting and appealing way). But in this book several pages are multi-colored and very striking. The story is a bit more conventional, but with enough of the usual oddball, surreal Schrauwen touches to keep things interesting.
August 5, 2024
A sad affair told in a beautiful way... The underworld (?) scenes playfully interact with the book format and the tenuous watercolours are beautiful. I would've liked some resolution with the dead spirits, but then again it isn't necessary.
July 7, 2022
Qué tipo más simpático.
October 11, 2024
Do toenails have a place in heaven?
A drunkard fumbles around the pirate lifestyle while doing damn near anything to get more rum. He lies, he cheats, he steals- he is not likable, he is not funny but he is a true character. Gorgeous art.
A drunkard fumbles around the pirate lifestyle while doing damn near anything to get more rum. He lies, he cheats, he steals- he is not likable, he is not funny but he is a true character. Gorgeous art.
December 6, 2025
Not very pleasant character, in a not very pleasant story, with not very pleasant art.
There is humour in this book, but it is very dark. It does have a nice degree of mystery, and the artwork does have some nifty touches, but it is also so rough that it is often difficult to figure out what has happened. I will say that the fighting scenes are all portrayed in an interesting way that mostly communicates the events while still accentuating the chaos.
There is humour in this book, but it is very dark. It does have a nice degree of mystery, and the artwork does have some nifty touches, but it is also so rough that it is often difficult to figure out what has happened. I will say that the fighting scenes are all portrayed in an interesting way that mostly communicates the events while still accentuating the chaos.
December 4, 2024
A cool adventure of anti hero named guy who is, you guessed it - a dirty drunkie who will do anything needed to get his booze.
The story is told in the magical way Schrauwen is famous for and with the duo that is responsible for the perineum effect you get a wonderful adventure beautifully illustrated.
The story is told in the magical way Schrauwen is famous for and with the duo that is responsible for the perineum effect you get a wonderful adventure beautifully illustrated.
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