Snowpiercer - The Prequel: Part 1: Extinction

Transperceneige #5

by Matz, Jean-Marc Rochette (Illustrator), Mark McKenzie-Ray (Translator)

The prequel story to the Snowpiercer graphic novel series.

The Snowpiercer saga continues with this brand new story by original artist Jean-Marc Rochette and Eisner nominated writer, Matz. Set before the extinction event that caused the new ice age in which the Snowpiercer travels perpetually around the globe, witness the terrifying events that led to the need for and creation of the eponymous train.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Bande Dessinée, Dystopia, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

90 pages, Hardcover

First published May 15, 2019

About the author

"Matz" is the pseudonym for French writer Alexis Nolent. He has written scripts for video games, a novel, and as Matz, a number of comics including Triggerman by Walter Hill. His graphic novel, Du plombe dan la tete a.k.a. Headshot, was adapted into the 2012 film, Bullet To The Head.


See http://www.dargaud.com/bd/Auteurs/Matz for a bio in French.

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

So how did this whole Snowpiercer project get started, anyway? The original trilogy mentions a climate disaster, and rich people building the perpetuum train.. it's all in broad strokes and rather vague (but still pretty prescient for a series that had its start in 1982).



I am here to tell you that this first part of the prequel trilogy, doesn't really move in any suprising direction. Yes, there is climate change quickly changing into a disaster, there are terrorists (or freedom fighters) that are attacking polluting industries, trying to force them to change their ways before it's too late, there are cultists who think the Earth should be cleansed from humanity so they want to quicken Earth's climate demise, there is an obscenely rich engineer from China who starts building the eponymous train and offers the world a chance to apply to become part of the crew (of course you need to have a value to the project).



It's all kind of what you expect, and all these parts move along eachother, barely interacting - but then this is the first part, perhaps more wanting to set the stage and introduce the main players, and things will really start to percolate in the following books. Perhaps it's a mistake to look at each book on its own.



The art is Snowpiercer art - it's kind of dirty and scratchy, which does work with all the pollution, but can also become a bit overwhelming with its drabness.

(Kindly received a review copy from Titan Comics through Edelweiss)

[Beth Tabler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed the Snowpiercer movie, and thus when I saw at the library there was a three-part series of graphic novels to go along with the brilliant film, I was stoked. If you aren't familiar with the film, it is about a future society that travels around on a train. The rest of the world is a snowy wasteland, but the last remnants of the world are divided by class on this gigantic train. We don't know why the train is the only viable escape route for humanity, but it just is. Snowpiercer is a story that requires a lot of suspension of disbelief.

Writing in this story is both its strength and a weakness. The writing is tight and exciting. The dialog is concise and engaging; the problem is that it is so heavy-handed and overwrought. I found myself confused and shaking my head. There is such a thing as subtlety in writing, not every idea needs to be pounded into the reader's head like a nail into a piece of wood. This story doesn't quite get that.

Art-wise, it is done beautifully. But you have to like this type of artwork. The shading is quite stark and dramatic, which, on the one hand, adds to the drama of the story. But, on the other hand, it could be distracting and again overwrought to the reader.

If you are a fan of the Snowpiercer series, I say check out this book even if it is for a sense of completion. However, I would not go out of my way to read this.

[Travis Duke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, it was ok. I was excited to read the prequel to Snowpiercer since I like the first book and the movie was tolerable. This book is pretty predictable and not super exciting really. I think the had a chance to write something unique but they took the easy apocalyptic way out. The art is hit and miss for me, some panels are really good other are so rushed they suck. I will say they have a part 2 coming so maybe just maybe it will be better that this book.

[Lisa Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Snowpiercer prequel is actually a much better read than the original Snowpiercer trilogy!

[Zedsdead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chronicles the environmental devastation leading up to the Great Freeze. Ecoterrorists, who initially target elephant poachers and oil megacorporations, eventually conclude that cataclysm is inevitable and hasten the process by hacking and melting down all of the world's nuclear reactors. The "deserving" will ride out the end of the world in a survival compound in the Amazon.

I like the scratchy but eloquent illustration, it reminds me of Sean Phillips' work. In a departure from the original series, the prequels are in color.

The storytelling is clunky and facile. The grand conspiracy to expedite the end of the world is overly simplistic. The terrorist group speaks only of saving "those who deserve it", which is an implausibly unsophisticated philosophical foundation on which to build such a globally capable and farseeing organization.

But I'm curious to see where this goes.

[Red Kedi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snowpiercer lo “conosciamo più o meno tutti, grazie a Netflix. Un treno che gira attorno al mondo e solo pochi uomini sopravvissuti al suo interno.
Come ci siamo arrivati a questo? Com’è nata l’idea del treno e perchè si è messo in moto? Come mai anche lì, ci sono diseguaglianze sociali, come nel vecchio mondo? Ed è così che entra in gioco Snowpiercer. Estinzione, il prequel.
Ma tornando a noi, è difficile dirvi che questa sia una storia innovativa. Ormai ne abbiamo viste di tutti i colori, ed essendo anche un periodo storico molto “apocalittico”, nulla può sorprende. Se non che questa storia sia stata scritta negli anni ottanta.

---Continua su Red Kedi---
https://redkedi.it/2020/05/snowpierce...

[Nikki Clementi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“IF WE ALLOW NATURE TO TAKE ITS COURSE, IT WILL BE TOO LATE FOR EVERYONE.”

“EVERYWHERE, HUMANKIND IS SPREADING DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, TORTURING AND EXTERMINATING…”

This is about a rich guy building a survival train because the world is going to hell from climate change, over-pollution, deforestation, poaching, and more.
Also about a group of certain people trying to “end humanity faster” so the world can be cleansed of its biggest disease: HUMANS.

Kind of scary because it’s semi-realistic but very interesting read.
Definitely will need to pick up the second one now!

[Li · Rating 2 out of 5]

Narrative felt pretty choppy because it jumped between like 5 different characters and constantly traveled back in time despite being only ~90 pages long. This series in general feels like it has a very different style from what I’m used to and I’m trying to keep an open mind but I don’t think it’s for me.

[A. Flowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A genuine eye‑opener. I loved the concept—terminate humanity to save Mother Earth? Wait… what? Yep.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graphic Novel. Wasn't impressed.

[Gary Varga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. Excellently written (Matz). Superbly illustrated (Rochette).

I have yet to read the rest of the series, which Rochette (illustrator) had created with Lob (writer) who has sadly passed away. If this is what a different writer can bring to someone else's creation then I hold high hopes for the rest of the series. Other writers did the second, The Explorers (Legrand), and third, Terminus (Bocquet), volumes.

I find that the prequel, of which a second is promised, is very much meant as an ecological warning and a cautionary tale to our current world situation. Whereas I suspect that the original series is more of an examination of a survival scenario. Both are interesting to me and the first prequel book has delivered and delivered big.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questo prequel si inserisce nel mio personale deep dive nell’universo di questo “marchio”, iniziato con il film di Bong Joon-ho e proseguito con la serie TV. Proprio per questo avevo deciso di leggere questo fumetto: la speranza era quella di trovare una storia davvero nuova, capace di espandere l’immaginario in modo significativo.

Purtroppo, almeno per me, è una lettura che resta un po’ a metà. Alcuni elementi di contesto sono interessanti e aiutano a comprendere meglio le origini del mondo di Snowpiercer, ma la sensazione è che il racconto rimanga troppo ancorato a ciò che già conosciamo, senza riuscire a sorprendere davvero. Più che aprire nuove possibilità narrative, sembra spesso limitarsi a preparare il terreno, senza affondare fino in fondo.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hopefully a poor translation, but from artwork context thar seems unlikely since there are vast swaths of the story left un or under explained.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rochette's art improves from Snowpiercer Vol. 3: Terminus, where he was drawing with a broken arm. So that's a plus. Matz's writing is not really an improvement on any of the previous authors though. The first Snowpiercer had a buzz of mystery and excitement. A train going on an endless trip around a frozen world? Cool!

Now that we've gotten to the prequel point in the series, it all feels dull and predictable. Eco-terrorists want to end the world; a Chinese entrepreneur has plans for building an enormous train. It comes together about as you'd expect. With my fouth Snowpiercer read in a row, I'm really starting to notice how terrible and stilted the dialogue is. Again: a fun 80s anachronism in the first volume, but by this point it just grates.

[Nicolas Lontel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Je ne comprends juste pas: de la philosophie à deux cents "La terre est ravagée par un mal qui semble incurable: l'humanité" (et de l'éco-terrorisme caricaturé des caricatures) sans cesse répétée tout le long de l'ouvrage, des personnages unidimensionnel complètement inintéressant, de la nudité féminine (mais jamais masculine) tout à fait gratuite (et une scène de sexe avec une immense différence de pouvoir entre l'homme et la femme évidemment), de belles couleurs, mais un dessin qui ne m'interpelle pas.

Très mauvaise idée de commencer la série par ce nouveau prélude sorti probablement pour capitaliser un peu sur la nouvelle série Netflix. À des années-lumières du film de Bong Joon-Ho [et je n'ai pas encore lu la BD originelle de Jacques Lob que je vais vraiment essayer de me procurer par exemple].

[Stoffia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Extinctions est le dernier et le pire de la saga. C'est une préquelle.

Parce qu'avant le Transperceneige, celui du film qui, je me répète, est une allégorie sur la lutte des classes, il faut comprendre d'où vient le conflit.

Ce que nous explique Extinctions, c'est que si tous les survivants de l'humanité se retrouvent dans un train faisant le tour d'une planète inhabitable, il y a une raison. C'est que les environnementalistes ont volontairement bousillé le climat.

Sérieusement.

Mais, par chance, les multimilliardaires eux ont à cœur le bien être de l'humanité. Leur plan est infaillible : amener dans un train les gens qu'ils choisissent de sauver.

Bref, Transperceneige atteint ici l'apogée de son inconsistance thématique.

[The Book Dragon · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title suggests, this is a prequel to Snowpiercer.

It talks about the moments leading up to the global catastrophe that makes the Snowpiercer train a necessity. This volume doesn't cover the whole prequel (it's only part one) but the art is striking and the story compelling.

I'm not a fan of how it jumps to different parts of the story; it seems fairly random and abrupt. Smoother transitions would probably have been better, at least in the beginning. Later, the abruptness favors the tension building as everything starts going wrong.

If you're interested in apocalyptic dystopia, give it a try.

[Angel (Bookn.All.Night) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this movie so when I found out this was a graphic novel series I immediately added to my wish list. I received an awesome surprise when I got the first book as a birthday gift.

I always wondered what causes the world to go barren and lifeless. This explains it. Love the artwork as well. I also learned this was translated from French. I had no idea.

This will end up as one of my favorite series.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than I thought it would be. Definitely answered some questions I had but I still have a lot more going into volume 2. Translated better and has a better story than the first two main volumes but not quite as good as the third.

[Mélanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un début prometteur pour ce prequel du Transperceneige.

[Sassenach · Rating 4 out of 5]

La Terre va mal et l’humain n’aide pas à sauver notre planète. Les animaux sont en voie d’extinction, soit par pollution et réduction de leur milieu naturel, soit à cause de la chasse. Les ressources s’amenuisent et la ré-volte gronde. Une organisation écologique, les Warthers, organise des manifestations, brûle des immeubles de sociétés polluantes, provoquant des milliers de victimes dans les incendies. Le chaos s’étend à tous les conti-nents et un inventeur multimilliardaire chinois, Mr Zheng, n’a pas d’espoir sur un éventuel changement. Il est convaincu qu’une catastrophe majeure va venir mettre les pendules à l’heure en diminuant drastiquement la population et pour permettre la survie de l’humain, il a créé un train spécial, où un certain nombre de per-sonnes pourront embarquer en fonction de leurs qualifications et leurs dons, des gens qui seront utiles à la communauté restante. La sélection démarre alors qu’un groupe d’Indiens d’Amazonie, sous la houlette de leur chef et de Jerry, le dirigeant des Warthers, ont d’autres plans beaucoup plus sombres ...
Ces deux tomes sont le prologue à la série du Transperceneige (mais il devrait au moins y avoir 3 volumes) et n’ont pas tardé à paraître après Terminus (il n’a fallu attendre que quatre ans avec seulement un an entre l’acte I et l’acte II). Là encore, pas de coupure graphique avec les opus précédents ; trait simple et un peu brouillon, décors plutôt épurés, couleurs froides et souvent sombres, qui créent une ambiance lourde et angoissante. On sent, à travers le dessin, tout le chaos qui bouillonne, prêt à exploser, la Terre et la nature qui partent à vau-l’eau du fait des actions humaines et la peur des gens devant ces bouleversements, tant naturels que provo-qués par une poignée de personnes. C’est intéressant de voir les choix effectués par les auteurs, que je trouve originaux et bien menés et on n’a pas de mal à s’imaginer qu’une telle chose pourrait très bien avoir lieu un jour (sauf du côté de la technologie d’un train qui ne s’arrête jamais et qui permettrait une vie en totale auto-nomie car on en est loin pour l’instant). Forcément, compte tenu qu’on se retrouve avant les évènements de la trilogie Transperceneige, tous les personnages sont nouveaux et du coup, on peut très bien lire ces deux tomes avant toute chose (même si la fin de ce prologue n’est pas encore parue). De nouveaux thèmes surgissent avec l’écologie et ses dérives quasi-religieuses, l’extinction de masse et le changement définitif du monde tel que nous le connaissons. Si l’ensemble de cette série est assez sombre, il m’a semblé que ces deux tomes l’étaient encore plus et étaient plus effrayants, peut-être tout simplement parce que cette histoire paraît si proche de notre présent et que les sauveurs potentiels ne semblent pas légion ni toujours très recommandables. Une fois lancée dans cette apocalypse climatique (mais pas que !), j’ai eu du mal à m’arrêter dans ma lecture et je lan-guis de découvrir la fin de ce récit des origines du Transperceneige, même si on sait que le train roulera encore plusieurs dizaines d’années après ça ! 

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the best original sci-fi movies to come out in the last decade, in my opinion, was Snowpiercer (2013). The story originated as a 1982 French graphic novel under the name of Le Transperceneige. While I haven't read the original source material, I decided that a prequel graphic novel was probably pretty safe to read. I figured the events leading up to the world ending and a perpetual train being launched wouldn't spoil anything for me (I also haven't seen the TV show either).

While it's only a scant 90 pages, part 1 of this prequel trilogy, Extinction, had nothing I didn't already know in it. Most of the plotlines in this book were fairly generic end-of-the-world-type stories. Each one obviously would lead to the last of humanity boarding this infinitely running train, which was no surprise. It probably didn't help that there weren't that many distinct characters to latch onto in this book to make it more relatable. I understand that it's laying the groundwork for the next two books, but it almost felt that this part of the prequel series was unnecessary.

Perhaps I'm more inclined to cleaner art in graphic novels I like to read. This book had a rough, almost sketch-like style I found to be unpolished. Maybe that was the feeling the illustrator was going for, but some scenes were hard to parse visually because of how dark and thick the lines were. Granted, I still want to go back and read the original graphic novel to see if the style fits better for the actual post-apocalyptic story. However, for this "real world" setting, the art style feels too heavy even for a pre-apocalypse story.

A somewhat unnecessary story with a heavy visual style, I give Snowpiercer - The Prequel Part 1: Extinction 3.0 stars out of 5.
  

[Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

The world is on the brink of ecological collapse and people are increasingly angry. Ecoterrorists are threatening large polluters but one group is planning to hasten envrionmental catastrophe and the (almost) extinction of humankind. Meanwhile, billionaire industrialist Mr Zheng has built a massive train that will act as an ark to save Earth's plants and animals, along with humanity and its collective memory.

My interest in these graphic novels was piqued by the film, which I quite enjoyed. Thinking it might be interesting to read the graphic novels in chronological order, I decided to start with the first prequel. Perhaps that was a mistake.

Snowpiercer is an interesting idea, but feels a bit silly. How does Mr Zheng expect to save all animals and plants on a train, regardless of how big it is? Is this some sort of religious allegory, meant to remind me of Noah's Ark? And if the purpose of the train is to overcome the drawbacks of a shelter that cannot move, leaving one isolated, how does one account for the stationary nature of the tracks, which, I imagine, would be quite difficult to maintain in the midst of a nuclear emergency such as that which occurs towards the end of this narrative.

Again, perhaps there's an irony or Easter egg that I have missed because of the order I've chosen to read these, rather than going for the original sequence first. And perhaps there is some clever message about environmentalism and balancing the needs of humanity against the needs of the planet without becoming dogmatic or heartless. If so, I missed it. Unfortunately the whole experience was a little underwhelming.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.3.5 stars.

Finally somebody is going to tell us how we got to a frozen apocalypse in Snowpiercer. It is some time in the future and the earth suffers from massive overpopulation and continued pollution. Two environmental activist groups of varying levels of extremity are active, trying to get people to notice the destruction of earth. Scientists continue to predict that earth is on its last leg. And an eccentric billionaire, hailed as the Leonardo da Vinci of the times, has gotten his perpetual motion engine to work for a large train and he is now taking applications for entrance. But only those with useful skills will be chosen.

Still the Rochette style of art but in color. Still very French. This has clearly abandoned the original "causes" of the perpetual winter given to us in the original Snowpiercer (climate engineering accident) for a more political angle. This also attempts to unify the graphic novels with the 2013 film and with the currently running television show. But even though it is trying a little too hard and has abandoned some of the original ideas, it still manages to maintain (and maybe even improve on) the atmosphere and ideas of the original Snowpiercer. Certainly a vast improvement from volume 3 of Snowpiercer (Terminus) - Matz has done a better job at getting to the spirit of Lob's Snowpiercer than Legrand or Bocquet, even at the sacrifice of some of the ideas/plot points of the original.

[Owen Townend · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I haven't read the original graphic novel Snowpiercer, my appetite has been whetted by Boong Joon-ho's film adaptation. A prequel seemed like a sensible place to start.

Snowpiercer: Extinction is focused on how the world came to nuclear winter and the driving force behind the gargantuan train containing a microcosm of society. It is a damning indictment of not just human contribution to global warming but reactionary groups with extremists tendencies. A lot of blood is shed in the name of preserving Mother Earth even before disaster is looming.

Rochette's artwork is gorgeous and raw exactly when it needs to be. Matz's script is packed with frighteningly realistic political ideologies and ultimatums. They are a dream team, or perhaps more appropriately a nightmare alliance. This book contains a few moments that are not for the faint of heart. Nevertheless I found Snowpiercer: Extinction very on-point even as it unsettled me.

I recommend it to fans of the graphic novel and the film as well as those with serious concerns about environmentalist extremism.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw the movie years ago before I went on anxiety meds and could only barely tolerate how dark it was, but the story stuck with me. I thought about it recently and decided to check out the book from the library. My ultimate verdict was; it was okay.

I’m not against graphic novels at all but they’re not typically my preferred choice of reading material. I’m picky. I love detailed stories and I love beautiful artwork. This book had neither. The narrative was pretty brief and the artwork was rough, drab, and not particularly attractive in my opinion. However, I think the story could make an excellent thriller novel if someone ever wanted to flesh that out more.

Unsurprisingly, the story was very bleak and disturbingly relevant in a lot of the same ways as A Handmaid’s Tale. It’s one of the things that makes it so captivating. It’s very much a horror story that hits a little too close to home. I will be reading the others because it was a pretty short read and I am curious enough to want to see how the story progresses.

[LuinGor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Catastrophique.

Les auteurs ont tellement voulu être "dans l'air du temps" que ça crêve les yeux à chaque page.
Les deux factions "écolo terroristes" qui s'affrontent, les personnages tellement transparents qu'on voit à travers (les deux chefs des factions ne se ressemblent pas physiquement et malgré le fait qu'il n'y ait pas énormément de personnages dans le livre, impossible de me souvenir de qui est qui au beau milieu d'un dialogue), une touche d'humanité avec le destin d'un anonyme et de son fils (qui n'ont droit qu'à 5 ou 10 cases et pour leurs motivations ou leur psychologie : plus simpliste tu meurs)...

Impossible de s'intéresser le moins du monde au destin de ces personnages et la fin est tellement téléphonée...

[Tiffany Zhao · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of the Snowpiercer series and movie, but this was a huge disappointment. Don't bother wasting your time with this, adds nothing of value. It's less an origin story than something tagged on with a storyline I don't care about - mega billionaire Zheng? Who cares? Give me the origin story of Wilford! That train tour was shockingly drab, and the seduction ploy flimsy and demeaning to women. Seriously, women in that world seem only good for seducing men, and being naked sacrificial objects. The only redeeming points was the artwork of the train exteriors, that's all. I want my afternoon back

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A travers cette BD, on découvre les origines du Transperceneige. Alors que le monde est menacé par le réchauffement climatique, plusieurs groupes se forment : certains se préparent à la fin du monde, tandis que d'autres élaborent des plans pour éliminer ceux qui font du tort à la planète.
Ce premier tome nous permet de comprendre ce qui a causé l'extinction de l'humanité. Je n'ai pas été convaincue par l'histoire, notamment par les personnages extrémistes, mais la fin m'a donné envie de lire la suite.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full of a lot of fluff for a 100 page story. It feels like it was padded out to get two volumes of content out of this. Adding in unnecessary historical things like the Krakoa volcanic eruption added nothing to the story except filling out that page count. Surely the story could have been made long enough just with these ecoterrorists and the lead up to the coming disaster. A better explanation for how this train stays operable and free of snow would be great too. Both my parents worked as engineers on the railroad and snow is an issue, especially when it's dozens of feet deep.