“Once upon a time there was climbing”, a 190-page comic book, is intended to be a synthetic and entertaining overview of our activity. The result of a collaboration between Catherine Destivelle and David Chambre for the text, and Laurent Bidot for the drawing, the book adopts a predominantly chronological progression, starting from pre-European forms of climbing, often religious or dietary, to conclude with the gate of the Paris Olympics.
Between these two ends, the comic covers a little of everything one expects from such a project, without ever dwelling on it. From the sandstone towers of Dresden to the grit of the Peak District, from Bleau to the Dolomites, the origins are traced through the great names who marked their time and developed their activity. Then it's Yosemite's hour of glory that we follow and, one thing leading to another, its influence in the advent of free climbing throughout the world, which occupies a large part of the comic strip by going more into the detail as we get closer to the present. All styles are covered, whether hemp climbing or trad, full solo or bouldering, including psichobloc, main route, competition and even speed.
Some history buffs will surely be left wanting more, but ultimately the ambition of this comic is not exhaustive, rather a good, fairly complete introduction to the century and a half of human, material and stylistic developments which led to climbs it to what it is today.
Who is it for? To curious neophytes, to climbers without much cultural-climbing background wishing to discover more about their passion without resorting to more serious scholarly works, such as “The 9th degree – 150 years of free climbing”, by the same David Chambre released in 2015, already by Éditions du Mont-Blanc. That being said, the most informed will surely find some names to dig into. What will not spoil their pleasure is also the bias of the authors of these winks in the form of drawn covers of famous photos, and less famous ones for that matter. In a way the visual equivalent of quotes from great authors, proof of connivance.
We will note two very Nice details: first the QR codes, which give a certain interactivity to the book (and perhaps betray the target generations?), and then the cover. The texture of the cliff represented is rough like a soft, fine-grained sandstone, while the back cover is smooth like baby's skin. We therefore have a dual text grip, and the feeling is very nice. Nice find.
Given the comic's clearly stated desire for instruction, and therefore the relatively young audience new to the “climbing culture” sought, we however regret the slightly “fairy tale” image given to climbing. By this we mean that climbing today no longer exists in a vacuum, it is anchored in a context under pressure. Firstly in the dialogue that it necessarily maintains with the evil of the century to come: the state of the natural world, both at the macro and micro levels. And secondly, the problem of access to sectors, hence the necessary respect for certain rules of good living together, and the awareness of its impact on what surrounds us.
It seems to us that this comic would have been the perfect tool to try to show some good habits, at the very least to provoke important questions among newcomers, or even less newcomers.
Even if “Once Upon a Time Climbing” is fun and instructive, it's still not bad.
‘Il était une fois l’escalade’, a 190-page graphic novel, is designed to provide a concise and entertaining overview of our sport. A collaboration between Catherine Destivelle and David Chambre for the text, and Laurent Bidot for the drawings, the book takes a mainly chronological approach, starting with pre-European forms of climbing, and ending at the gateway to the Paris Olympics.
Between these two extremes, the book covers just about everything you’d expect from such a project, without ever dwelling too long on any aspect. From the sandstone towers of Dresden to the grit of the Peak District, from Font to the Dolomites, the origins are traced through the great names who left their mark on their time and helped their activity evolve. Then we follow the glory days of Yosemite and, one thing leading to another, its influence on the advent of free climbing worldwide, which takes up a good part of the book, going into a bit more details as we get closer to the present day. All styles are covered, from hemp ropes and trad climbing to full solo and bouldering, DWS, multipitch, competition and even speed climbing.
Some history buffs will surely be left wanting for more, but the ambition of this graphic novel is not to be exhaustive, but rather to provide a good, fairly comprehensive introduction to the century and a half of human, material and stylistic developments that have made climbing what it is today.
Who is it aimed at? Curious neophytes, climbers with little climbing history knowledge who want to find out more about their passion without delving into the more serious works of erudition, such as ‘Le 9e degré – 150 ans d’escalade libre’ (The 9th Grade – 150 years of free climbing; not translated), by the same David Chambre, published in 2015 also by Éditions du Mont-Blanc. That said, the more informed will certainly find some names to dig into. What won’t spoil their pleasure is also the authors’ winks in the form of drawn reproductions of famous and not-so-famous photos of the past. In a way, they are the visual equivalent of quotes from great authors, a guarantee of complicity with the reader in-the-know.
Two very nice touches: firstly, the QR codes, which give the book a certain interactivity (and perhaps give away the target generations?), and secondly, the cover. The texture of the cliff shown is as rough as fine-grained sandstone, while the back cover is as smooth as baby’s skin. So you’ve got a dual-textured hold in your hand, and the feel is really nice. Another lovely wink.
Given the clearly educational nature of the book, and the audience it aims to appeal to, we regret the slightly ‘fairytale’ image of climbing given here. By this we mean that climbing today no longer exists in a vacuum; it is rooted in a context very puch under pressure. Firstly, in the dialogue that it inevitably maintains with the challenge of the century to come: the state of the natural world, at both macro and micro levels. And secondly, the problem of access to sectors (and numerous bans), with the necessary respect for certain rules of good living together, and awareness of our impact on what surrounds us.
It seems to us that this graphic novel would have been the perfect tool to try and demonstrate a few good habits, or at the very least to present the reader with some important questions.
Even so, 'Once upon a time there was climbing' both instructs and delights, and that’s a good start.
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