An Enchantment is Just That

Calling itself a graphic poem, An Enchantment by Christian Durieux, continues the mysterious, after hours theme found in other books in the Louvre editions series.

The guest of honor sneaks out of his own retirement party to roam the Louvre, where he meets a young woman, who shouldn’t be there after hours. Together they playfully avoid guards, ending up in front of one particular painting.

Christian cleverly poses the two characters to replicate several pieces of artwork. His clear-line drawings have a mid-century feel to them. The palette is a warm, sepia-like tone with muted red and light blue accents drawn with a delicate hand that creates an intimate setting, rich with detail.

An Enchantment is just that: a delightful, dream-like evening. It creates a world that beckons the reader to become part of the magic.

Find the Magic Hidden On the Odd Hours

On the Odd Hours by Eric Liberge, is part of the Louvre editions published in English by NBM Comics Lit.

A young deaf man with no career ambitions finds his ideal job working ‘on the odd hours’ as a night watchman at the Louvre; or more correctly, the job finds him.

His unique ability to communicate with the souls of the artwork, enables him to help them come to life at night. Initially, this sends him running, but he soon realizes the importance of his gift.

This paperback is packed with small panels that move the story along. Eric’s palette is subdue and dark, creating a mysterious night-time atmosphere, even during the day scenes.

A tale in which a seemingly nobody has great power, On the Odd Hours peeks into the magic hidden in the world of silence.

A Warm Reception For Glacial Period

Glacial Period by Nicolas De Crécy, was the first book in the Louvre Editions series.

A group of archaeologists in the next Ice Age, or Glacial Period, stumble upon the Louvre while searching for an ancient civilization under the barren wasteland.

At a time when all human history has been forgotten, they come to their own “scientific” conclusions about Western culture based on the images, especially the nudes, in the museum paintings, thinking they were a record of daily life and human history up to the twenty-first century.

An interesting premise for a story, but this is Nicolas De Crécy: illogical assumptions lead to absurd conclusions in this farce. It is up to the artwork to set the archaeologists straight. Oh, and the dogs can talk.

The illustrations of the artwork vary from recognizable representations to renderings in the same classic-styled sketch with watercolor shading as the narrative.

Glacial Period takes a satirical look at what our art says about us and leaves the reader wondering what conclusions we have jumped to with regards to ancient cultures.

An Adventure with Rohan at the Louvre

Rohan at the Louvre by Hirohiko Araki, is another in the Louvre Editions published in English by NBM Comics Lit.

As a teen, Rohan meets a young soon-to-be divorcée. She tells him a story about a cursed painting, rumored to be at the Louvre, before she mysteriously disappears one night.

Fast-forward ten years later when Rohan visits Paris to seek out this painting. The work is hidden away in a forgotten storage area—for good reason.

Those familiar with Hirohiko Araki’s work will recognize Rohan from the shonen manga Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure series. Like that series, Araki, employs his unconventional color schemes here. The scenes in Japan are depicted in yellow tones while those in Paris are predominately pink and blue. His JoJo-dachi style features exaggeratedly lean bodies with beautiful features, viewed from dramatic angles.

A word of warning: Araki’s work is influenced by his love of horror movies; the scenes depicting the painting’s curse are rather violent in nature.

The only problem I had with this story was, as a character from another series, Rohan’s power of being able to read people like a book, both figuratively and literally, seems out of place in a story about an art museum.

That said, Rohan at the Louvre is an engaging story full of mystery and intrigue.