Glacial Period (Louvre) [Paperback]

Nicolas De Crecy (Author)

Book Description

Series: Louvre | Publication Date: February 1, 2007

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The first in a series of graphic novels created in collaboration with the Louvre, this is a charming novella that celebrates the collections within the famed Paris museum and allows a nice showcase for De Crecy's detailed, engaging drawing. The story opens with a team of archeologists exploring the earth thousands of years from now, after a long glacial period. Cut off from their history, the ragtag bunch wonder aloud about what the planet might have been like. Serendipitously, they stumble upon the edifice of the Louvre and begin to explore inside. As they stroll through art history, they speculate on what kind of civilization could have produced such images and objects. De Crecy makes this both informative and humorous, as he affectionately riffs on art and life. And then the works themselves begin to speak to each other, telling us and them about life as it passed through the Louvre. It's all quite charming. De Crecy is a gifted storyteller whose eye for body language and ear for a funny line never fails him. He deftly combines art history, science fiction and simple philosophizing in a short but very sweet tale. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Nicolas De Crécy is a comic artist whose work includes Bug Jargal, Foligatto, León la Came, and Salvatore 1: Transports of Love, as well as several other international works. He also contributed to the feature film La Vieille Dame et les Pigeons.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: NBM Publishing; Original edition (February 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561634832
• ISBN-13: 978-1561634835
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #479,170 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Starts off promisingly but turns into nonsense, November 20, 2007

By 

eldil (Albuquerque NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Glacial Period (Louvre) (Paperback)

De Crecy's art is great, the dialog and the premise are good - 1,000 years from now the earth is in a high ice age, and a band of explorers is on an expedition to find out what they can about their ancestors. The hero is a sentient, genetically-engineered dog, and there are species-relations tensions, a great setup. But when they discover the Louvre, the story falls apart - the art comes alive and the story becomes weightless fantasy. Probably the short length and having to advertise the Louvre killed this.

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, quirky graphic novel, January 24, 2009

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Glacial Period (Louvre) (Paperback)

The Louvre Museum has collaborated with NBM in producing this, the first in a series of four graphic novels that feature the museum's collection. This story takes place in some distant future, where an ice-covered Europe is remembered only vaguely, as a legend. An exploration team, including glasses-wearing, genetically engineered, talking dogs, explores the frozen wasteland that once was Paris, and rediscovers the Louvre.

The fantasy elements begin once the explorers enter the building. The artwork comes to life for Hulk, one of the dogs. The story takes on a parable quality, too, with ambiguous commentary on how art is perceived, chosen, and possibly made. The fantasy elements build until the end, a purely fantastical construct that could in fact be a beginning to a whole new story - one I think I'd enjoy.

Something like a hundred of the Louvre's artworks appear here, at least in sketchy form, with a helpful index at the end that identifies them. This crossover between the worlds of the finest art and the often under-rated graphic novel intrigues me. That might be partly because I just saw the Inkheart movie, with its crossover from the world of the written word onto the big screen. Future books in this series will each present a different vision of the Louvre by a different comic artist. I can't wait to see those views, too.

-- wiredweird

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wasted Potential, March 19, 2008

By 

D. Thomas (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Glacial Period (Louvre) (Paperback)

Glacial Period is a graphic novel about archaeologists of a future ice age Earth rediscovering the Louvre and its treasures. Science fiction and fantasy are blended to tell the story of what happens when the museum's inhabitants are trapped for centuries under the ice.

Beyond the adventuring scientists interpretations of who created the pieces of art they've found, the plot is very minimal, matching the artistic style is well.