Book Cover
Title Les Mauvais Rêves
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2006
First Printing Dargaud - 1969
Book Cover
Title La Cité des eaux mouvantes
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2006
First Printing Dargaud - 1970
Book Cover
Title L'Empire des mille planètes
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2006
First Printing Dargaud - 1996
Book Cover
Title Le Pays sans étoile
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2006
First Printing Dargaud - 1972
Book Cover
Title Bienvenue sur Alflolol
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2006
First Printing Dargaud - 1972
Book Cover
Title Les Oiseaux du Maître
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2006
First Printing Dargaud - 2073
Book Cover
Title L'Ambassadeur des Ombres
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2011
First Printing Dargaud - 1975
Book Cover
Title Sur les terres truquées
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2011
First Printing Dargaud - 1977
Book Cover
Title Les Héros de l'équinoxe
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2011
First Printing Dargaud - 1978
Book Cover
Title Métro Châtelet direction Cassiopée
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2009
First Printing Dargaud - 1980
Book Cover
Title Brooklyn Station, Terminus Cosmos
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2009
First Printing Dargaud - 1981
Book Cover
Title Les Spectres d'Inverloch
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2009
First Printing Dargaud - 1984
Book Cover
Title Les Foudres d'Hypsis
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2009
First Printing Dargaud - 1985
Book Cover
Title Sur les frontières
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2011
First Printing Dargaud - 1988
Book Cover
Title Les Armes vivantes
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2011
First Printing Dargaud - 1990
Book Cover
Title Les Cercles du pouvoir
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2011
First Printing Dargaud - 1994
Book Cover
Title Otages de l'Ultralum
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2012
First Printing Dargaud - 1996
Book Cover
Title L'Orphelin des astres
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2012
First Printing Dargaud - 1998
Book Cover
Title Par des temps incertains
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2012
First Printing Dargaud - 2001
Book Cover
Title Au bord du Grand Rien
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2012
First Printing Dargaud - 2004
Book Cover
Title L'Ordre des Pierres
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2012
First Printing Dargaud - 2007
Book Cover
Title L'OuvreTemps
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2012
First Printing Dargaud - 2010
Book Cover
Title Souvenirs de futurs
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2013
First Printing Dargaud - 2013
Book Cover
Title L'avenir est avancé
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2019
First Printing Dargaud - 2019
Book Cover
Title Par les chemins de l'espace
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 1997
First Printing Dargaud - 1979
Book Cover
Title L'armure du Jakolass
Author Manu Larcenet
Ilustrator Manu Larcenet
Publisher Dargaud - 2011
First Printing Dargaud - 2011
Book Cover
Title Shingouzlooz Inc
Author Wilfrid Lupano
Ilustrator Mathieu Lauffray
Publisher Dargaud - 2017
First Printing Dargaud - 2017
Book Cover
Title Pilote - Spécial Valérian
Author Pierre Christin
Ilustrator Jean-Claude Mézières
Publisher Dargaud - 2017
First Printing Dargaud - 2017
Category Science Fiction
Warnings ---
Main Characters Valérian, Laureline, les Shingouz, le Schnarfeur, Albert, le Transmuteur Grognon
Main Elements Aliens, Time Travel
Website ---




Click to read the summaryLes Mauvais Rêves

Click to read the summaryLa Cité des eaux mouvantes

Click to read the summaryLe Pays sans étoile

Click to read the summaryBienvenue sur Alflolol

Click to read the summaryLes Oiseaux du Maître

Click to read the summaryL'Ambassadeur des Ombres

Click to read the summarySur les terres truquées

Click to read the summaryLes Héros de l'équinoxe

Click to read the summaryMétro Châtelet direction Cassiopée

Click to read the summaryBrooklyn Station, Terminus Cosmos

Click to read the summaryLes Spectres d'Inverloch

Click to read the summaryLes Foudres d'Hypsis

Click to read the summarySur les frontières

Click to read the summaryLes Armes vivantes

Click to read the summaryLes Cercles du pouvoir

Click to read the summaryOtages de l'Ultralum

Click to read the summaryL'Orphelin des astres

Click to read the summaryPar des temps incertains

Click to read the summaryAu bord du Grand Rien

Click to read the summaryL'Ordre des Pierres

Click to read the summaryL'OuvreTemps

Click to read the summarySouvenirs de futurs

Click to read the summaryL'avenir est avancé

Click to read the summaryPar les chemins de l'espace

Click to read the summaryL'armure du Jakolass

Click to read the summaryShingouzlooz Inc

Click to read the summaryPilote - Spécial Valérian




I'm doing an SF-themed reading year and didn't want to limit myself to a single language, nor to a single format. I was checking out what was on TV and noticed Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, which I had seen before, but it reminded me that there was a based on a French comic book series (it is old enough that "graphic novel" wasn't the term) and since it was so famous I was pretty sure my library would have it, and would have it in its original French. I was right.

So as expected, the first collection of three was showing it's age. The art style felt like it came from the 60's, and well, what other decade would assume that in the 1980's people would have to dress up like hippies to be able to blend in! It also happily blurs the line of science fiction (you've got space ships, time travel, aliens, etc) and fantasy (there's magic in the first book). However the adventures were still fun, with your classic villains trying to take over the world and the Valerian/Laureline duo trying to save it, good classic SF fun. I look forward to seeing how the series evolve since it spans decades.

Sometimes I have to admit, I have no idea what's going on. No, not the bits where the authors do want the readers to work at figuring out what's going on, but at the moments they explain what's happening, I still don't necessarily get it. I mean there was this whole scene where God looks like ganster, Jesus a hippy and the Holy Ghost is a...slot machine? I got something out of the representations, but I didn't get how it solved what was happening in the plot, since I never really figured out what was happening in the plot. Something about nuclear weapons and ghost ships and in the end that attempting to change the future will just result in creating that very future and Galaxity is vanishing...well, at least I really liked the squid creature Ralph in that one.

As the series continued, I think it started making more fun of itself. At some point Valerian and Laureline are unemployed, they still have their ship but no funds to maintain it, so they have to go on money making adventures that tended to result in quite funny moments. There were a few times I had to stop reading I was laughing so hard.

As you get towards the end, one really appreciates the recurring characters that pop up, especially in the last book where everyone gets to show their face again, villain and ally alike. And then there are two books, published after then end of the series, the first retells some of the stories from the point of view of the other characters and that was a lot of fun. If there was a theme in the second I didn't quite catch it, just felt fairly random.


Par les chemins de l'espace is a collection of short stories, set very early in the series. Thus we mainly see Valerian by himself, and since he's alone, he's forced to actually talk to himself which is sort of amusing, a non-stop monologue to explain to the reader what is going on. Valerian does show up briefly in a couple of them (and gets turned into an infant in one). Silly little tales of Valerian getting into trouble and having to get himself out of the messes he created.


L'armure du Jakolass - this was a book where another artist was allowed to invent his own Valerian tale. He had him body-switched into one of his own creations. I must admit I wouldn't read that original series, an ugly, drunk, smoker character (who looks like his butt is in front of him) doesn't appeal to me...but oh, it can be funny if you think Valerian is somewhere in there and they need to get him out. I spent a lot of time laughing with this one.


Shingouzlooz Inc - again another artists tried their hand at creating a Valerian tale, a crazy romp where everything that could go wrong will go wrong, and yes, things can always get worse! It was fun but it wasn't as fun as L'armure du Jakolass


Pilote - Spécial Valérian - I thought this might actually turn out boring, I wasn't too interested in reading about author biographies and such, but the articles about the origins of SF in France were interesting, so were their overviews of the fiction and movies. Of course best of all where the short tributes many artists did for the Valerian series. Sometimes it was a tribute to the author/artist, sometimes the artists characters got to interact with Valerian or Laureline, sometimes it was a pure Valerian & Laureline story, but they were all funny, I rarely laughed so hard. It will be hard to return this one to the library!




Posted: September 2022

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