Asterix: like most European comics*, it will take a few issues to completely flesh out the concept and get to the really good comics (for that matter, I think the really good Valerian and Laureline comics are also a few issues in). I think around Cleopatra, the series becomes good and around The Roman Agent, it becomes really good. (And then takes a nosedive after Goscinny dies).

Keep in mind for Asterix: it requires a bit of foreknowledge of Roman history, French culture and European cultures to get all the jokes and subtext.

* For instance:
Lucky Luke starts to get good around the Dalton Cousins and also nosedives after Goscinny dies.
Spirou: Switches creative teams a lot, but the best stories are Franquin and for him around Pirates of Silence (though I think especially in Franquin's case, I see an improvement from issue to issue over the years).

I don't think this is actually a thing in just European comics, in many American comics I do think that it takes the creative teams often some time to find their voice for a character or for a couple of creative teams to finally develop a character into something unique/interesting. For many series, it also requires the creative team having set up a world, its characters and premise before introducing a twist/playing with the standard premise, but the twist does not work without the groundwork**.

If you want to try out a new comic series, I think it's very rare where I would actually recommend issue #1 as the one to try out. For instance, if my nephews ever wanted to read Batman, I would never give them a reprint of Bob Kane's work.
Or a more recent example: the Image Comic Fairlady started recently and I quite like it so far. The premise is a series of standalone detective stories in a fantasy world. 4 issues out, but the first issue is a terrible first issue IMHO. It is a bit a somber story with the main character trying to find a missing girl, but spending most of the issue silent as she reads through the girl's diary. I would recommend somebody wanting to try out the series to start with the second issue: the main character is hired to investigate the death of man, who has been killed by a dragon, but nobody has seen dragons around for years. The second issue has a straight forward mystery, the main character is more active and you get more of the world she inhabits and her place in it.

Similar thing for manga, though there are a lot of manga where I like the original premise and once it gets going, it turns into a more standard story and I really like the first few chapters far more than the later.

**= For example, I heard that DC was planning a movie version of the Teen Titans: Judas Contract. A story I don't think will work well in a movie, because without getting to know the main characters first and their relationship with Terra, the betrayal will feel empty. Similar to all the Dark Phoenix movie adaptions: give Jean time to be her own person, before you throw in the Dark Phoenix.


Mmm.. ended up a bit more rambling than I intended. I hope I'm still making sense. Anyway the short version: the first issue may set up an interesting premise, but it rarely is the best story in a series. If you want to try something, especially in the field of European comics, where standalone stories are very common, you will get a more accurate impression if you pick up issue 8 or 12 or so.

By Ambassador of the Shadows, she’s the undisputed star of the book. Valerian becomes sort of her goofy yet loveable sidekick.

They do tend to be more Spacio than Temporal Agents.

Of course, you can say the same about Doctor Who, really.

Finally got through The Ambassador of Shadows tonight, and something really went wrong with this one. The concept of Point Central is an intriguing one that probably could have been explored with more depth, and giving Laureline the center spotlight while Valerean was out of action for most of the story should have been fun, but I found this one nearly impossible to read. I can't decide if it was Christin, Mezieres, or the English translator, but I was completely lost on so much of what was going on (I still don't know what Laureline decided to do with those Earth ships at the end) and generally didn't enjoy myself. First real disappointment of the series.

Ordered the first three single story editions... I used to have #3 in the older Dargaud edition, also had what is listed as #6, Ambassador Of The Shadows. Does Cinebook have these in the right chronology?

The Land Without Stars has our boy Valerian and lady Laureline playing as Earth representative's to several new world's when they find giant barren planet hurtling towards the planets they have been visiting. Turns out the "planet" is not so barren as they traverse into the center of the planetoid finding it to be hollow with a whole world and civilization living inside (shades of ERB) with three individual races. First met are the Lemm People who extract Flogums and sell it to the other 2 warring races one male dominant and the other female dominant. Talk about your symbiosis relationships! The Lemm are for the most part docile and roving across their world in traveling homes built upon the backs of giant crawling centipedes collecting the explosive Flogums. 

Val and Laureline split up in attempts to enter the 2 other cities in hopes of finding a way to save everyone. Here again Valerian is for the most part the "central" figure of the story and yet Laureline is provided the stronger interaction and characterization as she is quickly becoming the more interesting person. Laureline even admits that she likes missions where we get to wear costumes, and she is given plenty of designer outfit changes from an overly clothed wanderer until she becomes the Emperor's favorite and shows a lot of sultry sexiness in her face painted "Arabian" harem outfit. Val goes on to become a warrior pet of the Amazonian like city which he goes into. Of course he excels in their games learning how to use their exotic animal based weaponry (very creative and interesting while a mere throw away concept, captures the alieness of the world) and when the 2 cities eventually go to war Val is going great guns in the attack until Laureline shoots him down (a funny recurring relationship concept given visualization?) from his flying insect. The 2 love bugs (sorry, couldn't resist) finally utilize their communicators and hatch a plan to capture the 2 city leaders and show them the danger that they face. 

Taking the leaders out from inside their world the Queen and Emperor are amazed at the world outside Zahir. Valerian has devised a plan utilizing the Flogums and Galaxity's science to send the planet in to orbit alongside the other planets in the solar system. All goes well and everyone ends up happily ever after as the 2 societies merge and become a part of the new order of things.

Again the story flows along more science fiction motif's and yet the alien world is almost more fantasy driven. The storytelling and artistry are now coming into their own and the designs are truly spectacular and stunning in providing depth for the concepts. Val is still playing the heroic if somewhat flawed (getting drunk) lead with Laureline as his sultry sidekick who is beginning to show more smarts and character. While the story remains somewhat lesser than the art (truly love the sailing ships in the skies, centipede homes  and insect weaponry) there is plenty to both aspects to truly enjoy. A very nice adventure for our heroic duo which also begins to show off the banter and love and fun which will all become part of the joys of this series. 

Yeah, I’m surprised too... It’s my second favourite book in the series!

The nefarious colonialist attitude of Earth, the uprising of the exploited janitors of Central Point, Laureline taking center stage and the overall humour all contributed to make Ambassador of the Shadows a pretty cool story in my opinion.

It felt like it was built on a huge backstory; one that we didn’t actually need to understand the plot, but that made the whole thing very intriguing and believable (like the first few chapters of Dune, say). 

And the grumpy transmuter from Bluxte... What a great addition!