{"id":15115,"date":"2016-08-12T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T08:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=15115"},"modified":"2016-08-10T09:52:54","modified_gmt":"2016-08-10T09:52:54","slug":"marie-antoinette-phantom-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2016\/08\/12\/marie-antoinette-phantom-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"Marie Antoinette: Phantom Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy <\/strong>Rodolphe<\/strong> & <\/strong>Annie Goetzinger<\/strong> translated by Peter Russella <\/strong>(NBM)
\nISBN: 978-1-68112-029-4<\/p>\n

As I’ve previously stated, like so much European art and culture, French language comics (I’m controversially including Belgium and Swiss strips in this half-baked, nigh-racist, appallingly sweeping statement) often appear as a triumph of style over content.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t mean they’re bad – far, far from it – but rather that sometimes the writing and plotting isn’t as important to the creators – or readers – as the way it looks on a page and in a book, and complex characterisation isn’t always afforded the same amount of room that scenery, players, fighting or sex gets.<\/p>\n

That is not the case in this sublimely evocative and eerily placid episode by eminent Bande Dessin\u00c3\u00a9e scenarist Rodolphe D. Jacquette (Le Conservateur<\/strong><\/em><\/strong>, Raffini<\/strong><\/em><\/strong>, Cliff<\/strong><\/em><\/strong> Burton<\/strong><\/em><\/strong>) and former fashion artist turned comics creator supreme Annie Goetzinger (<\/strong>Girl in Dior<\/strong>, Casque d’Or, Aurore<\/strong><\/em><\/strong>, L’Agence Hardy<\/strong><\/em><\/strong>) which seamlessly blends the tone and timbre of two iconic eras in French history in a tale of mystery, imagination and rather indolent intrigue\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

First seen in 2011 as Marie Antoinette, La Reine Fantome<\/strong><\/em><\/strong> the translated wonderment follows an enlightening Introduction<\/em> from Rodolphe, describing the origins and provenance of the story before co-writer and sole illustrator Goetzinger introduces us to artist Maud<\/em> as she sits in the gardens of the Petit Trianon<\/em> at Versailles.<\/p>\n

It’s October 5th<\/sup> 1934 and her sketching of the scene is a brief yet welcome escape from her problems. Her beloved but far older husband is recently dead, leaving her a vast fortune which her stepson son covets.<\/p>\n

Remy<\/em> constantly pesters her to marry him, but she knows he’s as likely to kill as wed her to get his hands on the inheritance\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Things take a strange turn when her dog breaks loose and scampers away. He is quite the hit with the ladies of the Court when he bounds into a grand building, just as a frantic footman warns Queen Maria Antoinette that they must all retreat to the castle before the peasants besieging Versailles find them. It is still October 5th<\/sup>, but also so very long ago\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

As her stepson’s attentions become more obnoxious and intolerable, Maud’s dreams are hunted by potent, tangible glimpses of the dead queen’s final days and close friends Suzy and Maggie convince her to try an oh-so-fashionable s\u00c3\u00a9ance.<\/p>\n

Also attending the affair is attractive psychiatrist Dr. Maurice D’Octrobre<\/em>, a man of great charm and learning, possessed of a remarkably open mind\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Good thing too, as the ceremony allows Marie Antoinette to manifest, imploring Maud to find her remains and re-inter her so that the tragic queen might rest at last\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

And so begins an utterly beguiling and entrancingly sophisticated, classically constructed ghost story with clever plot twists, genteel suspense and even a vile villain who sees his stepmother’s unsuspected psychic gifts as a stepping stone to having her committed and stealing her fortune\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Maud’s path is unswerving and her triumph never in doubt, but she never expected that in addition to the satisfaction of a job well done and a soul saved there would be such tangible rewards for her good deed\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Eerily comfortable and superbly satisfying; balancing melancholy shades of <\/strong>The Ghost and Mrs Muir<\/strong> with the poesy of Daphne Du Maurier’s <\/strong>Rebecca<\/strong>, <\/strong>Marie Antoinette: Phantom Queen <\/strong>is a superb step back into a lost world of elegant mystery and imagination: one no fantasy lover or mature comics reader should miss.
\n\u00c2\u00a9 Dargaud 2011. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Marie Antoinette: Phantom Queen<\/strong> will be released on August 18th<\/sup> 2016. It can be pre-ordered now and is also available in all e-book formats.For more information and other great reads see http:\/\/www.nbmpub.com\/<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rodolphe & Annie Goetzinger translated by Peter Russella (NBM) ISBN: 978-1-68112-029-4 As I’ve previously stated, like so much European art and culture, French language comics (I’m controversially including Belgium and Swiss strips in this half-baked, nigh-racist, appallingly sweeping statement) often appear as a triumph of style over content. That doesn’t mean they’re bad – … <\/p>\n

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