“The Golden Age” Book 1 by Roxanne Moreil and Cyril Pedrosa is beautiful and profound. A story that challenges the tropes of its genre, while also creating a great story with in it.
Written by Roxanne Moreil
Illustrated by Cyril Pedrosa
A medieval saga with political intrigue reminiscent of Game of Thrones, The Golden Age is an epic graphic novel duology from Roxanne Moreil and Cyril Pedrosa about utopia and revolution…
When I really young, there were two jobs I wanted to have when I grew up: either a knight, or Robin Hood. After a few years I realized that there wasn’t much call for knights in modern society, and though we might be able to use a few more Robin Hood’s, I didn’t have the charm to pull it off. All of that is to say, that the ideas of knights and nobility, medieval stories and fantasy, are all pretty deeply ingrained on my psyche.
But, in growing older, it’s lead me to question the tropes that make up these stories. Why is it that the good, noble characters are usually just that, nobles? Why does it matter who is sitting on a throne, when I don’t think there should really be a throne at all? And why are women always either sidelined or treated terribly? These questions push through to the front of my brain whenever I try to engage with something even approaching traditional western fantasy. Which is too bad. I still love the aesthetics of knights and kings, but I hate the politics of them. Which brings me around to “The Golden Age,” a book that is able to do interesting things with both the politics and aesthetics of the genre it’s working it.
The first thing you notice upon reading “The Golden Age” are its colors. The art, by Ceril Pederosa, is striking. The book opens a single illustration, stretched out over the course of three double page spreads. Pederosa’s artwork recalls a medieval tapestry, and these pages help to strengthen that comparison. These opening pages draw you into the world, the flowing lines and brilliant colors drawing the reader in. Every scene, every location in “The Golden Age” has its own, beautiful, limited color pallet. This opening scene is made up of bright yellows and oranges. Later, there are scenes of pinks and purples, blues and maroons.
Into this beautiful opening scene, come the first characters we meet in the story. Three peasants, telling a story of someone that poached a deer. Peasants are often presented as way into stories like these. They’re allowed to set up the story, maybe even act as comic relief, or as someone to feel sorry for. While Roxanne Moreil plays with some of these tropes in her script, it also is willing to center the peasant experience at the heart of its narrative. Sure, these people are poor, sure they’re funny, but they aren’t just a prop for the lords and ladies. These are real people, and the narrative centers their needs. This is a story willing to answer one of my rhetorical questions posed above, should there even be a throne at all?
The main character of “The Golden Age” is the disposed, soon-to-be-queen Princess Tilda. After her father dies, and her young brother and the rest of the nobility stage a coup, she must travel through her kingdom, finding some sort of refuge, and hopefully working to stage a return to power. Fleeing with her are a knight and his steward. Of course, as she does this, the rest of the world is still turning. The peasants across the kingdom are revolting.
In the description of “The Golden Age,” it’s referred to as reminiscent of Game of Thrones, and in some ways I think this is an apt comparison. This is a story that questions the tropes of fantasy and plays with them in interesting ways. What it’s not, though, is the kind of nastiness and darkness that Game of Thrones is filled with.
Instead, “The Golden Age” is consistently beautiful. There is darkness in this story. But there is also beauty. Both physical beauty, because this book is truly beautiful, but also people presented in this world that are fighting for beauty. In stories with a medieval European setting, the way of the world is often left unquestioned. Things simply are the way that they are, and the best you can hope for by the end of the story is some sort of incremental change. A king or queen that, hopefully, is kind. “The Golden Age” does almost nothing but social systems around it. Whether it is the brewing peasant revolt, or the all-female commune that Tilda and her entourage takes refuge in, this is a world of people trying to shake off the oppression of feudalism.
If you’re someone like me that is always actively looking for works that challenge the systems and societies they take place in, you should definitely read “The Golden Age.” But if that isn’t what interests you, you should probably read this book anyway. Anyone that likes medieval European settings, or beautiful artwork will enjoy this. Frankly, it’s worth picking up just for the art alone. The color pallets, the flowing linework all create something that would be beautiful without context. With context, though, it’s even better.
Book 1 of “The Golden Age” leaves anxiously waiting for book 2. It’s said to be a duology, and if that’s true, I cannot wait to see what the end of this story holds. Based on this first book, this is a series that in the future will likely be added to the canon of great comic book fantasy. I, for one, can’t wait to see where this story ends up.
