Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology doesn’t seem primed for a graphic novel adaptation. Published in 2019 by the French economist, it focuses on wealth inequality in the US and Europe. But Abrams ComicsArt has indeed published a graphic novel, by Claire Alet and Benjamin Adam. And now we have an exclusive excerpt from the recently published book.
So, what does a graphic novel adaptation of a French economist’s book look like? You can scroll down to find out for yourself. But the gist is that Alet and Adam aimed to make the work “more accessible through the addition of a family saga. Jules, the main character, is born at the end of the 19th century,” per a release provided to Comic Book Club.
By following the rich Jules, the team explores how he, his family, and his descendants deal with the shifting tides of wealth throughout history. And in case you think there’s a lack of ambition, the book follows eight generations of Jules’s family, all the through Léa, “a young woman today, who discovers the family secret at the root of their inheritance.”
Piketty praised the graphic novel as a “magnificent adaptation” of the book and was so enamored of the format he’s now writing Spawn. Just kidding about that last part, he did like the adaptation though.
Check out the excerpt below, and click for larger versions of the pages.
