It's about a man who works at the World Book of Records who is bored with his job. He's tired of people who think they need to come up with a way to get their name on some obscure record they just made up. Then he gets a letter from someone who goes a much darker path to make the list... It's fine, but I kind of wish that this had turned into a procedural at this point where they went after the guy. Instead, it mainly lurks in the background. Still it's decent and it's the rare bande dessinee that begins and ends in one volume.

'The World Book of Records' by Tonino Bencquista with art by Nicholas Barral is a graphic novel about a man with a job measuring unusual records.

Paul Baron works at a publication which tracks world records. He spends his days watching people eat hot dogs and twirl batons. He fields countless requests by folks with feats they think will make them famous. But there are those he denies, and they see Paul in a different way. One man sees a diabolical way to make his name famous.

I liked story of a guy who seems really tired at his job and the unusually hopeful people who approach him. The art was nice and worked. This was a good read.

I received a review copy of graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Quick read. Interesting premise. Ultimately--and similar to this review--too brief. (Which is struggling to meet its required 100 characters).

Paul works for "The World Book of Records." It's his job to determine which records are worth putting into the book and then traveling wherever it takes to verify the records - but more times than not, he has to say no to people who just miss the record, or whose "records" are just too weird to include.
One of the people Paul has turned down is bound and determined to get into the book no matter what it takes. After being rejected, he has made contact with Paul again, promising to get into the book by killing more criminals than anyone ever has before. Paul think's he's serious, but unfortunately, no one else does... until the bodies start showing up.
It's a very quick read with an interesting premise, though because of its length it does seem to arrive at a resolution rather abruptly. Great art too - I like that it was in black and white for flashbacks and color for present time.

It was okay. Not the best but I did read the entire book, so I enjoyed it well enough.Thank you for allowing me to read and review it.

An interesting topic for a graphic novel! It was just as the title states, a book about a man who records world records. He travels the world meeting people, and verifying whether or not they really are the new record holder in their category.

This was a fun read for me. I specifically loved the illustrations/artwork. I felt like the style of art perfectly suited the story, and made it easy to get lost in. I finished this in one quick sitting, and then started at the beginning again to take the time to go over all the beautiful details in the art the second time around. Will be on the lookout for more from this author.


A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I truly appreciate it!

Paul Baron works at the World Book of Records. The firm is a fictional type of the real-life company that publishes the Guinness Book of World Records.

Paul Baron's work includes receiving letters from people who believe they have done something extraordinary. He also has to go out to meet these correspondents to verify whether their feats are worthy of the World Book of Records or not.

One day, Paul Baron receives a letter from a man declaring his intention to kill as many people as possible, including Paul.

The reason for the killing is simple - he has done a great deed that would benefit humanity, written to the World Book of Records about it, but the company wouldn't acknowledge what he has done.

The story follows the carnage that ensues as murdered bodies begin to pile up in the city.
In today's world of social media fame and fake news, The World Book of Records tries to examine what true achievement is. It also questions if getting our names or actions on any media medium really determines our worth or the importance of our deeds.

The Book of World Records by Tonino Benacquista and Nicolas Barral is a meditation on acceptance, fame, and our place in the world.

Many thanks to Europe Comics for review copy.

This graphic novel was fun to read. It was about a man who listens to stories about people wanting to break records every day. The storyline was fun and creative. The artwork was beautiful and well done. It was a good read. I recommend it. Not your normal read. Add some fun to your reading!

This is NOT from an advance review copy for which I DO NOT thank the publisher.

I have to rate this negatively because of the shabby way the publisher treats people who ask to review it. The graphic novel was not downloadable as ebooks typically are, but set up in some ass-backward "copy protection" system that means you cannot load it, read a part of it, and get back to it later to finish it. You have to constantly download it. What this meant is that the book was locked away ("archived" they call it) before I could finish reading it, and that shabby treatment of a reviewer, I consider WARTY in the extreme.

I don't get paid for this work, except in that I get to read books! But I'd be read books anyway and thanks to Amazon's deliberate and calculated sabotaging of book prices, I could get all the free books I want from them if I didn't refuse to do business with Amazon.

Jeff Bezos in now the richest man ever, BTW. Ahead of Bill Gates. Ahead of Mark Zuckerberg. Ahead of Warren Buffett, and to my knowledge, and unlike those latter three, he hasn't signed on to the pledge to give away at least half his fortune. Yet the authors who publish with him are lucky to get a fraction of the ninety-nine cents he has very effectively forced many people to charge for their hard work. Ninety-nine cents! That's less than the old pulp writers used to get paid! It would be nice if he gave some of his fortune to help out the struggling authors who've helped make him a multi-billionaire, wouldn't it?!

No, I do this because I love books and I feel people have a right to a chance at being read and getting some exposure, but this publisher seems hell bent on sabotaging that process. The format had purportedly extra protection built into it such that it was not possible to download it - a reviewer like me, who can only get the ebook (which is fine - it saves a tree here and there!), has to read this one on a web page or some fly-by-night temporary platform. If you close the page, you then have to go through the laborious process of accessing it all over again.

Worse, there is no means of conveniently navigating from one page to another on my tablet, except by sliding each individual page up or down the screen. If you want to go back and check something at the start, it's a long chore in a two hundred page comic.

The idea behind this is purportedly to protect the work by specifically assigning it to a person's email address, and I can fully understand the need for protection of copyrighted work, but in practice, this method offers no protection whatsoever, since anyone who can read something like this on their screen can take a screen-shot and copy it very effectively and quite anonymously that way. So to me it made no sense, and all it offered in practice was an inconvenience and annoyance to honest reviewers who would never abuse the privilege we have of getting an advance review copy of a work. As I said, I will not be recommending this, and neither will I be requesting anything to review from this publisher (Europe Comics) ever again.

I loved the storyline and the artwork is gorgeous and absolutely perfect for this story. In the short span of few pages, I felt I knew the characters, their background, how they were intertwined with one another... and I felt the connection and relevance to today’s societal standards versus being human and accepting who you are. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Thank you to Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This graphic novel follows the story of Paul Baron, who works for The World Book of Records and has to deal with hundreds of requests everyday, until he receives one about breaking a record of number of murders.

I really enjoyed the global plot and the artwork of this book. It just left me expecting more from the story and we got to the end a little too fast in my opinion.
However there were some passages and quotes I absolutely enjoyed, about the main character feeling average and seeing nothing exceptional about himself.
I would recommend this book if you are looking for a quick, enjoyable read.

How Droll Can You Go?

As an employee of the World Book of Records our hero, who specializes in human feats and achievements, spends most of his days turning down and disappointing record-holder wannabes. That's it, at least until one disappointed applicants decides to get even, at which point the story turns into a sort of thriller.

There are a few funny lines and bits here and there, and the hero is fairly amiable when he isn't being a sad sack. A little touch of romance with a baton twirler adds a bit of spark.

This witty graphic novel brings attention to something a lot of people do not think about: failure. The main character, Paul, is an associate of a world record company that makes sure that the records people claim are accurate. Paul feels that there is nothing spectacular about him or his life, and he questions why humanity strives to be the greatest at things. After a failure, one person threatens Paul of a murder spree to achieve the record of murders because they feel it is all they could be the greatest in. The threat is not taken seriously at first, but when Paul's own life is threatened, it is revealed the person is an acquaintance from 10 years ago. The novel notes how it is fine to not be the best, and mediocracy is not nearly as bad as people think. Due to the nature of the book, it would be best for high school and college students. Students in these age groups are pressured to be the best, so it might be a good read to remind them that it is fine to not be the greatest at something. Happiness is more important than greatness.

This is the first time I’m reviewing a graphic novel. I’m actually a fan of the format, although I do tend to stick to webcomics. This is different from those I tend to read considering that it’s not exactly genre fiction. Nevertheless, I’d say that The World Book of Records kept me going and wanting more, especially since it’s pretty short at 72 pages.

Paul Baron, the protagonist, is a judge for The World Book of Records. He’s the one people apply to in order to be there, and he determines whether their dreams would be granted. As a judge, he’s either a hero or a villain to the people who dream of being exceptional and setting a world record. Unfortunately for him, he unwittingly plays a part in one man’s ultimate goal to achieve renown, regardless of the terrible cost.

Considering it’s short length, I won’t say any more to spoil the plot. The themes presented in this graphic novel include loss, success, failure, and life. All of which I found were well-represented and beautifully portrayed. A specific scene where Paul talks about failure really got to me. I was even reminded of a graphic novel I read as a child. I’ve forgotten the name but it was about being a loser or a failure.

The art style was pretty okay. It’s not too colorful but isn’t too drab either. I wasn’t a big fan of the character faces although I do appreciate the somewhat grittier art style. There’s a sense of realism to it which I also like. All in all, I think that the art style really fits the story and conveys the themes and plot very well.

This is a lot more contemporary than I usually read but I really did like it. It’s a pretty good graphic novel overall and it does make me want to read more like it.

Reading the story of Paul and the people he encounters who wants to be included in The Book of World Records is sort of a reminder that we don't need to achieve something just to make us a better person. This one-shot comic book is a must-read because it will make you ponder on things such as fame and validations are really not that important. And that failures in life don't merely mean that we are not good. Instead, these setbacks give us more ways to improve and to reflect.

I haven't read many graphic novels but I really enjoyed reading 'The World Book of Records' by Tonino Benacquista and I really like the illustrations created by Nicolas Barral. I enjoyed the plot line of a man who works for The World Book of Records, who receives hundreds upon hundreds of letters and emails everyday. I enjoyed the mystery part of the story and the conclusion of the graphic novel. It was a nice fast read with great illustrations and interesting plot line, I recommend this graphic novel to everyone.

An interesting graphic novel. Decent art style throughout. I liked the subtly in this one and the plot twist.

It is a meaningful story. People want to success something and it shows that they to anything to get it. This graphic novel is about failure and success and people choices. I enjoyed reading it.

This is such a great comic story about the true meanings of success and failure. The artwork is bright and fun and the visuals of the records add a great element to the tale. I really liked the lesson of the story. I really enjoyed the blend of thriller and romance. This comic was a fun read.

A comic book crime story that says something. Our hero is a lowly researcher and adjudicator for the World Book of Records, so suffers the giant cabbage grower, the record eaters, and other such nonentities in search of an entity. But someone else has their sights set on entry into the book, and not by such humble means… A lot is in here – the one man against the cosh because the police aren't interested, a burgeoning romance (and boy, doesn't our man say the right thing at the right time) – and narratively decent use of record holders. It slackens off the thriller aspect of things somewhat, but it's still really an enjoyable read. A strong four stars and more.