Written by: Jean-Christophe Chauzy
Illustrations: Jean-Christophe Chauzy
Coloring: Jean-Christophe Chauzy
Publisher: Casterman
De Rest van de Wereld #1 – Comic Book Review
As of late, we go from one apocalyptic scenario to another. We leave the zombies from The Walking Dead behind and the deserted deserts from Mad Max in the distance and we head to the French mountainside where an already tiresome ‘vacation’ is about to turn sour, as things are going to be heavily shaken up. It’s time to see how one’s humanity is about to deteriorate when the end of the world might be at your doorstep. Let’s dive inside the head of one person and how she handles things, alongside the rest of the world.
Marie, recently single, as her ex-husband decided to search for someone else who happened to be twenty years younger than Marie, decided to head to the French mountainside, together with her two boys to take some time away from it all. Whilst the month has been extremely tiring, the new school year will start in a few days and thus Marie has to clean up the cottage after a month of torment from the young boys. She decides to drop off the children with some local friends, who are happy to entertain Jules and Hugo.
During the much needed cleaning and packing, the sky turns pitch black and it feels like a heavy storm is brewing in the distance. Marie does not have to wait that long before things actually turn from bad to worse, as the storm does not only bring forth massive rays of lightning, but an earthquake immediately follows during the midst of the eerie weather. That being said, the earthquake was not a mere case of a few shakes and getting it over with, the earth itself started to shift, causing landmasses to collide with each other, creating craters and jagged spikes from the ground. Even though Marie lost conscience for a short while due to the rubble of the house tumbling on top of her, she immediately gets back to her senses when she thinks about her two boys. From here on out a struggle for survival begins, as it seems that not only the area around her has been affected, it seems to go a lot further than that. No help is underway, authorities do not know what to do and not only lives of the wounded are at stake, but many of the principles we hold dear are too. One’s humanity is put to the test.
The flow of the story feels a tad different than most other comic books, as there is a limited amount of text, and thus it’s pretty much about the actions and the environment that surrounds the main character Marie and her boys. The story is much more about survival and a doomsday scenario and how humans would act when thrown in such a situation. Thanks to this, the characters show a specific kind of (d)evolution, making the book increasingly suspenseful with every page you flip.
Jean-Christophe Chauzy puts a focus on the humanity on his characters, rather than a very elaborate plot. Even with a minimum amount of text, the story feels interesting and exciting, as you’ll start wondering how everything will decay even further. Overall the story depicts itself more in the ‘mind’ of Marie, rather than many spoken dialogues.
As far as illustrations go, things are fairly grim and rough around the edges but strangely detailed as well. The album feels like a subtle wink to The Walking Dead comic books, albeit still in a different style. The coloring itself has a watercolor look smudged all over it, making things even more rough, which is great given the topic. Nonetheless, Jean-Christophe Chauzy seems to have found the perfect combination between writing and illustrating.
At the end of the issue there are a few extra sketches for you to enjoy. Whilst this is a small gesture, it’s fun to take a look at some prototypes of certain ‘scenes’ that happen throughout the issue.
Conclusion
De Rest van de Wereld #1 feels and reads like a great end-of-the-world tale and you’ll get a rather thick album for a fair price. Whilst the album itself reads smoother than others, due to a limited amount of text, there is still a lot to process when it comes to the environments depicted in the book and the decay of humanity. If you’re a fan of a great doomsday tale, this one will surely please you.
De Rest van de Wereld #1 - Comic Book Review,
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