Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Snow Day
WORK NOTES: illus by Antoine Aubin
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 7/16/1970
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.humanoids.com/profil/Pierre%2BWazem * https://www.lambiek.net/artists/w/wazem.htm
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born July 16, 1970 in Switzerland.
EDUCATION:Geneva School of Decorative Arts, 1988.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Comic author and graphic novelist. Emploi & Formation, illustrator. Campus, illustrator.
AWARDS:Rodolphe Töppfer-prize, best young author from the city of Geneva. International Prize of the City of Geneva and Best European book of the Year at the Festival of Comics in Rome, “Scorpions of the Desert.”
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Pierre Wazem is a comic author, graphic novelist, and illustrator from Geneva, Switzerland. He illustrates for Emploi & Formation, a supplement of newspaper Le Temps, as well as for Campus, a magazine from the University of Geneva.
Wazem studied illustration at the Geneva School of Decorative Arts. He graduated in 1988. Following graduation, Wazem worked for a Swiss magazine. This experience led him to begin writing graphic novels. After publishing three graphic novels, Wazem was awarded the Rodolphe Töppfer-prize for best young author from the city of Geneva. He has also received the International Prize of the City of Geneva and Best European book of the Year at the Festival of Comics in Rome for his book Scorpions of the Desert, an adaptation of Hugo Pratt’s work of the same name.
Koma
In Koma, Wazem creates an alternatively imagined world in which individuals’ entire purposes and identities are defined by their designated jobs. For young Adidas and her father, this means a life dedicated to the work of chimney sweeps. Their relationship is strained, as Adidas’ father is constantly ashamed that his daughter must work this dangerous job, the same that took her mother’s life.
Adidas suffers from an unknown illness that causes her to periodically lose consciousness. One day, as Adidas is cleaning the hard to reach spots in the small side-flues, she passes out and slips down the chute. She falls down below the level of the city, emerging in a dark underworld occupied by massive machines that are manned by large, monstrous beings.
Adidas learns that each machine corresponds to a person living aboveground in the real world, and if anything goes off balance or a machine is neglected by one of the shadowy creatures, the person associated with the machine will die. The creatures, though frightening and burly in appearance, care deeply about their intensely strenuous jobs, and work tirelessly to ensure the continued existence of the people above. The accompanying illustrations by Frederik Peeters depict Adidas as young, naive, and childlike, with a large head and round eyes and a petite body. Contrastingly, the monsters are huge and bulky, their bodies ideal for hard, endless labor.
Below ground, Adidas befriends one of these monsters, who has recently been expelled from his job for breaking a machine he was meant to be working. The two begin a journey together, exploring the depths of the underworld and making their way above ground, to discover the secrets of their tightly controlled world. Zainab Akhtar in Forbidden Planet described the book as, “bold and skewy, imaginative and fresh, bursting with ideas, humour, charm, weirdness and above all just so much heart.”
Snow Day
Snow Day takes place in a small, isolated town in the middle of a snowy winter. The protagonist, Spencer, is the newest town sheriff, and hopes to eradicate the corruption that quietly influences the town. The story opens with Ross, the owner of the refinery, arriving at the police station to demand that Spencer release three of his employees from jail. When Spencer refuses, Ross punches him in the face, forcing him to let the men free.
The citizens of the town prefer to keep to themselves and keep outsiders out, so Spencer is met with resistance as he tries to right the wrongs that have hurt the town. While he attempts to serve justice in the town, he is also trying to fight for himself and for respect from the bullies that seem to run the town. Throughout his struggles, Spencer proves to be calm and levelheaded, a contrast to the quick-tempered Ross and his cronies. Dustin Cabeal on the Comic Bastards website wrote: “It wasn’t the most original story, but it’s so well-crafted that it shines above that.”
The Retreat
The Retreat tells the story of Igor and Serge, two acquaintances who have recently lost their friend, Matt. The two set out to retreat into the countryside to grieve, process, and heal. In the story, we learn about the differing personalities of Igor, Serge, and Matt, and how the dynamics of the trio would play out when they would take trips into the mountains together. We learn that Igor is analytical and pragmatic, Serge straightedge and careful, and Matt artistic and whimsical. Both Igor and Serge had intimate friendships with Matt, but the two were never particularly close as a duo.
Throughout the story, what is left unsaid between the two characters is just as important as what is said. Suspicions about the circumstances of Matt’s death subtly enter into the dialogue, though there is no way for the friends to truly know what happened. David Brooke on the Adventures in Poor Taste website wrote: “This book captures the delicate emotions one has as they remember a departed friend, but also the anger and frustrations that come with it as well.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, January 9, 2017, review of Snow Day, p. 50.
ONLINE
Adventures in Poor Taste, http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com (February 13, 2017), David Brooke, review of Snow Day; (September 6, 2017), David Brooke, review of The Retreat.
Comic Bastards, https://comicbastards.com (February 1, 2017), Dustin Cabeal, review of Snow Day.
Doom Rocket, http://doomrocket.com (September 12, 2017 ), Jarrod Jones, review of The Retreat.
Forbidden Planet, http://forbiddenplanet.blog (September 20, 2012), Zainab Akhtar, review of Koma; (January 12, 2015), Richard Bruton, review of Koma.
Graphic Policy, https://graphicpolicy.com (January 12, 2017), review of Snow Day.
Grovel, http://www.grovel.org.uk (March 30, 2017), Andy Shaw, review of Snow Day.
Publishers Weekly Online, https://www.publishersweekly.com (September 25, 2017), review of The Retreat.
Stumptown Trade Review, http://stumptowntradereview.com (May 10, 2013), Brian Gardes, review of Koma.
Turnaround, https://theturnaroundblog.com (September 27, 2017), review of Koma.
Pierre Wazem
Pierre Wasem
(b. 16 July 1970, Switzerland)
Comme une Rivière
Pierre Wazem is a comic author from Geneva, Switzerland. He took courses from the Geneva School of Decorative Arts and is an illustrator for Emploi & Formation, the supplement of newspaper Le Temps, as well as Campus, a magazine from the University of Geneva. He made his comics debut with the oblong comic book 'Livre vert Vietnam', published by Papiers Gras in 1997.
Bretagne
He then began an assocation with Les Humanoïdes Associés, who published his subsequent books 'Le Chant des Pavots' (1998), 'Bretagne' (1999) and 'Comme une Rivière' (2000). Wazem has written scripts for Tom Tirabosco ('Week-end avec Préméditation' in 2000, 'Monroe' in 2005, 'La Fin du Monde' in 2008, 'Sous-Sols' in 2010), Frederik Peeters (the 'Koma' series from 2003) and Antoine Aubin ('Sur la Neige' in 2004).
Presque Sarajevo
With Éditions Atrabile, Wazem made 'Promenades' in 2001 and 'Presque Sarajevo' in 2002. In 2005 he made book 5 of 'Les Scorpions du Désert', based on the work of Hugo Pratt, for Casterman. His humorous oneshot 'Le Pingouin Volant' was published by La Joie de Lire in 2007.
Wazem had only produced three albums when he was awarded the Rodolphe Töppfer-prize for best young author from the city of Geneva. His work is influenced by artists like Hugo Pratt, Lewis Trondheim, Micheluzzi and Muñoz. Wazem's black-and-white comics play with lighting, obscurity and flashbacks.
Les Scorpions du Désert
Artwork © 2017 Pierre Wazem
Website © 1994-2017 Lambiek
Last updated: 2012-10-29
Pierre Wazem entered the School of Decorative Arts of Geneva in 1988, following traditional schooling into college. In 1992 he began working with other Swiss creators on a magazine. This eventually led him to writing graphic novels. He has written numerous graphic novels for Humanoids including: "Bretagne," "Comme Une Riviere," and "Sur La Neige."
Pierre Wazem is a prolific and critically acclaimed writer. He is most well-known for "Koma" and his adaptation of Hugo Pratt’s “Scorpions of the Desert” for which he won the International Prize of the City of Geneva and Best European book of the Year at the Festival of Comics in Rome.
Snow Day
264.2 (Jan. 9, 2017): p50.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Snow Day
Pierre Wazem and Antoine Aubin. Humanoids, $14.95 trade paper (113p) ISBN 978-1-594657-96-2
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Spencer, the sheriff in a remote, snowbound American town, runs afoul of the local powers that be when he arrests three factory workers on charges of drunk-and-disorderly conduct. An outsider to the community, the quiet sheriff has to this point been largely ignored by the quirky townsfolk, treated by them as part of the scenery. But after receiving a minor beating from the aforementioned drunks and then being forced to let them go by the mayor, Spencer hops into his trusty snowplow and stands up for himself in a way that is the stuff of a decent country-and-western ballad. A thoughtful, largely wordless work in which not much happens, the strength of this piece lies in the stark, realistic depictions artist Aubin (Blake & Mortimer) gives of the narrative's utter mundanity. Everything about it looks and feels like something pulled breathing straight out of an everyday happenstance in some podunk town that would barely be noticed when driven through en route to somewhere else. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Snow Day." Publishers Weekly, 9 Jan. 2017, p. 50. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA477339309&it=r&asid=e4a4c3d5da0dbad7475094555c2fdb8d. Accessed 27 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A477339309
‘The Retreat’ meditates on loss and the regret that comes with it
September 12, 2017 · in HEY, KIDS! COMICS!
Required Reading is DoomRocket’s love chest, where each week one of our contributors goes crazy over a book they just can’t seem to get enough of. This week, Jarrod recommends ‘The Retreat’, available now from Humanoids.
Cover to ‘The Retreat’. Art by Tom Tirabosco/Humanoids
By Jarrod Jones. If you’ve ever lost someone you care about, you know all about that empty feeling that comes once it’s sunk in. They’re gone. It might be that part of you left with them. Where do you go to reconcile that kind of loss? Who do you turn to?
The Retreat doesn’t presume to answer either of those questions, and that’s for the best. It’s not a manual for coping. It’s a comic about persevering. A story about Igor and Serge, two friends who set out to the country for reflection after losing their best friend, Matt. It sounds glum, and when you gaze into Tom Tirabosco’s slate-gray skies and charcoal-filled shadows, it can certainly look it. With The Retreat, you can project any number of feelings onto the panels in front of you and most of them would fit perfectly. It’s familiar, because loss is familiar.
It’s when the story reveals itself to be a three-man show that the book sinks its hooks into you. Three friends. Igor, Serge, and Matt. Three big personalities, often colliding into one another. Especially in small cars, which carry them into the mountains at different points in time earlier in the book. You should know that The Retreat jumps around in its chronology, but it keeps a laser focus on its trio of characters. Trust Pierre Wazem, a comics scribe in every sense of the term. And don’t worry about getting lost in a temporal haze; Tirabosco has your back.
The craft on display here demands that you settle in for the duration. The details are all there, which makes scrutinizing them after your first read a rewarding experience. But those details never distract you. Wazem and Tirabosco’s sleight of hand doesn’t come from what they show. It’s from what is said from their characters, and a lot of the time, what isn’t said.
There’s Igor. He looks at the waterfalls and the pine trees and comments on how dreary the country can be. He’s a cerebral kind of guy. Serge, on the other hand, is strictly blue-collar. He isn’t an artist like Matt was. He doesn’t have an analytical mind like Igor. Serge works all the time because that’s what he knows: He needs to take care of his wife and keep his little carved-out part of the world in order. Vacations in the mountains, Igor says earlier on, are an extravagance. It’s likely one of the few things Serge would agree with him on.
Pierre Wazem imbues his three characters with polarized personalities. A grunt like Serge and a brain like Igor could only ever be friends through an intermediary. That was Matt, big-hearted, patient, and kind. Serge was great friends with Matt. Igor was great friends with Matt. Igor and Serge were never really close, and now that Matt’s gone, all Serge and Igor have are each other.
Interior page from ‘The Retreat’. Art by Tom Tirabosco/Humanoids
The Retreat can be ominous, too. Serge and Igor drive through a tourist-trap village and come upon a fleeting memory of happier times with Matt. It’s here where Wazem spaces out the panels with silence, meant to maximize the pangs of regret those memories provide. That the following page contains nothing but a black void, that regret is quickly followed by despair.
But that void, like so much in The Retreat, isn’t what it appears to be. It’s a portal, and on the other side is a glimpse at Igor and Serge’s spent yesterdays with their fallen comrade. It’s in these sequences where the humor of The Retreat presents itself. Randy jokes and pissing contests. All of this underscores how much life has passed between these guys. How often they’ve been there for each other, how often they’ve dismissed each other, and in one case, what each of them has taken from one another. Think The Big Chill, but on a micro level.
About halfway through we come to discover that there’s an aura of doubt surrounding Matt’s death. Those details begin to stack up, as the story jumps back and forth between past and present. Matt was trying to tell us something, Serge insists. Igor, with his clockwork mind, is convinced their friend’s death was an accident.
Before we know it, just as we’re getting to know Matt and how he related to Serge and Igor, the black page pops back in and Matt is gone. Here, Wazem lets Tirabosco go to work on his pages, which are filled with long shadows and longer faces. Wazem’s silence allows the reader to really consider the doubt in their hearts and what kind of hope they hang onto in spite of it. In moments like these The Retreat moves in for the kill.
There are five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance — and Serge rifles through most of them. Igor jumps straight to acceptance — Matt slipped, Matt fell, and Matt died. It’s the simplest explanation, the one that requires the least amount of introspection. Serge argues that the signs were all there — Matt wanted to die, but he wanted to say goodbye. What’s the truth? Does it even matter? The answer to that, like most everything else about The Retreat, depends on what you carry with you.
Humanoids/$14.95 – £12.99
Written by Pierre Wazem.
Art by Tom Tirabosco.
Translated by Mark Bence.
Art direction by Jerry Frissen.
‘The Retreat’ review: A meaningful journey through loss and memory
David BrookeSeptember 6, 2017Comic BooksReviews
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The Retreat
Pierre Wazem
Price: $14.95
After reading and enjoying Snow Day I was hooked on writer Pierre Wazem’s ability to capture heartfelt moments no matter how small and isolated they may be. His new graphic novel The Retreat is out this week from Humanoids, which captures the relationship of three friends pre and post a terrible accident.
So what’s it about?
The official summary reads:
Two friends take off for a weekend getaway to a remote mountain area to reminisce about their third friend, now gone. From mundane conversations to intimate confidences, the two remaining pals remember their departed companion, their unique friendship, and all those things that are often left unsaid, but that remain floating in the silence.
Why does this matter?
If you’ve ever lost someone, especially via suicide, you will relate to and understand the story here. This book captures the delicate emotions one has as they remember a departed friend, but also the anger and frustrations that come with it as well.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
A painful, but important journey awaits.
This book opens with two friends who embark on a trip to remember their friend in the wilderness. They hike their way to a cottage deep in the woods where they last saw him and, like memory, the story shifts between this and the literal last time they saw him on the mountain. The story cuts back and forth, which at first can be jarring, but this effectively captures the memories and seemingly trivial arguments these characters had not knowing it was the last time they’d see their friend.
Wazem writes these characters in a way that’s relatable if you’ve ever had a close, tight-knit circle of friends. They get angry, they argue, and yet they respect each other to the end. The writing makes them feel real and that helps add to the meaningfulness of the story. As the story progresses, Wazem has the reader question what actually happened, which adds a mystery element to the narrative. No matter what though the story never loses sight of the mix of emotions one has after losing a friend.
The art by Tom Tirabosco utilizes a chalk look (at least I think it’s chalk!) that adds a bit of melancholy to the story. The characters have a cartoonish look to them–an elongated nose, a pudgy build–that gives them a pleasing look albeit slightly unrealistic. That said, environments look gorgeous with forest and mountains all sprawling in a way that calms. There’s also an interesting use of white chalk for night time scenes and dark rooms that adds to the negative space.
Ghost towning it.
It can’t be perfect can it?
The Retreat
Price: $14.95
The nature of the characters and their somewhat abrasive demeanor to each other takes up a good amount of this short 112-page graphic novel, which further reduces the insightful impact of losing a friend. Because it’s so short it doesn’t say a lot about the subject of suicide and loss. Instead, gives the reader a snapshot of three friends who have lost someone and two brief times they were together before and after the incident. It’s an emotional journey, but a short one.
Is It Good?
The Retreat is a reminder of how comics and graphic novels can capture incredible emotion, heartbreak, and meaningfulness in impactful ways. This work has a strong message and utilizes shifts in time to capture the memory and nostalgia involved in losing someone you care about.
The Retreat
Pierre Wazem and Tom Tirabosco, trans. from the French by Mark Bence. umanoids, $14.95 trade paper (112p) ISBN 978-1-59465-615-6
The narrative economy of this graphic novel underscores how deeply the story meditates on things that go unsaid. Two 20-somethings, Serge and Igor, leave the city to spend time at a cottage in the mountains owned by the family of their dead friend, Matt. Soon, their attention shifts to their memories of the last time they were together at the cabin. Try as they might, Serge and Igor have a difficult time coming to terms with the fact that Matt is gone and struggle with understanding the circumstances surrounding his death. Wazam, a prolific comics writer (Koma, Snow Day), relies on frequent collaborator Tirabosco’s visual canvas to tell the story, his gently rounded characters showing how small human beings are in relation to their environment and revealing the complex ways in which characters communicate without words. The resulting story will move thoughtful readers, especially those who have experienced loss and struggled with accepting it. (Sept.)
DETAILS
Reviewed on: 09/25/2017
Release date: 09/01/2017
Snow Day Review
David BrookeFebruary 13, 2017Comic BooksIndie Comic CornerReviews
Given the snow being dumped on New England right now, this new graphic novel seems quite timely. Can I commiserate with those who are suffering under the chilly white stuff? More importantly, is it good?
Snow Day (Humanoids) Read Now
So what’s it about? The summary reads:
An outsider sheriff struggles to find his place in an isolated, snow-covered town populated by a hard people who are set in their ways and don’t take too kindly to strangers. It’s a place where folks mind their own business — however odd it may be — and do as they please. That is, until the calm, quiet sheriff decides to do his job…
Why does this book matter?
Sometimes when it’s cold outside, a wind is blustering, and a chill is in the air, a good comic is in order. This book is lighter on dialogue, but meaningful in its approach. A sheriff who isn’t the toughest, but knows what’s right must take on a few crooked folks in a small town. Rooting him on is a pleasure.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
I don’t think I could handle this guy like Spencer is here.
Writer Pierre Wazem writes this tale with an almost melodic sense of urgency. This allows artist Aubin to draw–clearly by hand–a quiet town that certainly shouldn’t have nonsense running about. Spencer is a local sheriff who looks a bit young, but certainly wants to do his job right. The story opens with a quiet look at the town which eventually takes the reader into a jail cell where three scruffy types sleep. Their boss Ross comes storming in demanding they be let loose. Soon the mayor is involved and Spencer gets pushed aside so these men can go free. As the story progresses Wazem shows us what happened to get these men arrested and all the while showing how Spencer is a calm and collected fellow.
This is a rather quick read, though it’s not less interesting because of it. Running 112 pages, Wazem has Spencer check in with locals, his old fling, the town nut, and an eccentric woman. While you read you wonder how you might interact with these folks and most assuredly you’d probably be far less calm than Spencer. By the story’s end a climactic interaction forces Spencer’s hand as the small town gets a lot more drama than it ever thought it would.
Aubin draws in a very calming sort of way, so much so that when Spencer must break up a barroom brawl the art becomes sketchy and messy. It’s a neat way to convey the chaos of the moment and yet Spencer remains calm even when the lines are flying. Cars, buildings, and environments are all rendered well too and you’ll never doubt this is a real place and it really happened.
It can’t be perfect can it?
As I said above the story is a tad slow. That said, it’s the kind of storytelling where a slow pace is intentional. It seems to flow just like Spencer’s calm personality.
That’s peculiar.
Is It Good?
Snow Day is the perfect read for a cold winter day. Its protagonist is calm, reserved, and determined in a way that’s interesting and compelling. You’ll read this wondering if real life is really like this in small towns.
Review: Snow Day
February 1, 2017
By Dustin Cabeal
Snow Day is one of those stories that you can love, but at the same time acknowledge its flaws. Its flaws don’t make it bad, but rather they just point out how familiar the story is.
We open in a small town, and we see how the day starts. It seems simple and calm, partially due to the fresh blanket of snow covering the town. A car speeds to a stop in front of the police station and out steps Ross, it’s unclear at this point in the story who he is, but I can tell you that he’s the owner of the refinery that acts as the only real source of employment for the town. Spencer, the town sheriff, has locked up three of Ross’ men. The Mayor shows up and punches Spencer in the face and frees the three men after Spencer’s refusal.
As the story goes one, we find out that Spencer has had enough of the corruption in town and that these three men are union busters. They pick fights with the workers to show a sign of force from the higher ups. There’s more, though. Spencer might be the “Davey” standing up to the “Goliath,” but he has motives of his own. What first seems like a cut and dry story becomes one about a man that’s been put down more than he’s been raised up.
The story is paced well. Granted it’s familiar, man on his last straw doing whatever he can to turn a town around and ignore the very law he’s promised to protect. It’s Spencer’s characterization that makes the story stand out from the rest. I say that while realizing that the characterization is what always makes these stories stand out, but if it works, it works. The pacing is also very sharp. The story isn’t told in chronological order per say. We find out more and more of Spencer’s motives through flashbacks, but the flashbacks are perfectly placed with the present storyline unfolding before our eyes.
The artwork looks very inspired by early European comics like Tin Tin. It’s in all black and white and while that seems like a cheat given how much snow is in the story, but artist Antoine Aubin understands the contrast needed between the black and white colors. What struck me while reading was how Aubin was able to convey the feeling of cold. He gives you genuine chills while reading.
Snow Day is a quick read, but one that is very enjoyable. It wasn’t the most original story, but it’s so well-crafted that it shines above that. If you’re looking for a beautiful story that’s well told, then look no further than Snow Day.
Score: 4/5
Snow Day
Writer: Pierre Wazem
Artist: Antoine Aubin
Translator: Mark Bence
Publisher: Humanoids
Euro Thursday Review: Snow Day
Posted on January 12, 2017 by Brett
An outsider sheriff struggles to find his place in an isolated, snow-covered town populated by a hard people who are set in their ways and don’t take too kindly to strangers. It’s a place where folks mind their own business — however odd it may be — and do as they please. That is, until the calm, quiet sheriff decides to do his job…
Written by Swedish writer Pierre Wazem, Snow Day is an interesting graphic novel that’s part character study and part crime story. With a similar idea to Walking Tall or every other cop who roots our corruption in a town tale, the story takes place over a day as a sheriff decides how he wants to handle some arrests and the individuals impeeding his decision.
But, what’s solid about Wazem’s story is the use and lack there-of of dialogue. There’s pages without dialogue as we get an idea of the small town and surrounding area. Set upon piles of snow, you can almost hear just the wind and the hum of a tractor on these pages and there’s strangely something peaceful about it all.
That tranquil, almost relaxing art is by Antoine Aubin whose style is a cross between TinTin and The New Yorker. It’s actually very cool and the detail is just enough to say what’s going on and it enhances the story. There’s a minimalist feel about it all with not too much detail, and just enough to convey what’s going on. The black and white art is a fantastic style you don’t see too often and there’s absolutely a euro influence about it all.
There is some interesting things in that this graphic novel that’s supposed to be occuring in the “heartland” of America, but there’s a slight disconnect that feels like it’s being written by someone who has never been in the heartland. Still, the story by itself is fantastic and is a bit more artsy and philosophical take of a classic story of a sheriff rooting out corruption.
Snow Day is out in February from Humanoids.
Story: Pierre Wazem Art: Antoine Aubin
Story: 8.45 Art: 8.45 Overall: 8.45 Recommendation: Buy
Humanoids provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Snow Day
Posted on March 30, 2017 by Andy Shaw
Billed as a comic version of Fargo, Snow Day certainly ticks a lot of similar boxes, from the small-town wintery setting, the law-enforcing main character and the focus on violent crime.
Spencer is a relatively new Sheriff, elevated to his position of responsibility in a small town’s one-man police department by a mayor who thinks he’ll be able to push Spencer around. However, physical abuse from the town’s roughest characters is the straw that breaks the Sheriff’s back, and the morning after, Spencer refuses to let them go to start their shift in the local factory. The factory manager isn’t happy, the mayor is called and a stand-off ensues as the Sheriff stands his ground.
The scene is set for a battle of wills and fists, as the little guy takes on the big bullies in a universal tale that has a microcosmic David and Goliath ring to it. Unlike Fargo, however, there aren’t really any twists. The story is elegantly told but it doesn’t have the gut-wrenching feeling of discomfort that the recent Fargo TV series have given us.
The illustration is black and white throughout, which works well with the snowy, frozen backdrop, though we had some minor niggles with it: at one point a shot is fired and it’s tricky to work out quite what went on; and the mayor and the factory manager look a bit too similar to tell apart at times, essentially requiring you to remember who’s got the longest nose.
It’s an interesting short read that you can clear in a relatively short time and might fill a gap for those looking for snowy, north American, crime dramas. However, while it’s interesting enough in its own right, it’s no Fargo.
Indie Comic Review: KOMA
Posted on May 10, 2013 by Brian Gardes
Koma by Pierre Wazem and Frederik Peeters – Humanoids Publishing – $29.95
Koma imagines an orderly world where everyone has a job. That job is their entire life. For Addidas (not the shoe) and her father, that job and life is being chimney sweeps. They spend their days cleaning chimneys and flues. Addidas crawls into the smaller side-flues that the father cannot reach. It is during one of these cleanings that Addidas slips down a chute and emerges in a shadowy underworld. It is there that she discovers the truth about not only her existence, but the secrets to life itself.
This shadowy underworld is the domain of dark creatures which work tirelessly day and night on massive machines. Each machine corresponds to a single person. The creatures keep the machines, and the people, in balance. But when the balance is disrupted, the machine stops working and the person dies. At once frightening and nurturing, these creatures are the keepers of human life.
The story moves briskly, with pages turning rapidly. Writer Pierre Wazem includes plenty of dialogue to make sure that the reader has some idea what is happening, but a great deal of the storytelling is handled by artist Frederik Peeters. Peeters juxtaposes the innocence of youth (as personified by Addidas) with the hulking, ugly monsters below. Addidas is shown with wide-open eyes and the ability to smile in almost any situation. Her head is too big for her body and her legs are just a bit too short. The result is an innocent child whose big ideas and boundless curiosity get her into plenty of trouble.
In contrast, the creatures who man the machines are burly and fierce looking. Their eyes bulge from beneath sloping brows, and their long arms drag on the ground as they move. They are built for work, and their work is not pretty. But, like Addidas, they care deeply about what they do.
The art is fun, and skews a bit young (in the same way that the art in Bone skews a bit young). This may give a casual viewer the misconception that the book is designed for youngsters. However, with some curse words, the script is not going to be acceptable for younger readers. Not to mention the fact that this “childish” looking story deals with existential questions – questions about the nature of life and creation, and a twist ending which leaves grown ups reeling and children puzzling. Make no mistake, KOMA is decidedly a book for adults.
As much as KOMA is a book about Addidas and her adventures underground, there is also a biting commentary about man’s desire to achieve immortality. In the book there are a group of bureaucrats who have discovered the monsters and their connection to life. They plan to replace the monsters with robots so that the machines will be even more efficient and they will live indefinitely. Pierre Wazem is clearly concerned that our quest to understand the mechanics of life may actually lead to our undoing. Instead of trying to find meaning in the mechanics and science, maybe the true meaning and importance of life comes from holding on to the innocence and enthusiasm of youth.
Koma is available now from Humanoids publishing. Check out a four page preview here. You can Order your copy of KOMA today.
Review: Koma by Wazem and Peeters
Published On September 20, 2012 | By Zainab | Comics, Reviews
Koma
Pierre Wazem, Frederik Peeters
Humanoids
I really want to do justice to Pierre Wazem’s and Frederik Peeters’ Koma YET I don’t think I can quite articulate how special this book is. I’m acutely aware that I have a lot to learn about comics, writing and reviewing: it’s a constant process of learning and hopefully improving. Mostly I try to be honest and as clear as possible and hope something translates. Sometimes though, a book comes along and makes me really wish I had more knowledge, more words, more insight, just MORE, to be able to convey exactly what it is that sets it apart. Koma is such a book. Bold and skewy, imaginative and fresh, bursting with ideas, humour, charm, weirdness and above all just so much heart: in the story, but more from the people behind it, whose sheer effort and talent is evident on every page. It’s that heart which pushes you onwards through its flaws and knotty, convoluted bits.
The daughter of a chimney sweep, Adidas accompanies her father whilst he’s working, helping him by manoeuvring into the small tricky nooks that he can’t reach. It’s a risky business, particularly as she suffers from a mysterious illness that causes her to blackout at any time for indeterminate periods. Her father is angry and disgusted at himself for putting his daughter into such a position, having lost his wife to a similar fate, but chimney cleaning is his livelihood and only means of income- one that’s already under threat from rival sweepers. Meanwhile, deep below them, gleaming, long-armed inky black/green creatures operate machines that correspond to every human on earth, each creature assigned one person/machine. When a machine stops working, the person it is allocated to dies. At the same time, the police and government officials are drafting men for the smallest misdemeanour to work on a mysterious cavernous pit on the outskirts of the city. And so a course is set towards an inevitable meeting of worlds.
There’s no conventionality to Wazems’ storytelling, apart from that it’s linear. It jumps from genre and plot-point to sequences like a joyful little character bounding through the stages of a video game, incorporating everything from super-heroics, otherworldly creatures, mystery, family drama, emotion, surrealism, creationism. Wazem surprises constantly by taking the story in unexpected directions and by all accounts it sounds like a mess, one that shouldn’t work, but somehow does: the breadth and scope of ideas instead never allowing for boredom, running from one to another in an evolutionary progress that prevents it from feeling disjointed. Peeters’s art is the extra factor here, a live, bossy, presence that pulls you along and muscles you into attentiveness. His depiction of the grubby, suffocating industrial city is viscerally realised and the shift to a finer, clearer, style in the second half scenes is equally evocative. The colouring is hyper, a smorgasbord of shades that conversely don’t seem quite right, yet contribute to the overall effect of being enveloped into this strange world.
Much relies on Adidas and her characterisation: as the central figure around whom everything revolves, she is determined, intelligent, resourceful and off-beat cute. She possess that almost visionary clarity that children have- an unfettered understanding and grasp that is lost in the mires of adulthood. Her relationship with her father is a introverted, she supports and calms him when he grows frustrated at their situation, cooking up plans and schemes to outwit the competition.With the loss of Adidas’ mother, the two have only each other and so Adidas is more of a companion to her father than a child. But there is also something special, something of the other about her, as many interested parties slowly realise. Despite her huge melting brown manga eyes, she’s a smart and intuitative child, well aware of the way people view her- nicely illustrated in this instance in which she’s just come round after one of her blackouts in a restaurant:
Her father is a wonderful, eccentric fellow, written and drawn with a surreal Herge-on-speed humour, combining the bumbling of the Thompsons and Professor Calculus, amped to 100 and stealing every scene he’s in. There’s a passage in the book after the middle that’s just a bizarre, joyful, careening romp, rather like a carry-on sketch, with misunderstandings and confusion and lots of running around- for me, the strongest point of the story where Wazem’s kaleidascope of ideas falls beautifully together. His decision to keep the creatures fairly mysterious also works- despite meeting one and seeing a few others, not much is revealed of them and tehir origin, enabling them to retain their otherness and thus their interestingness The worst accusation you can level at Koma is that the plethora of ideas and genres is at times too much, making it a little muddled, but it’s a invigorating and engrossing read whichevere way you read it: as an extended metaphor for Adidas’ illness, as an adventure between worlds or as comment on life, science and being. Read it.
Review: Koma – a perfect piece of strange from Wazem and Peeters
Published On January 12, 2015 | By Richard Bruton | Comics, Reviews
Koma
By Pierre Wazem and Frederick Peeters
Humanoids
Deep underground, lumbering grey monsters are hard at work, or something we imagine is work, looking after their machines, organic and steampunk. Above ground young Addidas (“but not like the shoes, eh!”) works with her father, cleaning those chimneys and tunnels he’s not able to get down, a Victorian throwback in an world cleverly without time, a world we imagine is futuristic but in truth there’s little fixed about Koma, not in time or in idea or in genre. Sure, it’s something of a fantasy, but it’s so much more. There’s pathos, and fine comedy both in the characters and the increasingly farcical madcap caper we find ourselves on halfway through the book. But by the end you’ll be wrapped up in something incredibly fantastical. Whether you like the wackiness and the weirdness of Koma or not (and yes, I did), no-one can possibly accuse Wazem and Peeters of playing this safe. Because by the end of the book, we’re way, way out there. Little Addidas goes a long, long way from where she starts the book, the little scared girl becomes something incredible, out of the darkness and into the light….
Events conspire to take Addidas below ground, as her father sleeps off a bad night feeling sorry for himself and missing Addidas’ mother too much. She’s headed off to uphold the family business, clashing with a competitor, upset, alone, feeling so lost. She’s also not well, not at all, she falls down a lot, no-one can work out why. Something is wrong with this girl, and somehow it turns out it’s all connected, above and below, just as Addidas finds herself connected with the creature.
Ah, yes, the creature. When first we see him (it’s all gender neutral with the monsters best I can work out, but the girl and her boy monster just seems to fit well) he’s in trouble as well, managing to break the machine he’s meant to be looking after. And these machines are important, very important, life and death important. The other creatures turn on him, expel him, and suddenly with a moment, Wazem and Peeters turn this lumbering blue thing with the mad yellow eyes into something to feel sorry for, someone to feel sorry for, the transformation taking place in the light from Addidas’ lamp and a shared sense of loss and being the outsiders.
Oh, there’s a beautiful darkness down here in the tunnels where they first meet. The girl and her monster, both feeling lost and alone, both searching for something much more to their eexistence Writer and artist immediately creating true empathy, with an outstretched hand.
From here, we get increasingly involved in a farce, a romp, a comedy of errors, the girl and the monster coming up to above ground, the father (and by strange coincidence his fierce rival as well) fall foul of ridiculously over-jealous authority and find themselves committed below ground, into the pit, digging down, because someone in power thinks there’s something important at the bottom, deep underground. Yes, you can certainly see where above and below are going to meet here can’t you? Everything connects together here, brilliantly, wonderfully, the parent from above going down in the Pit, the girl and her creature down below making their way to the surface, Addidas’ falling down, the broken machine, life and death, it’s all connected together somehow.
Yes, farcical authority comedy, all part of the rich mix of tone found in here, something that could have really grated, really fallen flat, a complete mess of style, tone,. mood, caper and farce butting up against tragedy, sadness playing against surrealist world changing fantasy. Thankfully, Wazem and Peeters manage to connect it all together, there’s so much going on but, with a couple of exceptions, it all holds together as a narrative, all looks sumptuous.
And then there’s the finale, a final third where everything either goes wildly off the rails or it’s simply another strand of the strangeness and wild invention coming out. I’m with the latter, but on another day I could probably make an argument for the former as well. It certainly took a bit of time getting used to the transition from the world we’d known to this new landscape of shifting realities. The finale features a transformation in Addidas’ life and her perspective as well as a wonderfully shifting, mysterious hotel, where perception and persona are nebulous, movable things. We’re in the realms of storytelling, fictions, ideas, creations and the pure imagination here, both from creators and their creations.
All in all, Koma is a fabulously fun book, Wazem and Peeters creating a world above and below we buy into, characters that zip and buzz through the pages, a story we can all get behind, light and fun becomes intriguing and quirky becomes something way more unusual, a lightweight comedy of family dramas at times ends up as something transfiguring. It’s a great ride.
In Addidas, Wazem and Peeters create something rounded, a sympathetic victim turned heroine, turned something incredible…
Artistically it’s everything that the story and characters are, the lightweight and breezy can become the spectacular and impressive in a moment. Take page 11, opening with Addidas perched rather precariously on a chimney, but still finding the time to idle, kicking her heels, the manga-ish exaggerated eyes and head giving her that sense of innocence, drawing us in, this cartoon style from Peeters something we didn’t see in Aama or Pachyderme.
And then this, a manic swing of perspective at the bottom of the page…. vertigo inducing…
Wow.
All the way through there’s artistic wonder; the pitch black of the tunnels, the bright, neon lights above ground, such a great contrast, the emotions of the leads clear to see on their faces, in their body language, all delivered by Peeters, his visual range so good, action sequences delivered with fine style, personal moments, talking heads, exposition, humour, all done beautifully. And the final section, the hotel set weirdness lets him break loose beautifully.
Yes, I may be late to the party with Koma, but it’s part of a really strong resurgance of Humanoids, whose publishing line is incredibly strong.
Koma – Graphic Novel Spotlight
Originally released as six individual albums from 2003 to 2008, Swiss comic creators Pierre Wazem and Frederick Peeters’ moving story of a precocious young girl finding her way in an industrialised alien world is now re-released in a new edition.
Addidas is a bright and quirky young girl who spends most of her time helping her widowed father in his job as a chimney sweep. When Addidas ventures too far into a chimney, she encounters a bizarre new friend and in the process destabilizes a long-established system.
Whilst immensely depressing in places, there is a lot to enjoy in Koma. Wazem and Peeters create an almost Dickensian like setting with the heavy industrial atmosphere (greatly depicted by Peeters with industrial chimney bellowing out smoke and a general griminess that permeates the rest of the surroundings) and also the presence of a child who is forced to grow up fast in a grown-up world. In addition, Wazem presents some great characters including Addias’ father who lives in constant frustration that the highly competitive industrial chimney cleaning business is the only way he can make any income and that he has to have his daughter help him in his work after he lost his wife in a similar situation.
Most importantly, Wazem gives us a really likable protagonist in Addidas who despite losing her mother, having to help her father clean the hard to reach areas of the filthy chimneys that are all over the city and suffering from an unknown illness that causes her to lose consciousness for indeterminate periods of time, she manages to maintain a degree of positivity and maintains a warm personality with those she meets (with the exception of those causing trouble for her and her father), even when she faces the unknown as she encounters the mysterious creatures living under the city that are directly linked to the people populating the world above.
Alongside the tale of adolescence and discovery, Wazem also presents a great examination on the obsession of prolonging life as certain people also discover the existence of the creatures living below them and seek to permanently alter the established system so they can potentially live forever which acts as a great contrast to Addidas less cynical approach to life and this discovery in particular.
Peeters’ not only excels in depicting a great industrial world setting but also in creating a variety of distinct looking characters in a simplistic style that manage to convey a lot more expression and emotion than you’d expect. He also creates a great contrast between the exaggerated child features of Addidas and the bulky and ferocious looking creatures that man the machines below, which is especially effective when Addidas first encounters her new friend.
Whilst hard to read at times because of the emotional punches and the rather cynical outlook on life some of the characters have, this is still a fun take on the growing up genre and a great looking comic to boot.
Koma is published 4 May by Humanoids, Inc.
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