ComicBook Experience

From the exhibition

*Pérégrinations d'une Comète*, from *Un Autre Monde*

J.J. Grandville · 1844

*Pérégrinations d'une Comète*, from *Un Autre Monde*
Against a ground of pure ink, Grandville stages the night sky as a ballroom. Constellations hang like chandeliers, strung with beads of pink, green, and pale blue; a row of planets glows above like footlights. In the center a comet takes the form of a reclining woman, her enormous train of stardust sweeping across the dark while a chain of tiny figures hauls it along by ropes of light. The plate, captioned as a comet's wanderings, turns astronomy into a costumed pageant. Grandville draws the cosmos the way a set designer would, every star placed for effect. This is invention for its own sake, the fantastic pushed until it becomes decoration, and it points straight toward the boundless imaginary worlds comics would later build. Color was added by hand over the printed line.

J.J. Grandville Public domain