blevins's review
4.0
Icepunk? Instead of the more well known "steampunk" this short graphic novel by Jacques Tardi exists in the frozen world of icebergs, snow and the Arctic with the usual sort of fantastical mechanized inventions that exist in steampunk. Since it isn't long [I read it over a single lunchbreak] there isn't much depth to the story but I just really loved the Arctic setting and the drawings. I was bored of steampunk early on in its popularity but I could do for a little more icepunk.
lizardgoats's review
4.0
Much like Adele Blanc-Sec, the Arctic Marauder has a nearly inexplicable ending. I don't know if I even have words for how confused I feel. So much happens in the background and is just sprung on us: oh, it's Christmas; oh, that gate was locked; oh, let's state the opposite of what was just implied; oh, you're evil now; oh, we have random accomplices...the list goes on. Granted, this could be due to the translation (the original is in French), but even despite the whirlwind turn of events and unexplained surprises, I really enjoyed this "icepunk" graphic novel. It's fun, and like Tardi's other work, wholly original. I recommend.
shanth's review
4.0
How can you not like a book which ends with «»
Spoiler
Moreover, man carries in his heart the desire always to wield his scientific knowledge in service of the greater good. He would of course never use it for destructive pusposes. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! ...kirstiecat's review
3.0
Ok here's the thing..the illustrations bring this up to 3 stars but really this is a disappointment for Tardi. I think the main thing that really perplexed and irritated me was how he failed to explain the huge change in character of one of the leads. He also sort of passes off the idea that he can take literary liberties because it's just a fiction anyways, right, trying to be playful but coming off as lazy in my opinion. Great graphic novelist but this is not the one to read if you're not looking for a better graphic novel, start with The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec found here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8103702-the-extraordinary-adventures-of-adele-blanc-sec. This is a creative book with Tardi's usual plethora of imagination of an underground of crime controllers but with too much of an abrupt and cop out ending especially.
I'm also currently reading You Are There, which I am enjoying a great deal.
I'm also currently reading You Are There, which I am enjoying a great deal.
jenjenpelly's review
3.0
This is one of those books that you read even though your nose is all scrunched up in disbelief while you're reading it. It's a really unusual story told in an unusual way, which kept me going until the end. I was definitely surprised by the twists in the middle of the story, which doesn't happen to me that often. When a student told me about it, he warned me that the ending was very dissatisfying, but I actually didn't think it was. It really became a comment on how evil persists in the world and how most people are blissfully ignorant of the great capacity of man do do evil to other men. Not my usual fare, but interesting to say the least.
rows's review
3.0
This is a whole lot of Verne's Master of the World, but is barely a fraction as interesting or nuanced. I don't remember if Master... is nuanced at all and I still feel confident in this claim.
Moving right along to Tardi Exhibit B: You Are There is so conversely delightful, absurd and invested in its characters that I'd reread it right now if Marauder were You.
Moving right along to Tardi Exhibit B: You Are There is so conversely delightful, absurd and invested in its characters that I'd reread it right now if Marauder were You.
jsjammersmith's review
5.0
While there is not a great amount of material in this book in terms of actual story length, I still thought that this was an incredible graphic novel. The richness of detail, and the playing with the form of comics made this an incredibly beautiful book. Every page was a work of art that begged to be studied further, and every frame of this book contained a multitude of lines were inspired. The story itself bordered on lovecraftian, but by the end became more a reimagined 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea mixed with some Island of Dr. Moreau, and while I felt these characters could have possessed slightly more depth, but the end I was sold because Jacques Tardi never betrays the "feeling" of this book.
It remains to the end a strange and weird and wonderful work.
It remains to the end a strange and weird and wonderful work.
pussreboots's review
4.0
I think this is part of a series but I'm not sure where it sits within that series. The comic was originally published in French in 1974 and was translated this year. I suspect the translation is due to the renewed interest in Tintin with the movie.
http://www.pussreboots.pair.com/blog/2014/comments_01/arctic_marauder.html
http://www.pussreboots.pair.com/blog/2014/comments_01/arctic_marauder.html