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Galaxity, la tierra del siglo XXIV, es una sociedad del ocio. Aparte de los tecnócratas que ejecutan tareas básicas y los agentes del espacio-tiempo que velan por la seguridad, toda la gente se pasa el tiempo soñando en la realidad virtual. Xombul, el jefe del servicio de sueños, sabotea el sistema y huye al pasado. Su idea es reemplazar la «decadente» Galaxity por un imperio neo-medieval y guerrero que «regenerará» la raza humana.

Valerian lo encuentra en el primer milenio, donde Xombul codicia los secretos mágicos del brujo Albéric. En su viaje se encuentra con Laureline, una astuta joven que descubre la identidad de Valerian y termina acompañándolo a Galaxity, donde también se convierte en agente espacio-temporal.

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

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About the author

Pierre Christin

209 books117 followers
Pierre Christin was a French comics creator and writer.

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5 stars
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3 stars
173 (51%)
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50 (14%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
Profile Image for Daniel.
813 reviews74 followers
September 16, 2017
Interesantan nacin na koji su se Valerijan i Lorelina upoznali. Magije i akcije kolko zelis u ovoj SF prici. Sa druge strane strasna mi je sudbina covecantsva u ovoj buducnosti. Niko nema sta da radi pa svi manje vise samo spavaju i sanjaju vestacke snove dok se sacica njih brine da sve radi kako treba. Brrrrr.

Plus kako je ona postala agent kada je dosla kako je dosla, nema nekih kontrola ili sta vec. Mogli su ipak jos koju stranu posvetiti tome.
Profile Image for Veronique.
1,370 reviews224 followers
November 21, 2016
3.5

Valerian et Laureline is one the classic scifi comics series, which started in 1967. Since then these comics have entertained many readers as well as influenced many movie makers and scriptwriters.

This 0 album is not the first one in publication but tells the original meeting between our heroes. It has been decades since I read these and must admit to having forgotten pretty much everything.

Since the advent of instantaneous space and time travelling, most humans spend their time ‘dreaming’ or in holodecks experiencing their favourite programmes. However, something goes majorly wrong with these, all corrupting into nightmares, and the person in charge has disappeared in time. Perfect job for agent Valerian to sort out.

Upon starting, I was mostly surprised by the humour and tongue-in-cheek tone. This is an ‘old style’ of scifi but one not without charm.
Profile Image for Zülfikar Yamaç.
Author 3 books11 followers
September 26, 2021
Çizimleri ve kurgusu ile kesinlikle devam etmesi gereken bir seri. Ana akım çizgi roman yayıncılığı sağ olsun bu gibi başarılı işlerin görünürlüğü her geçen gün azalıyor. Oysa hem Valerian karakteri hem yaratılan dünya ilgiyi hak ediyor.
Profile Image for Susana.
545 reviews182 followers
September 15, 2017
"Ano 2720, Galaxity, capital da Terra e do Império Galáctico Terrestre.
Desde que o teletransporte instantâneo da matéria no tempo e no espaço foi inventado, em 2314, a noção de trabalho praticamente desapareceu do planeta.
Apenas algumas centenas de agentes espácio-temporais e de tecnocratas dos serviços do espaço-tempo têm uma actividade digna desse nome.
Os agentes patrulham a História, para lutarem contra os piratas da viagem no tempo, e exploram planetas longínquos, para garantirem novos recursos para a Terra.
[...]
Quanto ao resto da humanidade, entrega-se aos prazeres do sonho, sob o controlo do serviço dos sonhos, que organiza os programas."

A premissa era interessante, mas esta primeira história (publicada originalmente em 1967) pareceu-me bastante pateta, com personagens ultra estereotipados, diálogos pobres e tentativas de humor mal conseguidas.

A ver se isto melhora com A Cidade das Águas Movediças (que constitui, juntamente com estes Sonhos Maus, o 1º volume da colecção editada este ano pelo Público, em colaboração com a Asa).
Profile Image for Sean Kottke.
1,964 reviews30 followers
May 1, 2016
I don't read French, but armed with Google Translate, two years of Latin, over half a lifetime of Spanish fluency, and a few French lessons on Duolingo, I was able to navigate this first Valerian and Laureline volume (not available in English, as far as I could discover) fairly easily. The setup of the future world governed by Galaxity has strong elements of The Matrix, with most of the population living in a dream-state that's being disturbed by the villainous Xombul. The time traveling plot has a looseness characteristic of late 60s tongue-in-cheek sci fi adventures, and the Matrix elements don't get developed too deeply.
Profile Image for Niina.
1,368 reviews67 followers
June 1, 2021
Olipas tämä erikoinen kokemus. Päätarinassa Valerian menee hakemaan menneisyydestä ihmisen, joka haluaa kaapata 2700-luvulla vallan itselleen. Aikaseikkailussa 1000-luvulla Valerian tapaa Laurelinen, joka erinäisten tapahtumien myötä yksisarvisena ollessaan saa tietää, mistä Valerian on kotoisin. Niinpä Valerian joutuu ottamaan hänet matkaansa, jottei menneisyys muokkaantuisi.

Kaksi lyhyempää tarinaa ovat nimikkokertomusta kiinnostavampia. Toisessa Valerian joutuu asteroidilla asuvan keräilijän kaappaamaksi. Viimeisessä tarinassa Valerian ja Laureline tutkivat planeettaa, joka on jakaantunut neljään lohkoon, joista jokaisella on omanlaisensa eliöt ja joissa aika toimii omalla tavallaan.

Valerianilla on harvoton lovileuka. Muutoinkin kaikki hahmot Laurelinia lukuunottamatta ovat kovin karikatyyrisiä.
Profile Image for Andre.
1,425 reviews109 followers
July 30, 2017
This story is kind of… silly. I only started to read this because of movie adaptation and I can only hope it is nothing like this because this story is really odd.
Maybe things like that all most humans do in the 24th century is “dream” (aka a holodeck) and without it they get depressed quickly is supposed to be funny, because it really is not suspenseful, but it sounds like quite a depressing future.
And while Veronique so far had more to do than in issue 1, she is still this damsel in distress so far and the story focuses on Valerian. Also apparently magic exists here and this Kombul can transform humans into magical creatures and Veronique becomes a unicorn because pure souls cannot be transformed into monsters... so all these other people transformed here were assholes? And he doesn't transform Valerian.... why?
Considered that Kombul did not even know how his spells work and that unicorns can talk in this universe it is not surprising that he is so stupid to take Veronique (who escapes) with him despite her shape probably not frightening anyone, not that she actually frees Valerian of course, even though a unicorn probably would be strong enough for that. And the writing is pretty mediocre in my eyes.
Also Veronique can read minds as a unicorn (not Kombul’s of course, for some reason she only reads those of Valerian). Why do they give the unicorns all sorts of powers except the ones they actually have? Is a woman with superstrength too much for them? Well, probably yes, but the mind reading is probably just so there is an excuse that Veronique can come to the future. However, why not keep the spell if being a unicorn is so awesome?
Apart from the fact that I wonder why people from the 28th century are afraid of medieval monsters (they know aliens after all), the whole story is so weird and considered how fickle and weak these people are (they need calming bubbles), I am confused: Is this a comedy?
Maybe it was sounding more scary in thought.
All this makes the second story a real oddity. It is about the two being in a big market on an alien planet with lots of species, searching for the "dead planet" and their contact, after long searching, disappearing and the two only having a name as a lead, was pretty surprising. Good suspense, good writing, good art, all more sober and mysterious, aka everything these stories from this series so far weren’t. Makes me wonder why it is so different though.
Profile Image for Metin Yılmaz.
1,094 reviews125 followers
July 17, 2019
Konu güzel fakat işleniş biraz fazla hızlı. Evet, daha çok çocuklar için gibi bir çizgi roman serisi onu anlıyoruz okumaya başlar başlamaz. Fakat ne bir karakter oluşturma var ne bir olayların işleniş sırası var ne de iletişimleri doğru karakterlerin. 0 cilt denmesi çok güzel o hoşuma gitti. O yüzden belki 1. Cilt ile tekrar deneyebilirm. Belki ilerledikçe güzelleşebilir bilemiyorum. Nedense Thorgal gibi bir okuma sunacak sandım. Belki de o kaliteyi bekledim.
Profile Image for Letande D'Argon.
682 reviews51 followers
December 26, 2018
The year is 1967 and here comes the pure classic. Sure, for the US readers, 1967 meant the very end of the Silver Age of comic books. Which means that some of their heroes already got the "reboots" and many new legends were born. In other words, it was really hard to impress the US readers at that point. They already had way too many mind-blowing things there. In France, on the other hand, it was nothing like that. Back in the 1967, this comic just blew everybody's mind. And guess what? It's still awesome.

See, the best thing about Valerian is that it introduced so many awesome ideas that it's really hard to overrate it. Many of those ideas ended up inspiring many other things, after all. Even in the US. With many of those things ended up being legends of their own. And even though this exact story here was some sort of early attempt for Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières to create something really special (we'll see it soon enough in this series), it still feels great.

Sure, the story feels pretty simple by modern standards. It's just a special agent hunting down the bad guy, who wants to conquer the world, and meeting with the beautiful lady on the way. Just to stick with her forever. It felt pretty good back in the days, sure, and for many people, who were introduced to comics much later, it was still great (I was introduced to Valerian back in 80s and in my country there was nothing like that before it, so, I was really impressed), but for today's kids... it'll probably feel a bit too simple. There's one huge "but" in all that, though. And that "but" is... the setting. Even by modern standards, Valerian's setting feels... awesome. It's so perfectly unique, complicated and full of details that it's hard not to love it. Sure, at this point the best parts of it weren't introduced yet, but even at this point there's enough to see why people love Valerian so much. Read the first few pages of this issue, and you'll get the idea. It just... works. Complicated Sci-Fi setting full of amazing ideas in a comic book format. It's just... wow! Seriously.

Also, add some seriously good artwork and amazing colors to all that. Even today, Valerian looks better than some modern gamics out there. You can clearly see that both authors wanted to work on this comic. Nobody was up for some easy money here. Valerian is a work of art. Also, personally, I just love that old school drawing style. There's something way too special about it that I can't really describe with words. It was just... awesome.

So, yeah. Here comes the origins story of Valerian. The one where he met Laureline. Was it good back in the days? Oh, yeah! Was it important? Of course, it was! It's one of the most influential comic books out there. Especially for France. Did it age well? Well... Valerian in general - sure. This exact issue? Somewhat. Since we live in times when country of origin doesn't really mean much anymore, it's hard not to see that story here uses the pretty generic formula. But still, the setting makes it all worth it and come on! It's Valerian meeting Laureline for the first time! Don't you even dare to miss it!
Profile Image for Matthew.
568 reviews8 followers
August 11, 2023
Amazing art, some of the best I’ve seen. The organic quality of the linework is wonderful, the inks supremely expressive. Backgrounds are frequently great — the giant trees of the forest, some interior shots of the castle. The lighting in the catacombs. Deft horse work, of course. Some very nice figure drawings of laureline. Splendid, highly sensitive work here. Far beyond anything Moebius has ever produced. (I know they are often unfairly compared, but Moebius is utterly sterile and clinical compared to this.)

Admittedly, the art is uneven, there are many rough figures and some phoned-in backgrounds. Interestingly, these predominate in the sci fi sections, with the fantasy scenes showing more invention and lavish care.

The story is pretty good and has an interesting premise. Is it worth living life in a dream, or should you face reality, with all its attendant horrors and delights? Essentially, the concept of the Matrix. It’s not fully dealt with here, and the Morpheus figure is actually the villain, but the ideas do add a touch of thematic depth.

The plot is well structured, though often needlessly wordy. It proceeds from a clear inciting incident — the destruction of the dream machines by Xombul and his subsequent flight; a period of debate where valerian reluctantly returns to earth and does some preliminary investigation; break into 2 when he departs for the past, 1000 AD, on Xombul’s trail; fun and games in a haunted forest; B story he is rescued by Laureline; midpoint — the castle and Xombul reveals his plans; all is lost — laureline is turned into a unicorn and Valerian is caged while Xombul and his monsters depart to wreak havoc; break into 3 - V&L escape and acquire a magic ring; climax - they return to the future and use the ring to defeat Xombul.

Act 3 is somewhat sketchy. And the story misses the chance to explore its theme. Characters aren’t fleshed out much. But the art carries the day.
Profile Image for Adam.
274 reviews17 followers
September 24, 2017
Ceci n'était pas le premier album Valérian que j'ai lu, ayant commencé avec "L'empire des milles planètes", que j'ai plus apprécier. Ceci est le début des aventures de Valérien et Laureline. Ce n'était pas évident de mon premier album qu'ils traversaient dans le temps! Valérian visite le passer et rencontre son compagnon. Ceci me fait penser à Doctor Who qui aurait déjà été populaire dans ce temps. Peut être une source d'inspiration?

Comme fan de science fiction je trouve cette histoire médiéval moins intéressante que les histoires du future. C'est plus une histoire de fantaisie avec des dragons et monstres. Cette série a une reputation pour avoir inspirer Star Wars. Dans cet album particulier je ne vois aucun élément qui y resemble.

J'ai hâte à lire la suite!
Profile Image for Evelyne.
332 reviews9 followers
July 31, 2017
Na het zien van de film Valerian and the city of a thousand planets, wou ik eens het bronmateriaal gaan verkennen.

De vierde dimensie is het nulnummer uit de reeks Ravian en valt er denk ik een beetje buiten, maar het is wel het album waarin Ravian en Laureline elkaar leren kennen.

Het is overduidelijk een album uit de jaren '60, de tekenstijl is nog zoekende en clasht een beetje met de twee extra kortverhalen op het einde, maar het verhaal op zich is heel leesbaar, zij het nogal naïef.

Ik ben nu wel benieuwd naar de volgende verhalen, dit smaakt naar meer. :-)
Profile Image for Gijs Grob.
Author 1 book53 followers
February 5, 2022
'De vierde dimensie' is het allereerste Ravian-avontuur. Het is duidelijk dat Mezières en Christin de serie begonnen als komische strip, iets waar ze beiden duidelijk niet goed in zijn. Het verhaal heeft niets om het lijf, is vrij slecht verteld en bevat onnodige fantasy-elementen. Het is alleen de moeite waard om de ontmoeting tussen Ravian en Laureline. Ook leuk is om te zien dat Ravian een zwarte vrouw als collega heeft. Jammergenoeg zien we die hierna nooit meer terug. Dat Mézières wel beter kan blijkt bijvoorbeeld uit de paarden die hij tekent: die zien er uitstekend uit.
5 reviews1 follower
August 9, 2017
Reminiscent of older Sci-fi greats, in other words this story transported me to the memory of watching Buck Rogers or Black Hole with my family. Very imaginative, great settings, love that together the artist picks up were author puts you in the setting of different places. examples: clean lines of a very futuristic setting to the rough midevil times riding a horse into the sunset. I cannt wait to see what new objects / places the next story will introduce.
Profile Image for Pauline Aguayo.
122 reviews2 followers
January 18, 2018
I really enjoy the artwork, and the characterization of Luareline in her first adventure. She is unique, and still being fleshed out as a strong female lead. I don't really enjoy how much talking is going on by the characters, and I'm not sure if that's because it's a translation from French, but it's way too much. I prefer to let the art speak for itself, but it's not too bad. I can't wait to read #3 which is supposed to be one of the best stories.
Profile Image for Greenleafsleaf.
110 reviews
December 28, 2020
Nachdem ich den Film "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" vor ein paar Tagen wieder geguckt habe, hatte ich Lust die Comics anzufangen... Hiermit also den ersten "Valerian und Veronique"-Comic gelesen! Am Besten gefallen hat mir ab Seite 45 "Zurück zur Natur". Eine kurze Geschichte mit einem schrecklichen, aber zauberhaften Ende. Einfach ein perfekter kurzer Comic!
Profile Image for Tapani Aulu.
4,308 reviews18 followers
August 10, 2017
Fantasiakuvaa enemmän kuin scifiä, ei kovin kiinnostavaa ja idearikasta. Graafisestikaan ei kovin kunnianhimoinen mielestäni.
Profile Image for Sotofunkdamental.
685 reviews4 followers
May 19, 2022
Una correcta historia de viajes espacio-temporales protagonizada por Valerian, que introduce a su compañera Laureline y al villano Xombul en la serie.
Profile Image for Etain.
499 reviews1 follower
November 6, 2023
The real star of this one is the colorist, the writing is a bit overly wordy and the drawings have wierd proportions but this colouring is fantastic!
Profile Image for Calder Wood.
12 reviews
November 28, 2025
Une bonne introduction à l’univers de Valérian et Laureline au début, qui devient un peu moins intéressante lorsqu’on passe au XIᵉ siècle, mais cela donne très envie de l’explorer plus !
Profile Image for Tom Loock.
688 reviews10 followers
August 13, 2016
Hat mir beim ersten Mal lesen besser gefallen, aber wenn man sieht, daß es vor fast 50 Jahren entstanden ist ... Im Vergleich zu heutigen SF-Comics ist die Story natürlich sehr simpel und die Graphik entspricht den späten 60ger Jahren. Empfehlen würde ich's heutzutage nur für eingefleischte V&V-Fans.
Profile Image for Miri.
90 reviews2 followers
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September 22, 2024
literally could not gaf less about a sci fi comic written by and for m*n
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