Valerian and Laureline Book 2: The Empire of a Thousand Planets
Valerian and Laureline Book 2: The Empire of a Thousand Planets, by Pierre Christin & Jean-Claude Mézières, Cinebook
ONTO A world where Aztec headgear seems to be the fashion for priests who rule over all they survey and the ruling prince spaces himself out while having his every whim pandered to, arrive our intrepid heroes Valerian and Laureline. Undercover, they are there attempting to find out if the planet Syrte could present a future danger to their home one of Earth.
Our heroes don’t go unnoticed for long, forcing them to be separated and go their own ways as the plot unfolds and the adventure expands taking in some delightfully created alien landscapes, buildings and alien types from the old style school of sci-fi for which this book was first created back in the seventies.
Mézières’ figure art lends itself towards cartooning, but it’s generally a heroic undertaking in a potted epic filled with incident and characters that we’re offered in this book, rather than being played for comic effect. True, Christin may have his leads being light-hearted or the story appearing part tongue in cheek at times, but his intent is earnest, though perhaps pushing an ideological, philosophical or even political viewpoint here and there in ways that don’t quite gel. But then that’s being commented on about a book that was written 40ish years ago by a grown up about a book initially intended in the main for kids. The fact that it’s still a good romp gives it a thumbs up.
With decidedly less time and space hopping around, this is a much more linear read than the debut Valerian and Laureline book published in English by Cinebook, and all the better for it.
For more information on Valerian and Laureline visit Cinebook.
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