The number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8

The Art work in this book is so beautiful, the story is very clever too

It's hard to do this work of art justice in a written review; the quality and depth of both the artwork and story are impossible to comprehend without seeing the novel's drawings.Almost entirely without text, 'The Number' tells the story of an executioner, who discovers a piece of paper bearing the number '73304-23-4153-6-96-8', under the electric chair after the death of double murderer. This number sequence then keeps reappearing in his life, bringing with it fortune, betrayal, death, happiness and love, although not necessarily in that order. The story is elegantly simple, decidedly macabre, and leads to a shattering conclusion'The Number' is not a long read, but will bear many a return visit to observe something new about its exquisite, multi-layered drawings. The books is sumptuously bound, and would be a welcome addition to any bibliophile's collection. Sadly though, I suspect 'The Number' is likely to be an overlooked masterpiece.

Scratchboard master Thomas Ott's fascination with film noir and 'forties crime novels is coupled yet again with his favorite theme: man as a victim of fate. Ott's latest doomed puppet, the protagonist of this wordless novel, picks up a slip of paper with a seemingly random series of numbers, and begins his irreversible journey to hell.Only a few pages into Ott's story, you know exactly how it's going to end, but the whole point of "The Number" is the inevitability of fate; free will, in any of this author's Twilight Zone crime comics, is only a concept that allows a man to choose a path that leads, invariably, to his doom.Thomas Ott's labor-intensive, virtuoso scratchboard art is, as always, an unnerving pleasure for the viewer.

This is a fantastic piece of work. Simple story, beautiful art work. Haunting and dark. Love Ott's work and this is one of his best.