By Zack Quaintance — In reviewing the new, expanded edition hardcover graphic novel of Paris — story by Andi Watson and art by Simon Gane — I’m compelled to start with a specific feeling this book captures and captures well. I should note I didn’t read this series when it was first published in the ‘00s, so my review will be centered on my experience as a first-time reader. Anyway, much of what powers this story forward has to do with this feeling, and it’s one I’ve experienced often, primarily when I was younger and spent fleeting periods of time in new cities I fell swiftly in love with. Yearning is maybe a word for it, though it doesn’t fit it, at least not neatly. Romanticizing is part of it too, and, indeed, romance is certainly part of this book; it is named after and set within Paris, after all.

No, this feeling is a sort of yearning for the romantic life you might lead if certain foundational constrictions were removed from your way. I’m not sure I’ve done a great job articulating that, but I just remember living in a new place for a summer, or for a month, or even for a weekend, and I’d find myself envisioning how I would live and with who, in deep and passionate ways. Nevermind that I had a job to return to, that I had community and responsibility elsewhere. It was a feeling I found myself often overwhelmed by, and this book captures it well. Paris actually reminded me of this feeling, which is not something I’ve consciously thought about in years, and that’s all very much to its credit.

Paris starts by following Juliet, an American art student who is living in (and probably very much in love with) our titular city. She’s a painter, specifically, and she’s affording her fancy Parisian art classes by painting portraits of the wealthy. The opening of the book is gorgeous and richly atmospheric, and Gane’s intricate artwork makes it easy to appreciate the city in much the same way our protagonist does. So detailed are the sights — with the architecture standing out especially — that you can almost engage your other senses too. It’s easy to hear musical notes drifting from windows and smell the aroma of the passing cafes. It is, in short, very good comics.

That’s sort of the foundation laid here before we’re met with the inciting incident — Juliet is asked to paint a a young English woman who is being repressed by her aristocratic role in her family as well as her overbearing chaperone. There’s a lot that goes unspoken between the two, but there is without question love there, as unrealistic as it may seem…at first. It almost feel hubristic to try to tell a love story in Paris, at least a little bit, but this one is well told to the point that it lives up to its setting. The theme of yearning romantically for what one wants outside of existing constrictions runs throughout, feeling both familiar and engaging.

While I won’t spoil the ending — even though this is a new collected edition of a five-issue limited series first published in 2005 — I’ll conclude by saying I found it all really hopeful and ultimately very satisfying, and that was a nice experience to have amid the backdrop of this week.

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Paris HC

Paris HC
Story: Andi Watson
Art: Simon Gane
Publisher: Image Comics
A new and expanded edition with artwork created specially for this volume!
Juliet, a penniless American art student travels to the city of light to study painting. To pay her way, she paints portraits of wealthy debutantes. One of her subjects is Deborah, a young English woman suffocated by the narrow expectations of her aristocratic family. Juliet is equally confined by the rigid academic structure of her art education and finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Deborah.
Juliet and Deborah's love for art brings them together, even as their friends and family try to drive them apart.
A fairy tale romance where the old and new worlds collide, drawn by SIMON GANE, the artist behind Eisner-nominated Ghost Tree and THEY'RE NOT LIKE US, and written by ANDI WATSON, author of The Book Tour, Kerry and the Knight of the Forest, and the forthcoming Punycorn.
Release Date: May 25, 2022
Price: $24.99
Buy It Here: Paris HC

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He has written about comics for The Beat and NPR Books, among others. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.