The Empire of a Thousand Planets (Valerian & Laureline)

Jean-Claude Mezieres and Pierre Christin is two of the Rocks of European comics. I grew up with these and love every one of Jean-Claude Mezieres illustrated books.The series is virtually without peers, being probably the first in the gene and also possible the best, without a doubt the early stories are the most amazing, with the later becoming more predictable. But since this is only the second in the series, it is simply wonderful.You owe it to yourself to collect the complete series as it come out.Having said that... here is the down side, these were written in French, while this is a UK publisher, this particular translation is not as elegant as one could hope for, it seems at times like it was a google translate thing with awkward sentences and prose. or like it was translated by a French high-school student with mistakes like "He spaceship" - guys in English most spaceships are genderless. Sigh. I really do not mean to insult the actual translator, who clearly is quite tallented, I realize it is a big challenging task, but I do feel there is room for improvement in terms of elegant English.*No disrespect for French high school students, we all gotta learn sometime.** YES, I am aware my written English is horrible, I did in fact read this series in the original language, but having lived 20 years in California, I can appreciate popper English translation, or the lack of same.So, while I highly encourage you to purchase and read this particular comic and the series for that matter. I also politely, express the hope for a more inspired translation of the next editions.

Another entertaining tale of the adventures in a futuristic setting. I love how they go on a mission then have odd circumstances that somehow circle back to an epic ending. Be cognizant of the time these were written as there are some undertones of stereotypes in the interactions of Valerian & Laureline, but their banter allows the reader to overlook it. Only downside is how brief the volumes are.

The 2nd book in the series is capturing a full, imaginative story in relatively short format - the storyline is interesting and fast-paced... partially even bit too much so as nuances of very detailed drawings easily get lost without reading the story over and over again. In this book Laureline is already rising to be equal partner to Valerian and is starting to gain more visibility and in all the ideas work well so no wonder this has been clearly one of the series, that inspired Star Wars makers.Well worth reading...and there are still better stories waiting in the series

Fantastic looking comics. The translation does seem to be a little plain or uninspired, but I assume they're pretty straight forward. A really fun looks at 60s Sci-Fi in the vein of STAR WARS and DOCTOR WHO, but that is more likely to have influenced those franchises than to be influenced by them.Keep your eye out for a lot ideas, designs and imagery that have been used across the Star Wars films.

A must read. Absolutely gorgeous and with great concepts. It has a very simple story compared to todays plot lines so don't expect a whole lot. A very quick read.

These 40 year old comics are the source material for the new movie... and the comics are even better in many ways (though their age also shows). There's also clear inspiration for Star Wars and other visually spectacular science fiction stories in here (particularly in this episode)... the comics are a surprisingly big piece of science fiction history, and I now consider them a must read. Also, the characters and stories are fantastic fun, in a very 60's Star Trek way actually. :)

I grew up with these comics and I love them since they first came out in the 1970s. Every page is like an animated film in pictures, made with love and care to the sequential storytelling. As far as the stories go, they are like a great retro-futuristic mixture of  John Carter of Mars , James Bond 007 , and  Doctor Who , if I can put it this way. Each episode is packed with action and adventure, so I highly recommend it to all classic sci-fi fans. It is family-friendly, good for all ages, and it is fun-in-all-sub-genres!

This volume was a lot of fun. I am even more impressed with the film because it was a new Valerian & Laureline story. This book was pretty good, too.

With the movie "City of a thousand planets" coming out this summer I felt that I couldn't call myself a good cartoonist unless I had read the graphic novel before hand. And I can safely say I was not disappointed. I have read many an English translations of French comics, and there is always the feeling that something is being left out in the translation. Not so with Empire, the translation was impeccable and I became immersed in the story. The story itself was very creative, it may feel a little retread but that's because the Valerian and Lauraline stories inspired many contemporary works of science fiction.My only issues were with the muted broad colours and frenetic pacing, both of which are the result of the serialized nature of the original run.So how much did I like it? Let's just say my copy of "City of shifting waters " should be delivered tomorrow.

I bought because of the movie, but this graphic novel is so much more than that!!!

I quite enjoyed this second volume!As a star wars fan, I was amazed at the similarities, and soon understood that this story came before G. Lucas designed star wars, probably it had a major influence on it!I love scyfi and usually I don’t read it but watch it on TV.Reading a grafic novel is the best of both worlds, will certainly continue this series!

Der Comic ist toll gemacht und zeigt sich auf der Kindle App (I Pad Pro) in vollständigen Seiten sowie auch auf dem Kindle Reader aber ich bevorzuge es in bunt.

Gift for husband, he loved it! Book was in perfect condition!