Released in January, the first volume of Snowpiercer is exploding with innovation. However, like most return journeys Snowpiercer, Vol. 2: The Explorers doesn’t quite merit the same enthusiasm or thrills as the initial trip. The obvious main reason for this is that original writer Jacques Lob died in 1990, leaving Benjamin Legrand (a prolific French novelist and comic writer himself) the uneviable task of continuing the story. To his credit, Legrand seems more interested in opening up the Snowpiercer universe than merely rehashing Lob’s ideas…for better or worse. So yeah, maybe your daily commute isn’t that bad after all. As fears mount, an unlikely love affair develops between Val, the privileged performance artist daughter of the council leader and Puig, one of the titular Explorers who ventures off the train and into the frozen wilderness to recover exotic relics from the remnants of civilization in order to appease the train’s bored elites. Their relationship makes up the emotional crux of the story, despite the fact that they are utterly mismatched. Val spends her days creating VR vacations infused with artsy pretension that are completely tone deaf to the escapist fantasies of the recipients who win the getaways in a train-wide lottery. (A pair of winners comment on how their tropical getaway is marred by an exploding volcano). While readers are left contemplating whether or not to feel pity or scorn for Val, their feelings toward Puig are much clearer. He is a likeable rebellious figure who, like Proloff in the previous volume, serves as an audience surrogate. When a failed ploy by the council to kill him on a suicide mission instead results in Puig becoming a hero, he begins to get answers about the true fate of the first Snowpiercer…ones that unsurprisingly have ramifications for everyone. Snowpiercer, Vol. 2: The Explorers doesn’t have the impact or intelligence of the initial journey. What it does have though is a continuation of a truly original premise. Its problems aside, this story still might jar you like a train suddenly throwing on the brakes, staying with you long after you disembark. Like us on Facebook and follow us onTwitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
