{"id":12712,"date":"2014-11-16T09:00:34","date_gmt":"2014-11-16T09:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=12712"},"modified":"2017-09-03T15:13:55","modified_gmt":"2017-09-03T15:13:55","slug":"valerian-and-laureline-book-7-on-the-false-earths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2014\/11\/16\/valerian-and-laureline-book-7-on-the-false-earths\/","title":{"rendered":"Valerian and Laureline book 7: On the False Earths"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy M\u00c3\u00a9zi\u00c3\u00a9res<\/strong> & Christin<\/strong>, with colours by E. Tranl\u00c3\u00a9<\/strong> and translated by <\/strong>Jerome Saincantin<\/strong> (Cinebook)
\nISBN: 978-1-84918-190-7<\/p>\n

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Stellar Entertainment to last the year through\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Val\u00c3\u00a9rian and Laureline<\/em> is the most influential science fiction comics series ever created; an innovation-packed, Big-Ideas bonanza stuffed with wry observation, knowing humour, intoxicating action and sardonic sideswipes at contemporary mores and prejudices.<\/p>\n

As Val\u00c3\u00a9rian: Spatio-Temporal Agent<\/strong> the strip debuted in the weekly Pilote<\/strong><\/em> #420 (November 9th<\/sup> 1967) and was an instant hit. It rapidly evolved into its current designation as his feisty, fire-headed sidekick developed into the equal partner – if not scene-stealing star – of light-hearted, fantastically imaginative, visually stunning, time-travelling, space-warping fantasies which nevertheless always found room to propound a satirical, humanist ideology and let loose telling fusillades of political commentary.<\/p>\n

At first tough, bluff Valerian<\/em> was an affable, capable (if unimaginative), by-the-book space cop tasked with protecting official universal chronology (at least as per Terran Empire standards) by intercepting or counteracting paradoxes caused by incautious time-travellers.<\/p>\n

When Val\u00c3\u00a9rian landed in 11th<\/sup> century France during debut tale ‘Les Mauvais R\u00c3\u00aaves<\/em> (‘Bad<\/em> Dreams’<\/em> and infuriatingly still not translated into English yet), he was rescued from doom by a capable young woman named Laureline<\/em>. He brought her back to the 28th<\/sup> century super-citadel and administrative capital of the Terran Empire, Galaxity<\/em>, where the indomitable female firebrand trained as a spatiotemporal operative and began accompanying him on all his missions.<\/p>\n

On the False Earths<\/strong> originally appeared in the newly monthly Pilote<\/strong><\/em><\/strong> (issues #M31 to M34 (30th<\/sup> November 1976 -1st<\/sup> March 1977) before being collected as seventh album Sur le terres truqu\u00c3\u00a9es<\/strong><\/em><\/strong> – spectacularly reinforcing the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153spatiotemporal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d aspect of our heroes through a beguiling cosmic conundrum\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The story starts in frantic full flow as a very familiar figure fights valiantly and dies ignominiously during a pitched battle in 19th<\/sup> century Colonial India. He doesn’t go easy, however, using his ray gun to disintegrate an attacking tiger before beaming back crucial data stolen from a sinister maharaja equipped with technology he simply shouldn’t have\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

In deep space distraught Laureline sees her man die, but her protests are ignored by heartless, man-despising historian Jadna<\/em>. The scholar cares little for the oafish warrior undertaking a top secret mission for her. After all, there’s plenty more where he came from\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

That’s literally the case as, a little later, another Valerian infiltrates Victorian London Society, breaking into a swank Gentleman’s Club and crashing a meeting of the Empire’s greatest movers and shakers. Once again these potentates are communicating with a hidden high-tech master, and once again the star cop expires trying to determine the mastermind’s exact whereabouts.<\/p>\n

He resurfaces in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1895 where enquiries arouse the wrath of the local tongs. This Valerian perishes after noting an increasing number of anachronisms – such as an Easy Rider on a chopped Harley Davidson motorbike\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

From their secure vantage point on a vast satellite Jadna and Laureline see their agent expire in another artificially constructed historical microcosm. The callous historian ruminates on their mystery opponent: a being capable of reshaping matter, crafting perfect little worlds and recreating human eras with the skill of a master artist whilst remaining utterly hidden from all their probing searches. If the enigma hadn’t been detected rifling through Terran time zones – presumably for research – no one would even know of its existence\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The creator’s simulacrums are progressively advancing through brutal but significant periods of Terran history, but each visit by Valerian brings the investigation team closer to the mysterious maker’s actual location. Soon our hero is cautiously exploring a slice of Belle \u00c3\u2030poque France, but his enigmatic quarry is cognizant of the constant intrusions and has taken a few liberties with verisimilitude.<\/p>\n

Waiting in ambush for Valerian are American gangsters with Tommyguns\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Rubbed out before he can even begin, Valerian is swiftly replaced by another short-lived duplicate whilst the original and genuine lies comatose in a clone-command tank. This last rapid substitution, however, finally allows the watching women to zero in on their target’s true location and they instantly shift their ship through the universal continua to reach the incredible being’s astounding base\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and none too soon, as Jadna posits that the creature’s next construction will most likely be World War I\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

She is proved painfully correct. As they ready themselves for a confrontation with the maker Laureline and the scholar realise that the astral citadel is a perfect replica of a Great War battlefield. Seizing the initiative Jadna activates and musters all the remaining clones – as well as the original McCoy – programming them to play the marauding \u00e2\u20ac\u0153boche\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in an apocalyptic re-enactment simply as a diversion to allow her to get to the impossibly powerful being she so admires\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Caught up in the incomprehensible slaughter and its bizarre aftermath the two spatiotemporal agents can only watch in astonishment as Jadna and the seemingly all-powerful artisan discover just how much they have in common\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Trenchant, barbed, socially aware and ethically crusading, Valerian and Laureline stories never allow message to overshadow fun and wonder and On the False Earths<\/strong> is one of the sharpest, most intriguing sagas M\u00c3\u00a9zi\u00c3\u00a9res & Christin ever concocted, complete with a superb twist in the tale to delight and confound even the most experienced starfarer.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a9 Dargaud Paris, 1977 Christin, M\u00c3\u00a9zi\u00c3\u00a9res & Tran-L\u00e1\u00bb\u2021. All rights reserved. English translation \u00c2\u00a9 2014 Cinebook Ltd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By M\u00c3\u00a9zi\u00c3\u00a9res & Christin, with colours by E. Tranl\u00c3\u00a9 and translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook) ISBN: 978-1-84918-190-7 Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Stellar Entertainment to last the year through\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 9\/10 Val\u00c3\u00a9rian and Laureline is the most influential science fiction comics series ever created; an innovation-packed, Big-Ideas bonanza stuffed with wry observation, knowing humour, intoxicating action and … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Valerian and Laureline book 7: On the False Earths”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[63,132,107,223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-european-classics","category-older-kids","category-science-fiction","category-valerian"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-3j2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}