To write a book, and tour to promote it. Such a dream. Such a nightmare. IDW Top Shelf presents The Book Tour, an original graphic novel.
This “black and white and read all over” tale is a Kafkaesque journey through a Hitchcockian drama of death and all the trimmings. The suspicious neighbour, the perhaps-too-coincidental happenings, the dark comedic moments.
It’s about G. H. Fretwell, an English author. He’s touring on his own, signing copies of his latest book. But it seems that the crowds are just not there. But in their place are strange situations, unhealthy relationships, and bizarrely and hypnotically examined alleys and walkways. It’s eccentric, it’s rambling and bumbling, and perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea.
But there is a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ to the proceedings, even if Fretwell’s every step seems to be leading him downhill. Downtrodden but not out. Out, but not for good. Out for good, but not out for bad. And so on.
It’s black and white, hand-drawn in ink, with a broken line technique reminiscent of the 1960s. Author and artist Andi Watson gives us lots of white space, room to ruminate, and only illuminates us as we go along. Fretwell, like Mr. Bean, Charles Chaplin, and Peter Sellers, falls witness to a series of misadventures and mischievous scoundrels, and if you like that sort of thing, well my friend, are you ever in for quite a drawn-out treat!
IDW Top Shelf, The Book Tour, $24.99 for 276 pages of content
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