Pizza and Intrigue in Naples: A Graphic Travel Story

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  02.27.08 | 10:16 AM ET

imageTom Downey, whose first ‘graphic travel story’ we blogged about awhile back, has put out another in this month’s Conde Nast Traveler. As in the first story, Naples: The Case of the Stolen Starter was created with artist Neil Gower and fuses techniques from graphic novels and detective fiction to create a unique piece of travel writing. From the piazza to the mercato to the trattoria, Downey encounters all kinds of compelling details of Neopolitan life while his illustrated hero attempts to save a pizzeria whose dough has been stolen.

The story is accompanied by a video where Downey talks about the making of the piece, and his efforts to capture the “unbelievable concentration of life” in Naples. I don’t know whether this type of travel story is likely to become a trend—though we’ve come across at least one other graphic travelogue in recent years—but I’d definitely be interested in seeing more.

Related on World Hum:
* Tom Downey on the Graphic Travel Story

Photo by Global Jet via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Tags: Food, Media Addict, Europe, Italy, News and Briefs

Eva Holland is co-editor of World Hum. She is a former associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and a contributor to Vela. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


2 Comments for Pizza and Intrigue in Naples: A Graphic Travel Story

John M. Edwards 02.27.08 | 4:27 PM ET

Hi Tom:

The graphic travel detective novel reminds me a little bit of the story that started it all: Edgar Allen Poe’s “Murder in the Rue Morgue.” Without that groundbreaker there would have been neither a Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. Have you ever seen the film “Horror Hotel,” with Christopher Lee? This pulls it off.

Ah, Napoli, land of the old ones, the ones that built us, now I remember. . . . The bldgs of our bildungsromans, with the wet laundry hung out to dry from the windowsills, like the yellowed pee-stained sheets of James at Sixteen.

Hey, stop embarassing me, Dad, that’s a down-jacket comment.

wherecaniclubITALY 07.11.08 | 9:22 PM ET

Naples is such an excellent city culturally and artistically speaking, its such a pity its image is being damaged a by the naples mafia and recently by the garbage story to hit the city!
theres so much more to Naples if only the people would stop looking at it with preconception!

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