Award-winning Snowpiercer cocreator Jean-Marc Rochette tells the story of a bear who inspires a French sculptor’s greatest work in this graphic novel.
An epic, emotional tale, The Last Queen follows Édouard Roux, a veteran of World War I whose face is left disfigured from fighting in the trenches.
Édouard takes refuge in the studio of animal sculptor Jeanne Sauvage, who gives him a new face in the form of a prosthetic mask. The pair embark on an intense romantic relationship. She introduces him to the artistic community of Montmartre, Paris, and Édouard shows her the majestic mountains of his homeland, the Vercors Massif. He tells her the story of the last queen to live in the region, a bear he saw killed as a child.
In the heart of the Cirque d’Archiane valley, he reveals to Jeanne an amazing piece of art, seen by few others, which inspires her to create the masterpiece that will make her famous…
Praise
"This lavish and unpredictable historical epic from Rochette (Snowpiercer) delves into the disintegrating relationship between humanity and nature."
—Publisher's Weekly
"Uncompromising, deeply poignant and painfully sad, this is a saga of love and extinction: a testament to the passing of the past..."
—Comics Review
"Although set in the past, Rochette encompasses themes very relevant today, most prominently a callous attitude to nature, but also blaming people for their own poverty, societal snobbery, and exploitation of artists.”
—The Slings and Arrows
"The Last Queen is a promising indication of what [comics] has to offer, its multi-media combination of impactful words and images making for a message which leaps from the page.”
—The Oxford Student
