Long Book Review

Snowpiercer 1: The Escape

Written by Jacques Lob & Art by Jean-Marc Rochette

Age Range: Adult

Pub date: January 28, 2014

Publisher: Titan Comics

Page count: 110p

Genre: Science Fiction

The success of this story is evidenced by its history. Snowpiercer 1: The Escape was first published in 1984 in France as Transpercerneige by Casterman. Since then, it has been translated into English and is now a major motion picture. This unforgettable tale begins when the world was thrown into chaos when a climate change suddenly occurred. People were freezing to death with no where to escape except for the train called Snowpiercer. The survival of the human race is dependent upon the continual running of the train. The social aspects and politics of the world is mirrored on the train. The elite ride first-class while the tail end of the train is a “rolling ghetto”. Snowpiercer 1: The Escape is a raw and unforgiving account of the journey of a “tail rat” named Proloff, as he travels to the from the back to the front of the 1,001-carriage train. At his side is a third-class woman, Adeline, who wants improve the lives of the people in the back of the train. Their journey reveals the depths of depravity of the human race that attempts to survive on the train.

Meant only for mature audiences, the detailed black and white art by Jean-Marc Rochette adds definition to the fantastic tale. Facial emotions are key in this artistic telling of Snowpiercer. Readers are able to easily follow the art panels with only a few exceptions.

I watched the movie, Snowpiercer, several years ago and when I found it was a graphic novel, I felt compelled to read it. The truth is the graphic novel and the movie only follow each other to a point. I think I would have enjoyed the reading more if I had not seen the movie first. I was surprised, although I don’t know why, to find this graphic novel to be very much made for adults. The language can be crass and there is much use of the F word. However, I believe this to be intentional in order to add to the bleakness of this tale. After all, how could a people survive in such conditions without cussing?

While I found this to be a bit of a depressing tale of one future of the world, I did find it enlightening and deeply thought provoking. This graphic novel accurately depicts how society in our world works. Some of it is difficult to see and compare to society as a whole. It made me really think about poverty and privilege. As with life on the Snowpiercer, life in the real world feels sometimes hopeless and difficult to escape, but to some like Proloff and Adeline it is worth the effort to try and reach for hope.

I would not recommend this book for school libraries as it is created for mature adult audiences. However, for fans of post-apocalyptic adventures this is an entertaining and enlightening read.