Le Transperceneige (The Snow-Piercer) is the story of a train, 1,001 cars long, traversing the world in the middle of an ice age that has driven humanity to the brink of extinction. Those at the front of the train live in comfort, or outright luxury but those in the back are crammed together like cattle, 24-7. The story follows Proloff, a man from the tail section who finds himself being brought to the front of the train, witnessing striking testaments to the class disparity, and inadvertently putting the train itself in jeopardy.
The story had multiple spin-off comics, and is better-known for being the basis of the acclaimed movie Snowpiercer and the TV series, also titled Snowpiercer.
Tropes:
- Anti-Hero: Proloff is more of an Audience Surrogate who, while not a bad man, simply wants to improve his own situation rather than enact change.
- Benevolent Boss: In the prequel comic, Zheng is seen thanking the workers helping build the train and offering them places onboard.
- Cult: There are many residents of the front section in stereotypical garb who worship the engine as a God they call “Saint Loco”.
- Cool Train: The train itself, 1001 cars long, powered by an engine capable of perpetual motion and able to support and sustain thousands for many years completely sealed off from outside support. Sadly the actual society on the train is a dystopic disaster area.
- The Suspiciously Similar Substitute in the sequels, the Icebreaker (140 cars long), is even more capable. Unlike the first train it can actually stop occasionally, is much bigger and can even go off rail and across terrain. It also has the ability to launch aircraft. Sadly it still has serious internal problems that nearly wipe out train and crew many times over the three stories it appears in.
- Deadly Distant Finale: Puig Valles, the main Icebreaker character, is seen dying of old age in the final one of those stories, while observing signs of the Earth getting better.
- Disaster Scavengers: The explorers aboard the Icebreaker are sent out in helicopters to try to scavenge from the frozen Earth.
- Downer Ending: Proloff is left steering the train, maddened and alone while the disease he brought has apparently wiped out everyone else onboard.
- Driven to Suicide: Proloff recounts the story of a man who once was allowed a whole car to himself and hanged himself, presumably due to finding the feeling overpowering and realizing how it wouldn’t last.
- Eco-Terrorist: The prequel comics blame ecological terrorists for accelerating the world's destruction with Mad Sciencist tactics.
- Foregone Conclusion: Zigzagged in the prequel comics. It is clear that there will be an extinction level event, which some of the first book involves trying to prevent. Whether or not this trope also indicates that Zheng's train will turn into as bad as a tyranny as the other versions is unclear, given how there are multiple snow piercer trains (although none of the others are mentioned in that comic) and the likes of Alec Forrester or Wilford from the movie don't seem to be involved in making his train.
- Full-Circle Revolution: The Icebreaker lower class pushing out their leaders and installing one of their own, Laura, proves less ideal than expected when she blames the main characters for things going wrong and is willing to sell them out as well.
- Hidden Elf Village: The prequel comics have Zheng intend his train as this (maybe minus the hidden part) preserving genetic samples, art music and such along with lots of people as society collapses around them.
- Internal Reformist: Adeline isn’t exactly at the front of the train herself, but she is housed better than the tailies and has been striving to see them integrated into the rest of the train.
- Just Before the End: The prequel comic Extinction covers the time period immediately preceding the ice age, while another prequel Apocalypse follows the middle of the ice age with 20% of the world's population dead, and the fight for places on a train.
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Averted in the sequel comic. The Icebreaker leadership maintains an illusion that the out-of-control Snowpiercer is somewhere ahead of them for the purposes of fear and control, when really they hit the Snowpiercer and survived the impact years ago. The witnesses to the truth, the Sole Survivor of the explorers, who were sent to the Snowpiercer, and Proloff, who was taken off of it, aren't killed, but they are kept locked up in seclusion to keep them from spreading the word.
- Meaningful Name: Belauegered laborer Proloff's name comes from "Prole", member of the working class (proletariat).
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: It becomes clear that Proloff is sick and, in his efforts to escape his squalor, is spreading his disease throughout the train.
- Non-Idle Rich: Val, the Icebreaker president's daughter, works maintaining a virtual reality chamber.
- One Judge to Rule Them All: In the prequel, Zheng says that anyone can apply to be on his train, but he makes the final call on who gets on based on what skills they have due to it being his train.
- President Evil: The President in charge of the train is a power-hungry elitist who is willing to let everyone in the tail section die. The head of the Icebreaker in the sequels is no prize either, maintaining control through manipulation.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Alec Forrester, the train's inventor and engineer, is a bit misanthropic but lacks the classism of the other first-class passengers and loyally works to keep the train running and everyone alive while allowing Proloff a chance to take part in this.
- Safe Zone Hope Spot: Double subverted. The Icebreaker crosses a frozen ocean, looking for a radio signal. They find the place empty and an automated signal. Then it turns out a nearby group has been surviving underground. Unfortunately, that group has pretty sinister intentions towards the Icebreaker passengers, and it's ultimately better for them to just pack up and leave, with many of the residents of the area actually leaving it with them because it's so bad.
- Sex Slave: Many female tail section residents are taken and put to work in a brothel.
- There Is Another: The follow-up comics show Proloff's train to be just one among many. Terminus later reveals the film Snowpiercer was yet another train, and that eventually, both survivor groups met up and merged. The Titan comics timeline, published just before the TV show started, indicates that it takes place in the same universe. As that train is clearly not any of the three known trains, it must be a fourth one.
- Terminus also reveals a group that survived underground in the Americas and deals with what happens when they and Icebreaker encounter each other. That story also claims that there were originally ten trains, and most have wrecked, or found a place to stop in that time period.
- Wealthy Philanthropist: Mr. Zheng from the prequel era was a charitable billionaire before building Asia's snow piercer and tries to create a more class-equal system on his Hidden Elf Village train, at least in the planning stage.
- Women Are Wiser: Proloff’s companion and love interest, Adeline, is more socially conscious and, at times, more practical than he is.
