La Tour (comic)
Encyclopedia
La Tour is a graphic novel
by Belgian comic artists François Schuiten
and Benoît Peeters
, the third volume of their ongoing Les Cités Obscures
series. It was first published in serialized form in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine
À Suivre
(#96-106), and as a complete volume first in 1987 by Casterman
. In English, it was published as The Tower (Stories of the Fantastic) in 1993 by NBM Publishing
.
fiction. Instead, The Tower's design, architecture, and clothing show strong Medieval influences of time periods between the 10th and the 15th centuries, particularly Pre-Romanesque, Romanesque
, Gothic
, and early Renaissance
art. The technology used is therefore more reminiscent of clockpunk.
playing Falstaff
in Chimes at Midnight
). Battista is a maintenance engineer in The Tower, a gigantic structure with many such engineers, each maintaining his own sector. The time is about 400 AT (Age of The Tower), which is the number of years since The Tower's ongoing construction has begun. Battista lives a solitary life alone in his sector, focused intently on his job and on following its established protocols. His world, like the graphic novel itself, is black and white. But over the years he loses contact with the other maintenance engineers and even with his superiors. His repeated requests for a resupply of materials needed to repair the structure are seemingly ignored. Thus, Battista's sector begins to fall into decay.
Worried about the increasingly decrepit state of his sector, Battista decides to leave his post and to inform his superiors in person. Although he begins the journey on foot, climbing down The Tower, he eventually builds a parachute to speed his descent. But the parachute is caught in an updraft, and Battista is taken even higher in The Tower. There he encounters an autonomous civilization whose technological and architectural level Schuiten locates exactly at the segue between Medieval Gothic art
and the early Renaissance
period. Like Battista, the inhabitants are following the protocols of the established bureaucracy, and patiently waiting for news from the base of The Tower while their sector decays. One inhabitant, Elias, has a collection of paintings. Unlike the rest of the graphic novel, these painting are in color, and Battista is fascinated by the scenes they depict: of nudity, of war, and most importantly of people motivated by their passions. Having failed to reach the base of The Tower, Battista decides to head upwards, intending to reach the top where pioneers and construction engineers are said to continually advance the building higher and higher.
As Battista reaches the top, he comes upon the shocking revelation that The Tower's continuous construction was abandoned years before. The pioneers apparently left in a hurry, taking everything of value and discarding what was too heavy to carry. The trail of discarded belongings leads Battista to a gigantic winch
that was presumably used to lower the pioneers through the hollow center of The Tower to its base. At the bottom, Battista finds piles of riches thrown haphazardly about and abandoned, partially obscuring the exit. Near a discarded picture frame he glimpses some color—what Battista mistakes for a painting is in fact the world outside The Tower.
Battista leaves The Tower behind and gets swept up in a raging war at its base. He kills for the first time in his life, and eventually helps to lead a band of soldiers to victory as the The Tower collapses in the distance behind him. Battista makes a life for himself and rises to a position of some distinction, living happily ever after, but haunted by his memories of The Tower and by the stark contrast between its black-and-white world and the colorful life he now enjoys.
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
by Belgian comic artists François Schuiten
François Schuiten
Baron François Schuiten is a Belgian comic book artist. He is best known for drawing the series Les Cités Obscures.-Biography:François Schuiten was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1956....
and Benoît Peeters
Benoît Peeters
Benoît Peeters is a comics writer, novelist, and critic. He has lived in Belgium since 1978.His best-known work is Les Cités Obscures, an imaginary world which mingles a Borgesian metaphysical surrealism with the detailed architectural vistas of the series' artist, François Schuiten...
, the third volume of their ongoing Les Cités Obscures
Les Cités Obscures
Les Cités obscures is a graphic novel series set on a Counter-Earth, started by the Belgian comics artist François Schuiten and his friend, writer Benoît Peeters in the early 1980s...
series. It was first published in serialized form in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine
Franco-Belgian comics magazines
Belgium and France have a long tradition in comics. They have a common history for comics and magazines.In the early years of its history, magazines had a large place on the comics market and were often the only place where comics were published. Most of them were kids-targeted.In the 1970s,...
À Suivre
À Suivre
or was a Franco-Belgian comics magazine published from February 1978 to December 1997 by the Casterman publishing house....
(#96-106), and as a complete volume first in 1987 by Casterman
Casterman
Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Tournai, Belgium.Founded in 1780, Casterman was originally a printing company and publishing house...
. In English, it was published as The Tower (Stories of the Fantastic) in 1993 by NBM Publishing
NBM Publishing
NBM Publishing is an American publisher of graphic novels. The company specializes in non-superhero comic genres and has translated and published over 150 graphic novels from Europe and Canada, as well as several works by Americans...
.
Background
As the story takes place in the ancient history of the Obscure World, La Tour is the one Les Cités Obscures album exhibiting the least connection to steampunkSteampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
fiction. Instead, The Tower's design, architecture, and clothing show strong Medieval influences of time periods between the 10th and the 15th centuries, particularly Pre-Romanesque, Romanesque
Romanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
, Gothic
Gothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
, and early Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
art. The technology used is therefore more reminiscent of clockpunk.
Plot
We are introduced to Giovanni Battista (whose visual appearance Schuiten based on Orson WellesOrson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
playing Falstaff
Falstaff
Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is...
in Chimes at Midnight
Chimes at Midnight
Chimes at Midnight, also known as Falstaff and Campanadas a medianoche , is a 1965 film directed by and starring Orson Welles. Focused on William Shakespeare's recurring character Sir John Falstaff, the film stars Welles himself as Falstaff, Keith Baxter plays Prince Hal , and John Gielgud plays...
). Battista is a maintenance engineer in The Tower, a gigantic structure with many such engineers, each maintaining his own sector. The time is about 400 AT (Age of The Tower), which is the number of years since The Tower's ongoing construction has begun. Battista lives a solitary life alone in his sector, focused intently on his job and on following its established protocols. His world, like the graphic novel itself, is black and white. But over the years he loses contact with the other maintenance engineers and even with his superiors. His repeated requests for a resupply of materials needed to repair the structure are seemingly ignored. Thus, Battista's sector begins to fall into decay.
Worried about the increasingly decrepit state of his sector, Battista decides to leave his post and to inform his superiors in person. Although he begins the journey on foot, climbing down The Tower, he eventually builds a parachute to speed his descent. But the parachute is caught in an updraft, and Battista is taken even higher in The Tower. There he encounters an autonomous civilization whose technological and architectural level Schuiten locates exactly at the segue between Medieval Gothic art
Gothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
and the early Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
period. Like Battista, the inhabitants are following the protocols of the established bureaucracy, and patiently waiting for news from the base of The Tower while their sector decays. One inhabitant, Elias, has a collection of paintings. Unlike the rest of the graphic novel, these painting are in color, and Battista is fascinated by the scenes they depict: of nudity, of war, and most importantly of people motivated by their passions. Having failed to reach the base of The Tower, Battista decides to head upwards, intending to reach the top where pioneers and construction engineers are said to continually advance the building higher and higher.
As Battista reaches the top, he comes upon the shocking revelation that The Tower's continuous construction was abandoned years before. The pioneers apparently left in a hurry, taking everything of value and discarding what was too heavy to carry. The trail of discarded belongings leads Battista to a gigantic winch
Winch
A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in or let out or otherwise adjust the "tension" of a rope or wire rope . In its simplest form it consists of a spool and attached hand crank. In larger forms, winches stand at the heart of machines as diverse as tow trucks, steam shovels and...
that was presumably used to lower the pioneers through the hollow center of The Tower to its base. At the bottom, Battista finds piles of riches thrown haphazardly about and abandoned, partially obscuring the exit. Near a discarded picture frame he glimpses some color—what Battista mistakes for a painting is in fact the world outside The Tower.
Battista leaves The Tower behind and gets swept up in a raging war at its base. He kills for the first time in his life, and eventually helps to lead a band of soldiers to victory as the The Tower collapses in the distance behind him. Battista makes a life for himself and rises to a position of some distinction, living happily ever after, but haunted by his memories of The Tower and by the stark contrast between its black-and-white world and the colorful life he now enjoys.
In French
- La Tour (softcover edition), 1987, Casterman
- La Tour (hardcover edition), 1987, Casterman
- La Tour, 1993, Casterman
- La Tour, 2008, Casterman
External links
- La Tour, a few annoted pictures from the album (French)
- Series overview on A comprehensive review of the Obscure Cities series for English-speaking fans
- Les Cités Obscures by Juliani Darius on The Continuity Pages