We were already well aware of the fact Darren Aronofsky had was working with Ari Handel and artist Niko Henrichon on a graphic novel based on the idea for his film Noah, the $150 million budgeted feature recently given the green light with Paramount and New Regency looking to co-produce. We’d even seen some concept art as well as the video you see to the right here. However, we didn’t know much about how Aronofsky planned on telling the story or how he planned on approaching the material. Today we get a small glimpse.
French publisher Le Lombard (via CBR) released the first graphic novel in the series titled “Noe” and with it comes five pages for preview, two videos and the following synopsis of which I popped in the Google translator and returned the following:
It was a world without hope, a world with no rain and no crops, dominated by warlords and their barbarian hordes.
In this cruel world, Noah was a good man. Seasoned fighter, mage and healer but he only wanted peace for him and his family. Yet every night, Noah was beset by visions of an endless flood, symbolizing the destruction of all life.
Gradually, he began to understand the message sent him by the Creator. He had decided to punish the men and kill them until the last. But he gave Noah a last chance to preserve life on Earth…
As for the pages, I’ve included them in the gallery you see below and have translated the French to English, once again using Google translator so if it appears a little off, I apologize, despite going to the Cannes Film Festival the last two years my French is “non bon”.
Following the preview pages are these two new video pieces giving an animated look at the 72-page novel, which was released on October 7.
Where the project goes from here I do not know, but Henrichon recently updated his website (via AronofskyFilms) discussing the project and had this to say about the first volume (the following text was translated through French to English using Google translate):
I’m working on it for over a year now and for many months, it was a little difficult to tell because of all the confidentiality surrounding the project directly or indirectly connected to Hollywood. In addition, we have just learned that Darren Aronofsky will also conduct a film about Noah in the coming years and will be produced at Paramount Pictures.
This Volume 1 of Noah, to say a few words, I would say the introduction of a story rather confusing. Those familiar with Aronofsky films are sure to notice its tendency to stage events and ambiguous inatendus who pushed to their extreme limits, changing forever the fate of the protagonists. It’s the same with our version of the myth of Noah. Those who believe that we are just going to recycle the myth of the Old Testament may be disappointed. I was told recently that the first volume was almost too normal for Aronofsky. Well done! To say more would spoil the surprise a little.
To go along with that, I’m sure you noticed the second piece of artwork I found while touring Le Lombard’s site. Whether this is a cover image for the complete graphic novel once finished or preview art for Volume 2 I do not know. Based on the information on the page I’m guessing it’s the art for the complete volume and what exactly Noah is facing off against in that image is a mystery to me.
