Journey with me into the depths of Earth's mysteries in the graphic novel "Extinctions: Twilight of the Species." Joining two journalists on their quest for fossils and answers in the Arctic Circle, we'll unravel the enigma of vanished creatures and explore the profound implications of mass extinctions.

Jean-Baptiste De Panafieu, a master in natural sciences, collaborates seamlessly with the artistic brilliance of Alexandre Franc to bring to life a narrative that transcends traditional graphic novels. As we venture through the pages, Panafieu, a distinguished biologist, guides us with clarity through the scientific complexities, offering a compelling and enlightening narrative.

The illustrations by Alexandre Franc are nothing short of masterful, capturing the essence of the narrative with visual eloquence that elevates the storytelling. Each panel is a testament to the seamless fusion of scientific precision and artistic prowess, creating an immersive experience that lingers in the reader's mind.

"Extinctions" delves into the heart of a crucial question: how does an entire species vanish? Panafieu skillfully guides us through the scientific labyrinth, drawing parallels between past extinctions and the ongoing sixth mass extinction. The narrative, while profound, maintains a lighthearted tone, making complex scientific concepts accessible and engaging.

This graphic novel stands as a beacon of intelligent storytelling, offering a clear, insightful, and captivating perspective on the fascinating phenomenon of mass extinctions. Whether you are a science enthusiast or an avid reader seeking a visually stunning journey, "Extinctions" promises an unparalleled odyssey through the realms of vanished species.

This graphic novel was hilarious and well-drawn, definitely worth the money and the hype, and I hope will be successful!

This is a great scientific non fiction graphic novel if you are interested in learning more about the extinction of different species! It's very accessible for younger readers!

Gorgeous artwork and a great graphic novel exploring extinction, climate change, and the environment.

This graphic novel didn’t have the art style I typically enjoy. I found it a little too busy and hard to follow. The story was overall enjoyable I just wish as a graphic novel it had art I liked.

The art was beautiful and immersive. I enjoyed reading it and it gave me food for thought long after I finished.

Extinctions by Jean-Baptiste De Panafieu and Alexandre Franc is an interesting little book that talks about the Earth’s history of extinction-level events and shows that we are most likely well into the sixth ELE due to things like global warming. This story is bookended by a framing narrative using a group of journalists and scientists doing research work on an island in The Arctic Circle. The journalists are recording some of the scientific work and have plenty of questions regarding the fossils of extinct animals they are finding. Things like what exactly an extinction event is, what causes them, when did they happen etc. It’s all covered here.

“Two journalists travel to an island in the Arctic Circle where scientists are searching for fossils of extinct animals. Like all journalists, they have a lot of questions: how is it possible for an entire species to completely disappear? Word has it that we’re in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, but what exactly does that mean? How did the first five happen? What is the scientific definition of an extinction? Alexandre Franc adeptly illustrates the narrative by Jean-Baptiste de Panafieu, a specialist in natural sciences and doctor of biological oceanology. Panafieu, who has already authored a number of popular science books, gives a clear explanation of what mass extinctions are, cleverly comparing past extinctions with the one we are witnessing now. The two authors present us with a clear, intelligent, and lighthearted perspective on a fascinating phenomenon.”

In a way, this book is somewhat like another book by Europe Comics, Underworld wherein the story was educational and somewhat like a secret textbook in some ways. This makes perfect sense as the author, Jean-Baptiste de Panafieu, (according to his publisher website) “is a professor of natural sciences and a doctor of biological oceanography, as well as a documentarian and author of numerous books including Evolution.” The book is very well researched, informative, and has a charming storyline.

The only real issue I had with this book was the font used in the word bubbles being somewhat not appropriate for an eBook edition as the handwritten style is not ideal. It was never hard to read, but the lines were broken up a bit, and I had to zoom in at times. This honestly could be because of me having a proof copy of the book in a lower resolution to what the actual purchased copy would be, but I am not certain. I will just say to take care if you are visually impaired in some way, as this could be an accessibility issue.

This is a nice little self-contained comic with a great story and a very important call-to-action. If you want to learn about extinction, and a huge textbook is not something you’d like to endure, this is actually a pretty interesting comic. historical figures are outlined, animals are explained, and scientific theories are discussed. This is definitely a comic that many would overlook here in the United States which is a shame because stuff like this would be awesome to have more of. Definitely recommended, especially for anyone studying Earth Sciences.

This is a brilliant young adult comic. I loved it so much. Its main focus is looking at all the Extinction events that has happened and the affects of climate change. Looking at what plants and animals we have lost explaining the evidence for this. It was a fascinating read and even as an adult I still learnt alot from it. I loved the pictures and the images of animals lost during these Extinction events. And it was unbelievable just how big these creatures were.  I really enjoyed the humour aswell. It says its suitable for ages 15+ but I would of thought 12+ as the kissing section was rather mild. Yes there is a strange love story in there too. I thought the colours in the pictures were great and loved how when they were talking about animals it went into a little humorous sketches. It had that air of the horrible geography type books but in colour. It held lots of very interesting facts but as they were delivered with humour you don't feel like your learning so its brilliant for any reluctant readers to get that amazing bit of knowledge into there heads. I would say this is brilliant for schools and libraries and great for home learning too. Nearer the end of the comic it moves on to looking at the affects caused by global warming trying to encourage the next generation to help slow this down to protect our planet.  Using brilliant graphics with very interesting facts. I especially loved the image of all the names of the species that are now Extinction in the most recent era. Its truly brilliant and I really can't recommend this book enough.  I even feel adults would enjoy reading and learning from it like me.
I give this book the highest praise to the author and publishers for bringing this very interesting and important comic to help our future generations to help them understand the impacts we have on our natural surroundings. 
The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, amazon UK and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/extinctions-by-jean-baptiste-de-panafieu-europe-comics-5-stars
Under either name ladyreading365 or lady Reading365

Extinctions: Twilight of the Species is a nonfiction graphic novel written by Jean-Baptiste De Panafieu, with art by Alexandre Franc. Two journalists travel to an island in the Arctic Circle where scientists are searching for fossils of extinct animals. Like all journalists, they have a lot of questions: how is it possible for an entire species to completely disappear? Word has it that we’re in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, but what exactly does that mean? How did the first five happen? What is the scientific definition of an extinction? Alexandre Franc adeptly illustrates the narrative by Jean-Baptiste de Panafieu, a specialist in natural sciences and doctor of biological oceanology. Panafieu, who has already authored a number of popular science books, gives a clear explanation of what mass extinctions are, cleverly comparing past extinctions with the one we are witnessing now. The two authors present us with a clear, intelligent, and lighthearted perspective on a fascinating phenomenon.

Extinctions: Twilight of the Species is a very well organized and informative read. There is a great deal of information here, and there are times that it can be overwhelming and others that might trigger a bunch of side research sending you down internet rabbit holes. I thought the artwork, maps, and text were all well balanced and worked together nicely to tell the whole story and the importance it holds. This is not a light read, and can fell very science heavy to those that are not expecting it. Because of that, and the less than cheery subject matter, it is not a quick or light read. However, it was the information and factual aspects of the book I liked the most. The part that I was less than happy about was the fictional aspects, which I assume were included to make this a more engaging and personal read. I was not a fan of the main character from the onset, and the inclusion of a romantic subplot just did not work for me. I loved the science and facts, and I could see that a great deal of research and work went into creating this, but I felt like the personalities of the fictional aspect did more harm than good here.

Extinctions: Twilight of the Species is a good resource to see the realities of climate change and extinctions in more detail and to better understand the topics.

This is a fun comic based around environmentalism and follows Emma and Luis, two documentary makers as they follow a scientific expedition to the Arctic Circle where they learn about the five major extinctions, the potential threat of a sixth and learn about different extinct animals and species. This comic is laid out in a number of chapters that present the scientific nature of environmentalism in a fun and accessible way, making it welcoming for younger readers, potentially middle-grade age. The humour is cute and funny. This is a really good way to introduce younger readers, or unknowledgeable older readers, to the work of Charles Lyett and Charles Darwin, and the threat of invasive species to the Arctic.

I love a graphic novel look at a complex issue. This book make the history of extinction accessible and interesting.

2.5 stars

I love nonfiction that comes in many different formats to cater to different types of people who want to learn. I was excited to get back to this format of nonfiction that reminds me of some of the science books I had as a kid.

Judging this book purely on the scientific content, I think it got the job more or less done. It was a little repetitive at times but overall okay. What I think didn't work was the format that made it so there was so much small text in each page. I think it got a little better towards the end where there were a few pages with less but bigger illustrations, but for the most part it was like 12 small panels in each page with text too small to read on my ipad without zooming in (and it got quite blurry when zooming in, so it wasn't a comfortable experience - though I can only speak for the digital ARC of it). The added bits of story were just annoying and especially the random romance felt just...distracting at first and actually infuriating at the end.

So overall I think the concept of this was good, the execution not so much, or at least it wasn't to my tastes for many different reasons.

I loved Extinctions. It's a great way to learn about species extinctions throughout the ages, be presented with scientific facts about those, and realise what the effects are of human activity (not just that) on the environment. The form of it makes it palatable, the art is great. Can only encourage people to read it.

I received a copy of the book by NetGalley but the opinions in this review are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read and review,

If you want to learn about stages of extinction and become depressed this is the book for you. There is a lot of information in here - enough to get you to go down so many internet rabbit holes (pangolins and covid being one). I liked how the sections are broken up and the pictures and maps are very informative. I did find the font very difficult to read at times; especially for the numbers.

A NetGalley graphic non-fiction book which is aimed at adults but would work for school pupils from Year 7 and above.

Two journalists join an Arctic Circle expedition to film the investigations the scientific team are making. The journalists ask questions, the scientists answer them and this is the basis of the book. This is a successful way of explaining about the different extinctions seen on the earth, These are completed in a succinct and easily understandable way with well drawn diagrams to illustrate the points made.

The pages are well laid out, there is a simple story line to keep the book moving with an unecessary romantic element to it and up to date references to climate change. It is the character of the journalist which spoils the flow of the book, she jarred with me from the start and her unlikely possible introduction of cats to the island did allow the author and illustrator to make a commentary which is valuable. An important message is at the core of the book and the reader is given many explanations to support changing behaviour, this is done in a light hearted way. Solutions are not really offered it is left to the reader to see what can be done.

The artwork was great and I actually enjoyed the story, but what ruined this for me was the main character. I couldn't stand her and thought she was annoying.

Please note that I read the translated english version of this graphic novel, not the original french.
This graphic novel takes a lot of the key facts and figures of extinctions, and the sixth mass extinction and weaves them into a narrative that is more approachable for many readers. It has a bright and colourful art style and some lovely imagery of animals past and present and can imagine many young and old will find it engaging.
As someone working in the Wildlife Conservation industry it was nice to see information laid out in this way, and you could tell this book had been well researched and was accurate, it covered a lot of topics and many which don't get taught enough in my opinion.
That being said it was a strange mix of fact and fiction for me, and the way the author tried to give out main character personality and later on romance felt forced and unnecessary. She was quite frankly annoying and it did pull me out of the story sometimes how naive she was, perhaps this story would have faired better if we had a younger main character that is just learning these things for the first time (perhaps accompanying a parent on the expedition.)
Overall not a bad read and one I am glad is in print as it has the potential to do a lot of good, just not executed as I would have preferred.

Well it's my own fault thinking a comic book titled 'Extinctions' would be a light read. It's all there in the title for you. While this comic book did do a good job of telling the facts of extinction and weaving from one tale to the next it is a heavy read that is not quick to finish. There is some lightheartedness from a small love story dropped in, but enough to make up for the heavy material. Definitely more apt for older teenagers because younger kids might find the writing dull and the premise sad. It was very factual though and well drawn.


I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

This graphic novel had a cute and fun premise, but it turned out to be very science heavy. This was not the interesting and quick read I was expecting. I am sure there is an audience out there for this title, but it is likely a small audience.

Extinctions: Twilight of the Species is excellent nonfiction, science graphic novel. Through a fictional story of scientists that go on an expedition to an island in the Arctic Ocean, we learn about mass extinctions on Earth.

This graphic novel is not a quick read because there are a lot of scientific facts, scientists, and history. But it is easy to understand and suitable also for younger readers. Some readers may find this graphic novel overwhelming, especially if they don’t care about the subject. But, for some, this can be a great way to learn about extinctions.

I liked the illustrations in a colorful, cartoonish style.

Thanks to Europe Comics for the ARC and the opportunity to read this! All opinions are my own.