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Post by robot1a on Jul 18, 2019 17:18:12 GMT -5
I think Valerian is all about opening up perspectives like good sf can. There are a lot of great non-English comics like this to be discovered, yay! Speaking of which, has anyone read The Black Moon Chronicles? I’m just curious how it compared to Valerian, but I don’t want to change the subject either. However, @beccabear is so right on. I’ve been around the block too many times that I feel qualified in saying yas, queen! |
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Post by rberman on Jul 18, 2019 19:37:45 GMT -5
Good timing for this thread; I just acquired and started reading the English edition of this series myself.
Reading the first story, I was thinking about the whole “disproportionately large bobble heads” art style was seen here, Bone, Elfquest, etc. it is obviously not photorealistic, but it is a convenient way for the artist to focus on the most dramatically interesting part of the human anatomy (the face) while still showing the body doing whatever plot requires.
The second story has a lot of Waterworld-style running around, repeatedly encountering the same three ruffians in drowned NYC. Some of it seemed like filler. The focus of global warming and rising oceans seems prescient for 1968. Wasn’t there more worry about another Ice Age back then?
I wonder whether Valérian influenced the evolution of Doctor Who, with a “time agent” of sorts being sent all over to troubleshoot continuity. But these first two stories (al I have read so far) are more about one agent mitigating the damage being done by a rogue agent, so we are not really seeing him do his normal job.
Connie Willis also has several books about a Time Institute sending agents to do research in the past. “The Doomsday Book” is about the Black Death, while “To Say nothing of the Dog” is a Victorian comedy of manners.
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Post by berkley on Jul 18, 2019 20:17:58 GMT -5
Good timing for this thread; I just acquired and started reading the English edition of this series myself. Reading the first story, I was thinking about the whole “disproportionately large bobble heads” art style was seen here, Bone, Elfquest, etc. it is obviously not photorealistic, but it is a convenient way for the artist to focus on the most dramatically interesting part of the human anatomy (the face) while still showing the body doing whatever plot requires. The second story has a lot of Waterworld-style running around, repeatedly encountering the same three ruffians in drowned NYC. Some of it seemed like filler. The focus of global warming and rising oceans seems prescient for 1968. Wasn’t there more worry about another Ice Age back then? I wonder whether Valérian influenced the evolution of Doctor Who, with a “time agent” of sorts being sent all over to troubleshoot continuity. But these first two stories (al I have read so far) are more about one agent mitigating the damage being done by a rogue agent, so we are not really seeing him do his normal job. Connie Willis also has several books about a Time Institute sending agents to do research in the past. “The Doomsday Book” is about the Black Death, while “To Say nothing of the Dog” is a Victorian comedy of manners. I wonder how disproportionate they really are - is it possible that we are influenced by superhero comics, in which I understand the proportions are a little exaggerated in the other direction in order to create that heroic, larger than life effect, so that the heads in Valerien look larger to us than they really are? I suppose you'd have to get out your ruler and measure them to put this to the test (which I have not done, it was just an idle thought). |
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Post by beccabear67 on Jul 18, 2019 21:00:26 GMT -5
John Buscema and Dick Giordano taught something about heroic proportions; x number of heads tall for a heroic figure vs. an average person. It's a treasured memory I have of seeing Mr. Giordano demonstrate with a pen this concept! You can look it up in the old 'How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way' book where J. Buscema shows an 'average' guy (though what J. Buscema character is really average?) posing with Captain America.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 18, 2019 21:17:17 GMT -5
I think Valerian is all about opening up perspectives like good sf can. There are a lot of great non-English comics like this to be discovered, yay! Speaking of which, has anyone read The Black Moon Chronicles? I’m just curious how it compared to Valerian, but I don’t want to change the subject either. However, @beccabear is so right on. I’ve been around the block too many times that I feel qualified in saying yas, queen! Haven't seen that one; but, Leo's Aldebaran cycle of stories is some great sci-fi, also from Cinebook. They've got a wide range of titles, in several genres. With sci-fi there are things like Valerian, Aldebaran, Blake & Mortimer (mix of sci-fi, mystery, espionage, adventure), Distant Worlds, Orbital, and Yoko Tsuno. For espionage/action-adventure, you have things like XIII, Lady S, Damocles, Alpha, Largo Winch, IR$, Wayne Shelton and Buck Danny (military adventure and espionage) Plenty of humor stuff, with Lucky Luke, Gomer Goof, The Bluecoats, Iznogoud, Spirou & Fantasio, Marsupilami,. Kids/all ages stuff, like Melusine, Buddy & Billy, Cedric, Yakari. Pirate stuff, with Barracuda and Long John Silver. Horror/supernatural, historical, and more. With Buck Danny, I wish they would reprint the earlier stuff, set in WW2 and after, not just the late era stuff. Be nice to see someone produce translated editions of Tangy et Laverdure, about a pair of French air force pilots. Lots of great aviation adventure, there. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 18, 2019 21:18:20 GMT -5
John Buscema and Dick Giordano taught something about heroic proportions; x number of heads tall for a heroic figure vs. an average person. It's a treasured memory I have of seeing Mr. Giordano demonstrate with a pen this concept! You can look it up in the old 'How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way' book where J. Buscema shows an 'average' guy (though what J. Buscema character is really average?) posing with Captain America. Yeah, if memory serves average is about 6 1/2 heads, while heroic is 8. |
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Post by rberman on Jul 18, 2019 21:30:47 GMT -5
My comments were specifically about Bad Dreams since we are discussing the first couple of stories at the moment.  |
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Post by berkley on Jul 18, 2019 22:43:31 GMT -5
Yeah, I think it does become a little less cartoonish as the series progresses, if memory serves.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 18, 2019 23:12:26 GMT -5
I think Valerian is all about opening up perspectives like good sf can. There are a lot of great non-English comics like this to be discovered, yay! Speaking of which, has anyone read The Black Moon Chronicles? I’m just curious how it compared to Valerian, but I don’t want to change the subject either. However, @beccabear is so right on. I’ve been around the block too many times that I feel qualified in saying yas, queen! Never heard of The Black Moon Chronicles. Now I'm curious. |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jul 19, 2019 11:37:51 GMT -5
Connie Willis also has several books about a Time Institute sending agents to do research in the past. “The Doomsday Book” is about the Black Death, while “To Say nothing of the Dog” is a Victorian comedy of manners.
I am a big fan of Willis and her series. Also notable is "Blackout"/"All Clear," a two-part story set in Britain during WW2, which is less tragic than Doomsday but less goofy than Say nothing, but still quite dramatic and excellent.
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Post by shaxper on Jul 19, 2019 21:48:17 GMT -5
Volumes 2 and 3 of The Complete Valerian arrived at my doorstep this afternoon. I wont have much time to read them over the next week or so, unfortunately, but I'll sure try!
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Post by Dizzy D on Jul 23, 2019 7:53:30 GMT -5
I think Valerian is all about opening up perspectives like good sf can. There are a lot of great non-English comics like this to be discovered, yay! Speaking of which, has anyone read The Black Moon Chronicles? I’m just curious how it compared to Valerian, but I don’t want to change the subject either. However, @beccabear is so right on. I’ve been around the block too many times that I feel qualified in saying yas, queen!
I just answered a similar question in the European comics thread: Black Moon Chronicles is a guilty pleasure, but writingwise it's nowhere close to Valerian. If you known Requiem Vampire Knight, it's very similar to do that: very violent, quite a bit of sex, no real character development, lots of dark humor.
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Post by brutalis on Jul 24, 2019 8:33:05 GMT -5
Empire of a Thousand Planets: circa October 1969 through March 1970 for printing. The Empire of a Thousand Planets is noted as a the oldest ever and a potential threat to Galaxity so of course our intrepid couple of Valerian and Laureline are off to investigate undercover. They discover on Syrte that the religious cult the Enlightened are the true holders of power. While wandering the city Laureline finds an Earth pocket watch and Val buys it for her. The watch delivers trouble as the Enlightened planted it knowing that only someone from Earth would know what it is as all Syrtiens have an innate ability to knowing time and so do not need watches.
Our Galaxity duo escape and discover beautiful and stunning aspects of the world while being pursued until they connect with Elmir who offer them assistance in sneaking into the palace. During a festival they find out the Enlightened are out to destroy Earth. Lord Vader captures Han Solo and encases him in carbonite (oops!)... I mean the helmeted leader of the Enlightened traps Valerian and puts him in an amber case which telepathically extracts information where they learn of Valerian's astro ship and Earth.
Val escapes the next morning with the assistance of Laureline and with Elmir's help they lose themselves in the city and discover Elmir is really the Merchant Guilds leader and that the world is falling apart under the control of the Enlightened and Elmir hopes that Galaxity will help to free Syrte. Calling in all Galaxity agents and their ships a great battle ensues in space. Afterwards Valerian finds that the Enlightened are actually ancient Earth astronauts from an expedition centuries ago. An accident caused them to crash on the Planetoid Slomp where they used a phosphorescent liquid to extend their life cycle beyond human limits. The Enlightened capture a Syrtien spaceship and take control of the world and plan to destroy Earth in revenge of all they have suffered.
Because of their defeat, all of the Enlightened commit mass suicide and destroy their giant mechanical temples and Syrte is free of tyranny.
Wowzer, is this one fully packed story using lots of science fiction tropes. Earth spacemen lost exploring space to becoming revengeful eternal fanatics bent on destruction. Wondrous world full of exquisite forms of beauty and splendor. Gigantic spaceship battles. A merchant's Guild fighting against the corrupt religious cult in control, a deteriorating society where machines self repair and everyone has forgotten how to fix or do things for themselves. The Undercover agents of Earth exposing themselves from their own folly. A giant city that is in and of itself a vast market place.
This one story marks a changing point for the series. Much less humor and whimsy in the story itself and the art begins to move away from the cartoon aspects and develops more stylistically. We get the 1st introduction of Valerian and Laureline's spaceship, gorgeous details of the planet Syrte and it's creatures and populace. Considering this was crafted over 40 years ago, you can see the creativity and spectacular ideas and designs which helped to set the idea's and standards of science fiction and fantasy comics (and television and movies as well) for decades to come.
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Post by shaxper on Jul 24, 2019 8:43:11 GMT -5
Bringing the next two volumes on a trip with me tonight. Hopefully, I will get a chance to read some. I had a little down time this morning, but I used it to try Asterix, a French comic that has attained legendary status in their culture, apparently.  Sorry to say I didn't really see the appeal. Back to Valerian and Laureline! |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 24, 2019 10:34:30 GMT -5
Bringing the next two volumes on a trip with me tonight. Hopefully, I will get a chance to read some. I had a little down time this morning, but I used it to try Asterix, a French comic that has attained legendary status in their culture, apparently. Sorry to say I didn't really see the appeal. Back to Valerian and Laureline! Asterix depends greatly on the volume. A lot of the jokes play better to a French-speaking crowd, as many are built around national stereotypes, though more from a Franco-Belgian POV. I tried starting with Asterix the Gaul and it was okay. They get much better as they progress.. I picked up one of the late era ones, when we had it at B&N, which satirized modern comics. The US was represented by a superhero and Japan by a manga mecha. It seemed a bit out of touch, compared to the classic volumes, and was mostly complaining about how American and (especially) Japanese comics had flooded the European market. |
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