Gregory Treasury, A - Volume 1 (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gregory, a straight-jacketed child, is eternally trapped in a barren holding cell where he spends his time in drooling vegetation, banging his head on walls or shouting nonsensical, monosyllabic words. The only thing Gregory can communicate is his own name, which he enjoys screaming to the consternation of medical staff, therapists and asylum outsiders. This is a collection of low-brow humor based on Gregory's misadventures in confinement, a cartoonish, hyperbolic story presented in Hempel's casual, sketchy style. In "Gregory's Big Day," a man in a suit sets Gregory free to the outside world. Not sure what to do, Gregory stays paralyzed in the same spot for hours and eventually returns to the asylum's restricted confines. Even with his lack of communication skills, Gregory manages to make friends with creatures that crawl up through his sewage drain, such as a cockroach and a pseudo-intellectual rat named Herman Vermin. Herman also lends his sarcastic perspective to a few stories, including a fantasy sequence of Gregory as a pipe-smoking, goateed erudite; and a dream where Herman is writing a critically acclaimed autobiography, surrounded by rat-women and sycophants. Compared to Herman's self-absorbed reflections, Gregory is idyllic and carefree, demonstrating that ignorance can be bliss. While this anthology attempts to take witty punches at an absurd predicament, the asylum joke wears thin quickly.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Looking like Bill Watterson's Calvin's stunted cousin, Gregory is a boy lunatic, straitjacketed in a cell with one barred window, a drain, and the stereotypical double-lock, peep-holed door. His only statement is "I Gregory," though he often runs around screaming "uh" or "ah." Given such a protagonist, Hempel can either essay silence a la The Little King, Henry, Mr. Mum, and Ziggy, or add speaking characters. He uses only sound effects when Gregory sheds the straitjacket in "A Hello to Arms," but the piece is uneasily sentimental. He prefers adding characters: asylum staff, health inspectors, passersby, normally speechless things (window, floor, door, drain, light), and, triumphantly, Herman Vermin, an idiotic, serially reincarnated, motormouth rat, and his cheese-aholic mouse pal, Wendell. Even Gregory gets to talk in Herman's "Disturbing and Completely Illogical Dream," and, eventually, Herman takes the limelight in the funniest stuff in this gathering of two out-of-print collections from 1989 and 1992. Politically incorrect, or plain insensitive, they may be, but Gregory and company are as wonderfully loony as Chuck Jones' best 'toons. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 174 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401202713
• ISBN-13: 978-1401202712
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,014,200 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars UB ZUB UB ZUB UB ZUB!, July 12, 2006

By	Turner Morgan "turnermorgan" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I Gregory is about the firmest precursor to the work of Jhonen Vasquez that's seen print- and for such a simple comic, is capable of surprising humor. I was thrilled to death to find that these comics were back in print!
I'm docking the review one point because the book's printed in a smaller-than-comic format, which is a current trend in small-press reprints.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "YAH! Gregory feets!", May 20, 2004

By	Sam Thursday (APO, AE United States) - See all my reviews

It's a strange character that finds amusement in fleeing willy-nilly around his tiny cell yelling, "BIM BIM BIM BIM BIM," but then, Gregory is a strange book. The titular hero is a little fellow of indeterminate age who does not so much suffer from mental illness as make the most of it. Marc Hempel seems to find endless amusement in this conceit, and most readers will, too - there's the occasional curse word (this really isn't intended for children, as harmless as it is), but the humor is mostly clean, free-spirited, and goofy, with a mild literary bent (the chapter in which Gregory finds his way out of his straitjacket is called "A Hello to Arms"). Add to this a series of gags involving Gregory's friends Herman Vermin (a rat who is constantly being killed and reincarnated... as himself) and Wendell (a painfully polite mouse who just wants to be left alone with his cheese), and you're left with a fun, funny, self-contained little masterpiece of cartooning that should warm even the stodgiest heart. Hempel's influences are the best of the best; there are shades of Walt Kelly here, as well as Ernie Bushmiller and maybe even a little Charles Schulz. Overall, a worthwhile purchase for anyone who needs a cheap laugh or just wants to read a good cartoon.

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book., May 26, 2009

By	Donald C. Lett "bishonendreamer" (ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I have loved this book since it's stories were originally printed. Great to have in one collection.