5 Is the Perfect Number [Paperback]

Igort (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2003

Winner of the "book of the year" award in Frankfurt Bookfair 2003
Winner of the Coccobill award as best author 2003 (Milano comics festival Cartoomics)
Winner of the special award A.N.A.F.I. 2003 (Associazione Nazionale Amici Fumetto Italiano)
Winner of grand prix in Romics comic festival (Rome 2003)
Nominated for the best volume 2003 in Angouleme Comics festival
Nominated as best artist 2003 in Naples Comics Festival (Comicon)
Nominated as best artist 2003 in Milano Comics Festival (Cartoomics)

A romanzo straight from the Italian streets where the melancholy dreams of Mafiosi become nightmares.

A young hired hitman with a handsome new revolver by his side lies dying in the gray and narrow streets of Naples. His father gave him that gun for his birthday. The gun never fired a shot and now the thief that stole a life has snatched that shining weapon.

Peppino Lo Cicero spent his life taking orders from the great dons of Napoli. When his son Nino is killed he puts down the fishing rods of his retirement and picks up his old pistols, looking for revenge. Shots ring out over Peppi’s gray head once again as he searches for his son’s murderers and the beautiful black revolver he gave to Nino on the last night of his life.
The fabric of their lives has always been shot through with violence but as Peppino clings to his quest for vengeance he reconsiders that which has always been precious to him. Spare, romantic and slightly surreal, it is truly a terrible thing for a father to have to bury his son.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

For over twenty years gritty, glamorous illustrations and stories have issued from the pen and ink of Italian writer/artist Igor Tuveri, well known to the European comics community as Igort. He lives today in Paris.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly; First Edition edition (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1896597688
• ISBN-13: 978-1896597683
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,167,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 is the perfect rating!!, November 21, 2004

By 

madhu m (Chennai, India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 5 Is the Perfect Number (Paperback)

Igort's 5 is the perfect number blows the lid off the american graphic novel scene by showing how good gritty italian comic noir can be. Imagine a surreal, poetic, cinematic grand vision not unlike The Godfather movies and infuse it with stunning visuals, pithy dialogues, gut-wrenchingly real characters and a crackling plot. What you get is the beginning of this graphic novel work of art.

The story is deceptively simple. Retired Hitman for the Mafia has to take to the gun again as his dear son, who followed in his footsteps, is killed by the very men who employed him. But through stunning Duotone graphics (blue & shades of grey) Igort paints a masterful series of pictures that drive this fast plot ahead.

Although i am not much of a graphic novel fan, i would definitely be addicted to them if each one was as beautiful and stunning as this one is. This is about as close as Graphic novels can get to sublime beauty.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Horrible Translation, June 26, 2007

By 

S. Jeffrey (Ellicott City, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 5 Is the Perfect Number (Paperback)

I'm not in agreement with the first reviewer about the use of language. If it's about gangsters, yeah. They're going to curse. But, I think that part of the problem here is that the translation from the original French is atrocious. It was like somebody lifted verbatim Google translations, which are so literal, that it takes the life out of it. I recommend learning French and reading the original instead. It's much better. Unfortunately, Amazon USA doesn't carry the French version, so you'll have to pay cross-Atlantic shipping charges when you buy it from Amazon.fr.

5.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Outstanding, July 15, 2007

By 

Yellowhat (IA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 5 Is the Perfect Number (Paperback)

Igort's book is a book that shows what the genre can convey at its best. The two-color style really brings out some of the themes very well also. Interesting Italian take on Italian crime, the author's nationality lends some credibility to the story.