Snowpiercer Vol. 1: The Escape

After 30 years, the wait is finally over, the French sci-fi graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette has now been translated into English. Inspired by reading the graphic novel, Korean director Bong Joon-Ho turned it into the film Snowpiercer which stars Chris Evans, Jamie Bell and Ed Harris. Snowpiercer Vol. 1 – The Escape takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth where the entire planet has been covered in ice and the only human survivors are left are on a train that runs forever.

Instead of stopping global warming, an experiment goes awfully wrong and turned the Earth into an icy cold planet. The only protection is a massive train with 1,001 carriages named the Snowpiercer. The train is powered by a perpetual-motion engine and keeps the last human survivors alive. Over the years, a hierarchy developed where the elite rich stayed in front of the train, the middle-class in the middle, and the poor in the back of the train. As time past, the poor in the back are left to fend for themselves and ghetto-like living conditions develop. The poor revolt and try to gain control from the elite; all the while a refugee named Proloff is determined to fight his way to the front.

I’m used to having color in my comics, but the black & white drawings by Jean-Marc Rochette perfectly fits this sci-fi epic. As I read and flip through each page, I found myself rooting for Proloff and Adeline to reach the top of the train and crush the “elite.” While reading, I noticed so many questions came up, such as, like how did scientists throw Earth into another Ice Age? Who built this massive train? Is the train crossing around the world, and if so, who built all these tracks? There’s just so many freaking questions! Well, I guess I’ll have to wait for the second volume – Snowpiercer Vol. 2: The Explorers. Snowpiercer Vol. 1: The Escape – it’s absolutely one of the most interesting reads in the past year!