Glacial Period

by Nicolas de Crécy

For the first time in the US, ComicsLit brings over the latest enfant terrible of European comics, a mad genius, and for the first time, the Louvre museum is involved in a co-edition of a series of graphic novels. There will be four and each will be a vision of this great museum by a different artist. De Crécy, at the sight of the incredible richness of the museum’s collection was overwhelmed and felt small and ignorant. The result is a story set thousands of years hence in a glacial period where all human history has been forgotten and a small group of archeologists fall upon the Louvre, buried in age-old snow. They cannot begin to explain all the artifacts they see. What could they have meant? Their interpretations are nonsense, absurd, farcical.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Art, Fiction, Science Fiction, Bande Dessinée, Fantasy

80 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Nicolas de Crécy est né en 1966 à Lyon. Après un bac Arts Appliqués à Marseille en 1984, il suit pendant trois ans les Beaux-Arts d'Angoulême en section bande dessinée. Effectuant divers travaux dans le dessin animé tels que décorateur chez Disney en 1990, il publie en octobre 1991 Foligatto sur un scénario de Alexio Tjoyas aux Humanoïdes Associés. Cet album recevra le Prix du meilleur dessinateur au festival d'Athis-Mons, le Prix des libraires à Genève et le Prix du Lion (Centre Belge de la bande dessinée). Paraît ensuite, en collaboration avec Sylvain Chomet, Léon la came en 1995, unanimement salué par la critique, qui recevra le Grand Prix de la ville de Sierre cette même année, suivi de Laid, pauvre et malade en 1997, couronné lui aussi par l'Alph'Art du meilleur album à Angoulême en 1998. Le dernier volet de cette trilogie, Priez pour nous, est paru au printemps 98, toujours chez Casterman.

Reviews

[Jan Philipzig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intriguing, gorgeous, half-baked, pretentious. Style over content - the curse of European comics...

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, it fails to deliver on its fascinating premise. It would be interesting to see what future archaeologists would make of us from our museums, but that isn't really what we get here. Only a few pages even attempt to address that, and I'm not sure that any of the conclusions drawn on the page would be reasonably drawn in real life. Why would an archaeologist assume that an art gallery means a civilization hasn't mastered writing yet, particularly when some of the art works are labeled? Most of the dialog is oddly stilted, which might be translation. I was really looking forward to this, but nothing really worked.

[Tina Haigler · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

Story: 3 stars
Art: 4 stars

This one was kind of all over the place. Part sci-fi, part fantasy, it flipped back and forth between the two too often. I think this story would've been better sticking with one or the other, preferably sci-fi. The sci-fi parts were enjoyable and saved it. The fantasy parts were just odd. Also there were a few major plot holes and inconsistencies. It jumped around a little too much and became disjointed and feeling incomplete. Not a bad read but not a great one either. I see potential but unfortunately this volume was lacking.

[Ksenia (vaenn) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Здавалося б, графічний роман на вісімдесят сторінок, але в них влізли:

* постапокаліптика - людство живе у засніженому світі, що його лишилося по собі глобальне потепління;

* сурвайвал горор а-ля "Терор" - дослідники сунуть невідомо куди крізь буревії, а під отим заметом чатує Щось;

* університетський роман в польових умовах, бо дослідники - це історики-антропологи-археологи, які мріють розкопати в снігу залишки попередньої цивілізації;

* міжвидовий біопанк - супутники отих дослідників - генномодифіковані свинособаки (гусари, мовчати!), заточені на комунікацію з людьми та на винюхування "історії";

* трішечки виробничої драми (хто що опублікує і вперед кого), об'єднаної з любовним романом (трикутник додається);

* казка-феєрія про те, що роблять експонати в музеї, коли люди на них не дивляться - звісно, оживають!

* гімн любові до мистецтва, що переживе нас всіх, і так нам і треба!

Ідея, концепція, жанрова мішанка, атмосфера загубленого в льодах Парижа і покинутого людьми Лувру - все супер. З героями гірше. Ті, що люди, не чіпляють взагалі. Хоча, ні, трішечки чіпляють - сторінки, присвячені спробам проінтерпретувати залишки невідомої культури - прекрасні, як полудневе сонце липневої днини. І такі ж злі. А от закоханий у господиню свинопес Галк і його випадкові друзі - оце вже любов, вони прикольні.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has an odd and amusing premise with really lovely artwork. Most people, based on the low overall rating, appear to not like it much, though I haven't read any reviews yet to see why. Maybe because it is that odd premise, which is that global warming has pretty much destroyed the planet and we see archaeologists a century in the future apparently exploring in the arctic, or on another planet, but no, it is here and they are looking for ancient buildings, such as The Louvre, which they in fact find, half buried under snow. We have to be presume that these archaeologists haven't seen art at all, as they try to interpret the world as depicted by great artists, such as Delacroix… all the nudes, what can it all mean? What does this say about life as it was lived then? Then we have to accept that in the future dogs talk and are both intelligent and for some reason petulant about everything. Bizarre world this guy builds, for sure, and so improbable I can see why people might not like it, but I was intrigued.

Sort of like a Martian view of anything first encountered, or chidden seeing canonical art for the first time. Somewhat amusing, and a kind of irreverent look at Great Art. I can't imagine reading four volumes based on his exploration of The Louvre alone, though, which is (was?) his plan! I mean, some of it is funny, but it feels like the joke is already getting old.

But I did like it, it's so bizarre and almost surreal in places. For some reason for a good long time we have this serious archeological set up, they are all freezing to death ala any old classic arctic exploration,especially since they also seem to be inexplicitly underdressed for the expedition, with little or no food, and a love triangle emerges… all red herrings in the mystery… and wtf, he throws in these fat talking dogs for some weird reason. But finally it all made me smile. Who knows, I might read another volume!

[Dov Zeller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is hulk a pig or a dog?

Duh, he's an archeologist.

But still, come on, just answer the question. Is he a pig or a dog?

A dog?

I spent the first ten or so pages of a book really stressed out about that particular question (the Pig vs Dog question.) It turns out Hulk really is a dog, but a few pages after I felt confident about that fact, I discover that he is a pig too! Genetically modified pig-dog who uses his sniffer to carbon date all forms of artifact. He also speaks fluently and becomes a messianic figure of sorts after finding his way to the Louvre.

The humans in this story are less charming than Hulk for the most part, though I suppose Juliette is okay.

I loved a lot of things about this book. Mainly, the futuristic post-apocalyptic explorers trying awkwardly to form theories about all sorts of art forms, from graffiti to classical nudes, and hoping to immortalize themselves through their theories and discoveries. In other words, this is a social and cultural satire, but one with a great appreciation for art in it's "lower" and "higher", past, present and future forms.

According to a goodreads reviewer, this book was commissioned by the Louve "as part of an initiative to get new comic artists to interpret their collection." Nicolas de Crecy clearly has a lot of fun building a relationship between a post apocalyptic future and ancient, classical and contemporary art forms.

My only complaint is just that the ending just got a little too fantastical for me. I liked it okay, but I also just didn't buy it within the context of the story.

[Nate D · Rating 3 out of 5]

An obese dog archeologist and various humans seek the ruins of the Louvre beneath the post-climate-collapse ice. Weirdly, it was commissioned by the Louvre itself, as part of an initiative to get new comics artists to interpret their collection, so it's full of classic paintings being entirely misinterpreted by a future attempting to learn everything about our civilization from a purely classical, painted record. Nicolas de Crecy is one of the better people who I've found purely via random issues of Heavy Metal (with Fogliatto, since republished as a single book, though not apparently to the knowledge of GR) and this displays his typically gorgeous watercolor art, with the added advantage of its being his own weird writing as well.

[Metin Yılmaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Masalsı bir gelecek senaryosu Buzul Çağı. Çok uzun zaman sonra kayıp bir kıta olmuş olan avrupaya giden kaşiflerin macerası.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the ones who come after us find our art, our writings, our sculpture, what will they think of us? What values will they believe we possess, and what will our passions be defined as. More important, will our art seem to have some kind of a soul, or will it be boiled down simply to a collection of sentiments and impressions. Glacial Period asks this question in a unique and positively eccentric way.

This can be a pretentious book I suppose, but Nicolas de Crecy tells the story of a group of explorers who are exploring the Icy Continent, which is Europe following some manner of cataclysm. A dog creature named Hulk, and a group of historians discover the ruins of The Louvre and after that the story is just an exploration of what these people think of the human beings who made such a building, while the art comes to life, desperate to escape before utter oblivion.

Crecy has made a fascinating graphic novel, one that is relevant as the climate of our planet changes and we consider what the future of our species is going to be. And while there is some morbidity to the final conclusion, CRecy still manages to get the reader to consider whether or not art is charged with real life, or whether we simply create to preserve some moment or impression, hoping that the energy and spirit of that moment will live on past us.

[Germán González · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un grupo de investigadores en una expedición en una Europa postapocalíptica cubierta de hielo. Una historia breve que mezcla ciencia ficción, arte y humor.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm kind of torn by this book, on one hand the premise sounded great but it didn't really meet it and the language is a little funny/stilted/just doesn't feel right while on the other hand I did still find it interesting and the art work is amazing. There was also significant bits of this that didn't get explained including the pig dogs/dog pigs and the talking statues and other art in the museum (this confused me so much I read the book twice to try and find out what was going on!). I don't know if some of these things just got lost in translation or not but it was kind of off putting. There were also a few odd explanations for some of the pieces in the museum with the archaeologists stating somewhat illogical theories about the museum and its purpose and the state of the civilisations that created them. On a positive note though when one of the pig dogs does touch upon the more philosophical and moral questions it does get interesting and it does make you think a bit about where we as individuals and society are going. And the art work is incredible and so detailed it practically jumps off the page.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historia bonita, graciosa, ingeniosa, analítica, delirante, bien dibujada, bien desarrollada, bien cerrada. Pero, con nosequés que hicieron que me quedara con ganas de más. No de más páginas, o de una segunda parte (aunque seguramente tampoco le haría asco si apareciese), sino con ganas de que me transmitiera algo más. Quizás tiene que ver con mi ignorancia artística y mi poco conocimiento sobre las obras de arte referenciadas, que son muchas. Quizás sólo con que lo leí medio a las apuradas y sin dejarme llevar por la belleza de los dibujos y su interacción con los injertos del pasado. O quizás en una relectura me termine decidiendo a subirle una estrellita y todo.

[Emre Yavuz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fikir çok güzel, çizimler şahane ama öykü anlatımı zayıf. Yani aslında tipik bir Fransız çizgi romanı.

[Maryam · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second part of this reading took a severe turn for the worst, which is so sad because the premise is so interesting! Imagine an Anthropocene future affronted by extreme climate change, where implications of a maunder minimum/maximum has changed the landscape into an Ice Age world. In this future, an Archeological team decides to excavate Europe's historical, artistic and cultural past while philosophizing and hypothesizing claims about our own time period and those before it-most of which are outlandishly funny and razing to contemporaneous audiences.

It almost reminds me of the BBC's rendition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. What's not to love about this idea?

Unfortunately, the comic doesn't take it far enough and the sudden fantasy element at the end makes this read completely jarring and uninteresting. I now want someone to write a book with a similar premise as this one but with more intrigue and fleshed-out characters.

Nevertheless, the impressionistic pencil art is absolutely beautiful in this piece!

[Papatya ŞENOL · Rating 3 out of 5]

ödüllü çizer nicolas de crecy'nin louvre müzesi ortaklığıyla yayınladığı bu çizgiroman binlerce yıl süren buzul çağı sonrası bir grubun insanlık tarihini araştırırken louvre müzesi'ni bulmasıyla şekilleniyor. louvre'daki eserler üzerinden insanlık üzerine çıkarımlar çok şaşırtıcı ve komik; ama biraz daha uzun tutulsaydı konu daha derinlemesine işlenebilirdi.

çizgiromanda sözü ve görüntüsü geçen eserler kitabın sonunda index olarak verilmiş; bence çok doğru bir hareket. grup üyelerine biraz daha karakter eklenmiş olsa, pat diye bitmese ya da devamının geleceğine dair bir ibare olsa daha iyi olurdu.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thousands of years after a glacial period, archeologists find the Louvre and some are not impressed.

The good: I enjoyed the parts where the guy tried to weave a history of the pre-glacial days based on the art they saw.

The bad: I feel like I was missing a lot, possibly due to the translation or the different viewpoint of French writing.

I wish the author/artist had focused more on a plot and less on how weird he could go.

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Çok daha iyi olabilecek bir konuyu sadece küçük bir kesit şeklinde ele almak, fikrin güzelliğine haksızlık olmuş. Kafada birsürü cevapsız soru bırakıyor, neyin ne olduğunu anlamaya çalışırken hikaye bitiveriyor. Keşke konuyu başıyla sonuyla ele alan daha uzun muhtemelen de distopik bir öykü olsaydı. İşte o zaman tadından yenmezdi.

[Münevver]

Sanatseverlerin ve sanat konusunda bilgili olanların seveceği bir çizgi roman olacaktır. Benim bu konuda bilgim çok az olduğu ve bence çizgi romandan keyif almak için detayları isimlendirebiliyor olmak gerektiği için sevemedim. Doğruyu söylemek gerekirse biraz da ortaya dökülmüş bir çizgi romandı sanki.

[Edwin Piston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entretenida la idea de los exploradores al encontrar los vestigios de un museo moderno.

[Neşet · Rating 3 out of 5]

kısa bir çizgi roman ama konuya giriş 30. sayfada başlıyor. 2,5 yıldız.

[ComicNerdSam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very weird and fun take on The Louvre's place in our culture. Gets weirder and better the longer it goes on.

[Jonathan Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting - takes risks other graphic novels don't - namely showing an obliviousness of the future

Thousands of years after our civilization falls under ice, a few explorers find the Louvre. They have no record of this.

The comments of some of the explorers leave you shaken - they look upon us as we look upon people 6,000 years ago.

But overall - it's great. It's not a lot of fun, because the characters keep acting in ways you don't expect them to - but it's great.

[Güngezgini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tablolar eşliğinde anlatımı sanat galerisinde dolaşıyormuşçasına kısa bir an ilgi çekiyor ama hikaye oldukça sığ ve özet geçilmiş.

[Romain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je pense que ce Période Glaciaire a inauguré la collection le Louvre et la bande dessinée dont j’ai parlé dans le cadre d’un album réalisé par Etienne Davodeau, Le chien qui louche. C’est une BD que j’ai souvent croisée dans les rayonnages des bibliothèques, feuilletée et reposée certainement rebuté par les dessins. Il est vrai que ces dessins tremblotants aux couleurs pâles n’invitent pas forcément à se plonger dans le livre. Il faut du temps pour s’y habituer et entrer dans l’histoire qui se passe dans un lointain futur lors – devinez quoi – d’une période glaciaire. Ce n’est pas vraiment dans l’air du temps du réchauffement climatique, mais disons qu’après la submersion du continent on peut tout à fait imaginer qu’une période glaciaire ferait ressembler la France au Groenland. Voilà, le décor est posé et des explorateurs sont à la recherche de vestiges enfouis et devinez sur quoi ils vont tomber.

Nicolas De Crécy nous réserve bien des surprises, notamment dans son dessin qui va s’adapter pour représenter différentes oeuvres d’art d’une façon saisissante. Ces découvertes sont aussi l’occasion de questionner la place de l’art dans la société, ce qui permet souvent de nourrir une réflexion intéressante et donne au lecteur une nouvelle occasion de plonger dans les trésors que nous ont légué des générations d’artistes.

Ce ne sont pas des enfants qui dessinaient ces choses-là. Les enfants sont préservés par leur innocence. Et à part les enfants quelles âmes sont assez naïves pour s’exprimer par le dessin, à votre avis ?

Également publié sur mon blog.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite funny, the bit where the archaeologists try to make out what kind of society would be so obsessed with images like this. They can't make it out. It IS kind of strange, when you look at it from the outside.

[Matt Graupman · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s always a bummer when you want to really like a comic and it fails to live up to your expectations. I wanted to like Nicolas de Crecy’s “Glacial Period” but I can’t honestly say I did. Though it was beautifully drawn, the substance of the book squandered all of its amazing style; there were just too many undercooked plot threads, too many underdeveloped characters, and too many undefined philosophical musings. What a shame.

“Glacial Period” follows the progress of an archeological expedition as it explores the endless barren tundra that Earth has become, enveloped by a prolonged Ice Age due to some (probably man-made) ecological disaster. Things have been frozen for so long, animals have been genetically modified to withstand the cold and humans have completely forgotten their history. So, the team is filled with wonder and bewilderment when they uncover the remains of the world famous French art museum, the Louvre, and the still intact artworks within. What should be a meditation on the role of art in humankind’s legacy and how its shapes future generations instead devolves into a silly guessing game over who created these works and why. It would maybe be different if the theories were fun but the whole book comes off as pretentious and tedious; not only that but “Glacial Period” takes its sweet time to even discover the museum, detouring into weird asides about bestiality and power struggles amongst the archeologists. The Gipi-esque watercolors were really lovely, though.

I don’t know how you can make a caper through the corridors of the Louvre seem like a slog but de Crecy succeeded. My suggestion? Just look at the art itself. You don’t need some nonsensical, surreal dystopian framework to appreciate their timeless beauty.

[Michael Ronn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. The premise was really unusual and intriguing. Global warming destroys most of humanity and our culture is forgotten, covered by glaciers. A group of archaeologists stumble upon the Louvre, covered with ice, and since all human culture was lost, they try to figure out what our lives were like by looking at and interpreting the paintings. Wow!

The problem was th execution. The dialogue was stilted and uncomfortable, and there was a lot of unexplained things (pig-dogs? talking sculptures? huh?). I loved the novel up until the middle, when it turned into Night at the Museum: Louvre edition. I appreciated its cultural message and what it had to say (that our art speaks for us, but it will never truly preserve what it means to be human, and our most valuable cultural treasures are ourselves), but I didn't care for the way the story unfolded.

The art, though, was breathtaking, and the pencil work on the skies---just gorgeous. Some of the most beautiful sky work I've ever seen in a graphic novel. You really feel the isolation and the sense of wonder. I also liked some of the art techniques and how the artist overlaid real art with his own style. It was very surreal and fun to look at.

It was just a bit nonsensical for me though, and many of the art references flew over my head. This one is worth reading, but do it in an afternoon. I wouldn't spend more than that on it.

[Corinne Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had such high hopes for this graphic novel. The premise was fascinating to me: the time is earth in the distant future and humans have survived another ice age. A group of explorers come upon the Louvre, buried in snow. These archeologists use the Louvre itself and the artifacts (paintings, statues etc) they find there to try to make sense of us as a civilization. And, to be honest, the parts of the book where the archeologists were making assumptions about what we're like as a people based on our art WAS very interesting to me. Based on the number of unclothed bodies alone in the Louvre, you could get some crazy ideas about us. The concept of future generations needing to somehow "figure us out" is a interesting one - especially since so much of what we do and believe is now in these little electrical machines.

Beyond that very thought-provoking premise, the book fell a bit flat for me. The dialogue felt trite and the interactions between characters felt forced and fake. The reproductions of real artwork throughout the book gave some depth to the plot (plus, I just like looking at art). In the end, though, I read it for the premise, which despite the parts that disappointed me, still gave me a lot to think about. If you are an art lover, especially, you may want to check this one out.

[Justyn Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the novel Glacial Period by Nicolas De Crecy a pig named Mr. Hulk traveled through the snow and fell through it. The setting of the story fits the story by showing explorers who were once there. The characters are believable because the period of time did take place back then. The way are important characters spoke and dress was different from the way we speak. The character stayed the same as well as made decisions that helped them grow. People had to learn how to survive on a galcer which helped them grow together. It was a way of learning about art history and the glacial period. By making the statues tal. The artwork and statues are important symbols. I would not recommend this comic to other people because it really does not talk about the glacial period and it is not appropriate for this type of novel.     

[Koen Claeys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Na het magistrale Prosopopus (http://www.stripspeciaalzaak.be/PHP/b...) waren mijn verwachtingen misschien wat te hooggespannen. Het is verre van een slecht album, het bevat een sterk concept en nogal wat goede vondsten. Op het moment dat men het Louvre betreedt en de strip meer leest als een geschiedkundige koortsdroom werd het voor mij persoonlijk wat minder. Het blijft echter fascinerend. Ik vind het moedig van Crécy dat hij zijn experimenteerdrang nimmer inperkt en de lezer achter laat met denkvoer, zowel over de inhoud van de strip als de grenzen van deze kunstvorm.