Valerian

First, there’s *finally* a robust English language edition since 2010-ish. Cinebook  is a great publisher to discover Francophone comics, which have traditionally been unsellable in the US.

And before I forget — all of our Valerian profiles have S P O I L E R S.

Now, for the rest.

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History

The Valérian, agent spatio-temporel (Valerian, space-time agent) series started in 1967 and ended in 2010 (plus a special issue in 2013, Memories from the futures). It was written by Christin and drawn by Mézières during its entire run. The title morphed into Valérian et Laureline as Valérian’s partner arguably became the lead character.

Like most Francophone comics it was primarily published as graphic novel hardbacks. Though back in the days they were pre-published as serials in comics magazines.

Ramping up

During the 1960s, the Valérian strips were sci-fi short stories. They were enjoyable, yet of no special importance. But they quickly ramped up.

The City of Shifting Waters (1968) clearly had something, and The Empire of a Thousand Planets (1969) was a major work. From then on the series kept building its own style, its own mythology, its distinctive themes and a continuity.

Like many older European comics, it has different titles in different languages. Frex the series is Valerian und Veronique in German, or Linda o Valentin in Danish. Because of reasons.

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Influences

Like much of the wave of Francophone science-fiction in the 1960s, Valérian was not quite inspired by the “Lost Age” of pre-1940 Francophone sci-fi (such as Maurice Renard or Rosny Aîné ) but by Golden Age American sci-fi .

For instance, the series wears the influence of Poul Anderson’s Time Patrol  on its sleeve, and makes various references to Asimov.

There’s also a bit of 1950s Francophone sci-fi to it (think Stefan Wul (Niourk) or Pierre Boulle (Planet of the Apes) ).

As the series became its own thing, it in turn became highly influential. That was particularly tied to Mézières’ distinctive visual creations.

As has often been commented, Star Wars movies have generously helped themselves to the Valérian visual vocabulary. It was also a big influence on The Fifth Element, albeit there Mézières was the paid visual designer.

As to the writing, it used a number of themes that were decades away from becoming mainstream.

Valérian played a role in revitalizing French genre fiction, which had a hard time affirming itself from WWII to 1968. It was not directly a part of the hugely influential Métal Hurlant  (“Screaming Metal”) magazine, but it was the same scene.

As a personal opinion it’s cool. The earliest adventures are now dated, but markedly less so than the vast majority of stuff from the 1960s.

Younger readers might miss a part of the charm though. As with many influential trailblazing works, what was amazing and original back then is now something of a cliché. Thus, parts of Valérian might not seem too original to them. But they were.

Themes

Superficially, Valérian is all about wild adventures into wonderfully strange worlds and times. It has epic plots, a fair bit of action, at least one super-pretty girl, cool spaceships, etc..

But more importantly, Valérian is a political work about resistance to oppression and domination. Valérian and Laureline fight for freedom against tyranny, greed, religion, politics, slavery, elitism, pollution, imperialism, conformism…

And as part of that theme, they are not world-shaking heroes. They are certainly competent, but in the end they can’t achieve as much by themselves. This is especially true of Valérian’s man-of-action approach, which is often useful but seldom sufficient.

The pair often wins major victories, but this is done by acting as catalysts for social change (often through Laureline’s wisdom and power of observation).

Reading order for our Valérian profiles

The entries are meant to be read in order. As usual, this is to prevent individual articles from being too long to read.

1. Valérian, space-time agent.
2. Laureline, space-time agent.
3. Valérian and Laureline, space-time agents.
4. Addendum – helpful alien animals.

There are also ancillary profiles for Valérian characters, such as the Shingouz or the Schniarfer.

Video

Trailer for the (upcoming as of this writing) movie adaptation.

Background

Powers & Abilities

Valerian is an excellent field agent, fighter and pilot. He’s uncommonly courageous, and rather resourceful.

He’s not epically competent – for that you want Commander Shepard. But he’s clearly a capable operative, especially in such a low-key setting.

When fighting hand-to-hand Valérian prefers to employ soft techniques such as throws and locks, in order to minimise harm. He’ll go for disarming if feasible.

He also has a robust technical education, including biotech. Yes, Valérian isn’t a real engineer or a real doctor. But since he comes from an extremely advanced technological milieu, what he can do is incredible by XXI^st century standards.

Mnemotechnic

STS agents can be taught any language within minutes, using mnemotechnic machines. This is of course critical to their missions. STS agents are thus fluent in dozens and eventually hundreds of languages, accumulated during their deployments.

If necessary, automated probes will be sent ahead to record and analyse local tongues. If all else fails, their vehicles have onboard linguistic analysis computers that can feed tiny translation units carried by the agents. This allows for fluent communication within minutes.

Likewise, STS agents possess an amazingly broad skill base when it comes to handling vehicles, weapons, mounts, gadgets, etc. from a vast array of planets and time periods. Mnemotechnic machines are also likely involved to make such training possible.

Ditto for the agents’ sweeping technical and scientific knowledge.

Equipment

Valérian and Laureline will often carry concealed equipment. Typically this will include tiny radios to stay in contact with each other, and close-range “stunner” energy weapons.

Their rugged space-suits can also easily be equipped with a jetpack, and have a holster for an energy pistol.

Other equipment includes:

• Disassemblable disintegrator rifle. This was used when stalking the four elemental energy monsters who had invaded 1980s France.
• A rod-like medical device that allows for quickly and cleanly treating even serious wounds.
• A Phoom “Moroniser”, which is a less-than-lethal weapon once confiscated by Valérian. It is spun above one’s head like a bullroarer. Those underneath the spinning lash aren’t affected, but all others are stupefied and incapacitated as long as the “moroniser” is spun and they see it.
  It is also possible to wear eye protections against a moroniser. Or avert one’s eyes in time, but that implies familiarity with this rare weapon.
• A pair of time regulators. These look sort of like a pocket watch. Valérian and Laureline each have one, given by the proto-union of Ultralum Miners. These gadgets are used to “roll back” time by a few minutes, bringing the users back where they were. So this is essentially a small teleportation back into both space and time.
  They can also roll time forward, which is essentially a teleportation to a spot the user could have reached within that time span.
• Late in the series Valérian uses a Shingouz satchel. It is filled with a puzzling quantity of advanced surveillance equipment and other sensors.

Spaceship

As a Space-Time Service agent, Valérian flies a highly advanced scout-class starship that can also travel through time. It is also able to survive severe crashes. Furthermore, the helm is particularly reinforced so the crew can survive and do repairs.

Note the silhouettes at the helm (not the cockpit !) for a sense of scale.

Capabilities includes :

• FTL  flight, using the same technology as for time travel.
• Extensive banks of sensors.
• An advanced security system that can be hooked to a comprehensive self-destruction system. It includes an advanced retinal scan lock.
• Flight assistance systems so a single person can easily pilot by themselves.
• A lot of computing power, with the software and databases to take on a wide variety of physics and chronophysics problems. This allows even a single agent to deliver as much as a full, specialised scientific team.
• Laser cannons, which seem to be dual-use (artillery, and long-range cutting torch).
• Molecular cannons (disintegrators, essentially).
• A little ship’s boat (a two-person, bubble-shaped space shuttle).
• A two-person skiff. This is a flying underwater-capable craft meant to operate within a G-field. It seems capable of ferrying four persons, maybe a bit more.
• A stealth screen making the ship invisible to sensors and even the naked eye. However, this eats up a lot of energy and can’t be left on for long. This is much less of a problem if the ship is fully stationary, though – so it can be “parked” invisibly for a long while during a mission.
• A sick bay that is so high-tech that it can perform in vivo genetic engineering.

Jumps through time are not a simple endeavour. As long as they are well-prepared (hours of calculations monitored by an expert), things will go fine. However, doing rapid-fire and/or unprepared time jumps is exhausting. All aboard will experience mounting metabolic stress and will be knocked out if that continues.

On the other hand, rapid-fire time jumps can be an incredible tactical asset. It allows the scout ship to be in multiple places at once with a perfect knowledge of what the opposition is about to do. Thus, Valérian’s ship can briefly amount to an entire hunting pack of frigates, firing with perfect precision.

The time patrol

The STS monitors all intrusions into Earth’s past, and all disruptions in the present, in real time. Normally, they’ll pick any disturbance within seconds and react within minutes.

They have a network of discreet cells across Earth and thorough history. These small bases include resources for agents, such as language-teaching machines as well as appropriate clothes, weapons, currencies, vehicles/mounts, etc.. Bases are crewed by a local person, paid to keep the secret and provide local information to arriving agents.

STS field agents are amazingly well-trained in time travel engineering. They can repair, rebuild, improve, study, etc. space-time travel machines with remarkable acumen and efficiency.

The space patrol

STS agents are also well-trained in space exploration and aliens interaction. Their behaviour is somewhat reminiscent of Federation personnel in the original, then-contemporary Star Trek series. For instance, they have a loose equivalent of the Prime Directive (emphasis on “loose”).

When still within the Empire, STS field agents are considered senior agents of Galaxity, and enforcers of its laws if necessary.

They can be overruled by colony governors, but it’s important to remember that STS agents are super-competent compared to the rest of the Terran Empire. A governor trying to play silly buggers with the STS is likely biting off more than they can chew.

History

In 2314, Earth scientists unlocked the secrets of teleportation through time and space. This greatly accelerated the rise of the Terran Space Empire as the major but mostly peaceful galactic power (capital: Galaxity).

It also made work obsolete by establishing a post-scarcity  economy. Eventually, the only persons with a genuine job in Galaxity were the agents and technocrats of the Space-Time Service. These numbered but a few hundred folks – traditionally, 365 agents.

The vast majority of the population spends the bulk of its time in VR dreams. Those who want to *do* something typically emigrate to a colony that still needs work to develop. But even there, life tends to be comfortable and undemanding.

With its immense resources and formidable technology, the Terran Empire can be a major military power if they wish. Assembling a fleet of 10,000 cruisers didn’t seem to be that much of a bother. But one suspects that such military resources are largely automated, with perhaps a two-person crew for an entire cruiser.

It is also possible the the bulk of this fleet was entirely automated and “leashed” to the Human-operated ships.

Valerian, agent of S.T.S.

The STS patrols through the timestream to stop time bandits from damaging history. This seems to be their main responsibility. They also explore the frontiers of the Empire, mainly to find new planets to provide resources.

STS agents, being one of the few skilled field resources, also act as general troubleshooters. For instance, they handle diplomatic tensions with alien species if these involved danger or roughing it.

By 2720, young Valérian was one of the very best STS agents. Thus, when Xombul — the head of the Dreams Service — suddenly fled into the past, Valérian was tasked with bringing him back. With the Dreams Service in disarray, the VR sequences were going sour, to the dismay of the sensitive population.

Meet cute

While chasing Xombul through XI^th century France, Valérian ran into a cursed forest. This is where he met the lass who became his constant partner in the STS, Laureline. See Laureline’s character profile for more.

Valérian soon discovered that Xombul had come to steal the secrets of a mage, Albéric The Olde. The deranged Xombul wanted to return humanity to vigour, hard work and war. Using magic he would create many monsters, terrorize the population, take control of others’ minds and lead the human space empire into a completely new direction.

Though he did briefly invade Galaxity, Xombul was arrested by Valérian and Laureline.

Across the pathways of space

Laureline was recruited into the Space-Time Service. She became Valérian’s constant partner, and later on his lover. Still, Valérian still ran solo missions early on. Presumably, these took place whilst Laureline was busy training.

(Out of universe, what actually happened was that she was only supposed to show up once, but readers sent letters requesting her return.)

These early missions included:

The Great Collector

Freeing the prisoners of the Great Collector, a gigantic alien who had magnetically captured the crew of numerous spaceships. This was done with the help of a doomed Arcturian (no relation) sacrificing himself.

The flumgluff of friendship

Saving fellow STS agent Slane from ingesting a monstrous alien parasite.

Asteroid Tsirillitis

Discovering that a strange asteroid was but the outer shell of the being Tsirillitis, who attempted to consume Valérian. Laureline came to the rescue.

They made the living asteroid violently sick so they could escape. This also taught the alien not to eat people.

The gears of Uxgloa

Ending up marooned on the planet Uxgloa, once an advanced world. It was now solely inhabited by scattered warlords. These used a strange chrono-cloning technology to turn themselves into low-tech armies and forever fight each other.

Valérian had two chrono-clones of himself done for help. Together they repaired a lost Uxgloan stargate so Valérian could return to Earth.

Planet Guilt

Attempting to reach the planet Flammil, encased in a sort of space Sargasso . Of course, Valérian was too gung-ho and ended up stuck. He found help with local communities – a starving tribe of female archers, telepathic stylites , famelic peasants, and some scholars in a wrecked ancient palace.

Another view of Galaxity.

Valérian eventually learned that Flammil itself had been demolished by nuclear warfare ages before. The ravaged survivors could only subsist in the thick debris and vegetation in low orbit around Flammil. They lived in contrition for their folly.

As they helped Valérian leave, the space-time agent explained that Earth had been through similar madness, but had ultimately recovered. He offered Earth’s services in decontaminating Flammil and making it habitable again.

Technically speaking

Valérian was then sent on planet Lanning. The goal was to convince the very low-tech natives to agree to the installation of an automated communication relay, without scaring them.

Valérian attempted to convince the friendly locals that technology brought many benefits. But as it turned out, the locals were low-tech since they possessed an arsenal of super-powers, superior to even Earth’s technology.

The natives nevertheless agreed to having Earth’s building built on their turf. They thought it was interesting and funny to look at.

Strange specimens

Laureline, Valérian and two Galaxity scientists then ran experiment on Mapalm, a most peculiar planet. It was broadly divided in four zones, where time and space behaved abnormally.

The experiments went awry. It was possible to spend 12 minutes before getting affected by each zone’s anomaly, yet once within it was impossible to keep track of time. But eventually everybody was brought back to their proper age and size, though Valérian spent some time as a giant and Laureline as a baby.

(Technically, the Across the pathways of space16-pagers described above were done after The City of Shifting Waters. But it’s simpler to present them in this order.)

The City of Shifting Waters

Xombul then escaped, and stole a STS spaceship to flee back into time. The madman went back to 1986 – a highly significant date.

1986 had been marked by a major nuclear disaster, which had melted the Arctic polar cap and devastated civilisation.

There were next to no archives about it, or what happened next. The span between 1986 and the XXIV^th century were considered a “dark age”, since humans knew almost nothing about this part of their history.

Time travel to Earth between 1986 and 2314 was forbidden by the STS’ charter, though the founding text didn’t specify why. But Xombul posed such a threat that the superintendent of the STS saw no alternative. He sent Valérian to post-apocalyptic 1986, as the New York City secret base was still online then.

After the disaster, Earth had become a hothouse. New York City was flooded to a height of several stories and invaded by a thriving vegetation, and the weather was nasty. Valérian made good progress, but he was eventually captured by armed scavengers working for the musician Sun Rae (no relation , they say. Chinny reckon.).

Earths aflame

While tangling with Xombul, Valérian and Laureline saw the fall of Earth. But they also had glimpses of how the survivors would eventually overcome. In particular, Brasilia was nearly intact, and had been hosting a major polymath scientific symposium.

They also stumbled upon the earliest stages of what would, centuries later, become time travel technology. It had been invented by a genius named Schroeder. He worked in a secret military base under the Yellowstone National Park.

Xombul was seemingly killed in an accident, and the Yellowstone base was destroyed. By evacuating Schroeder and Sun Rae from Yellowstone to Brasilia, Laureline and Valérian likely played a small but significant role in the rebuilding of Earth.

(Earths Aflame (Terres en flammes) was the original title of what was eventually published as the second half of the extended version of City of Shifting Waters.)

The Empire of a Thousand Planets, part 1

In 2720, Valérian and Laureline were sent to assess Syrte, the capital of the Empire of a Thousand Planets. This was the main non-Human power in the galaxy, but it was far away from Earth’s empire. More importantly, they couldn’t use FTL travel for health reasons. Thus Syrte and its empire remained, in a sense, a local power.

As it turned out, the Empire of a Thousand Planets had been falling under the sway of an organisation called the Enlighteneds. These had been using their superior knowledge of medicine and psychology to gain enormous influence. They then suppressed other forms of education. As a result, Syrte and the Empire were set on a clear, rapid path of decline.

Laureline and Valérian allied with the powerful merchants’ guild. The traders were keenly aware of how the loss of technical and academic knowledge was destroying wealth in the long run. As a result, they had been organising against the Enlighteneds for years.

With the two STS agents’ help, the merchants managed to invade the Enlighteneds’ asteroid base, overcome their troopers, free the enslaved workers… and discover whom the Enlighteneds really were.

And beyond

This history is continued in our Laureline character profile !

Description

A reasonably handsome, athletic, slim bloke. Valerian sports an unruly mop of black hair. He is frequently clad in a light but rugged space jumpsuit.

Valérian seems surprisingly young, perhaps in his early 20s. Near the end of the series he seems closer to 30, though.

Personality

Valérian is a particularly dedicated agent, and a lad of some moral character. He wants to help and do good, sometimes coming across as a bit naïve in this respect.

He is dedicated to defending Earth’s interests and enforcing its laws. At the same time he’s aware of the mediocre and self-serving nature of the Terran Empire. Thus, he will interfere when Humans get too greedy and pushy.

Still, he’s an obedient type. He prefers to follow orders and is something of a yes-man. This can get in the way of his attempts to be an ethical person, especially if Laureline isn’t around.

The more time he spends with Laureline, the more distant Valérian gets from the Empire and the less obedient he becomes.

It’s a man’s life in the S.T.S.

Valérian a man of action, favouring the direct and physical approach as long as it seems doable. Valérian wants problems solved and obstacles vanquished, in a very hands-on manner. He’s certainly not averse toward improvisation in the field, and his gung-ho attitude sometimes ends up biting him on the arse.

Purely intellectual pursuits will quickly bore him senseless, to the point of brusqueness. He’ll leave the higher thinking to others, preferring to concentrate on practical solutions to concrete problems.

Valérian is well aware that he’s a field agent and no deep thinker. This can make him a bit maudlin, but he accepts it.

Still, Valérian sometimes feels like a goober due to this combination of hands-on approach and being a loyal agent for a faceless governmental agency. He wishes he was more of a champion and hero, but the world simply doesn’t work that way. Further, he lacks the greater-than-life quality this would require.

Dauntless !

His equanimity in the face of danger is impressive. Valérian doesn’t afraid of anything. He doesn’t even seem to really mind being trapped in terrible situations. To him, it’s essentially another day at the office.

This is especially remarkable since most of humanity in Valérian’s original timeline is psychologically fragile. Living an idle and extremely comfortable life, and spending most of their time in VR dreams, they are soft and easily scared.

Valérian is also adept at ignoring his wounds, pain and fatigue to accomplish his duty. This is true even when it would be more rational to retreat for a while to recover.

In fact, Valérian can and does get overconfident, and too proud of his ability to soldier on and charge in. This definitely can get him in trouble. Or lead him to underestimate Laureline’s help when she rescues him, which gets him into more trouble.

Valérian is also quite proud of his skills as a pilot.

I remember you was conflicted

When a psychic attack exposed Valérian worst fear, it turned out to be the past sins of Humanity – mindless violence, imperialism and greed. He has a level of personal guilt about his entire species’ shortcomings, which paradoxically makes him less likely to act against them than Laureline.

Over the years, Valérian grows very attached to Laureline. He soon feels lonely and moody when she’s not around, and is often torn between doing his job by-the-book and wanting to please her.

Since she’s smarter than he is he occasionally becomes perplexed by her reactions, and he tends to approach their relationship in more emotional, slightly dog-like terms.

Quotes

“By the great nebula !” and “By space !” seems to be common, mild swears among STS agents. But they were only used in early albums.

“One of the houses is falling… we have to help them !”

“Let’s go ! The Zahirians are going to see what a real professional pilot can do…”

“Don’t worry, I know the way. I already used it in the future.”

(To himself) “Bah. Action, Valérian, action ! In the end, that’s all I’m good for.”

Laureline: “I’m not sure this is a good idea, my Valérian. These guys are professional tough guys.”
Valérian (confidently): “And what am I ?” (to his credit, Valérian handily wins the fight).

“Heh, it’s well-known I have no imagination.”

DC Universe History

Valérian and Laureline are refugees from a destroyed timeline (or are they ? More later). Therefore they could pop up practically anywhere and anywhen. Most campaign settings could be the timeline that succeed their original one(s).

One important aspect of the graphic novels is that they’re not super-heroes, but they could pop up at the periphery. For instance, the “Giefbaum” era of the Legion of Super-Heroes is fairly compatible with the Valérian & Laureline mood. The S.T.S. and its timeline could have been destroyed by Glorith and/or the Time Trapper.

In this context, Valérian and Laureline could even be the equivalents of Jo Nah and Tinya Wazzo, but from a completely different timeline where the S.T.S. was a *loose* equivalent of the Legion (or perhaps, the L.E.G.I.O.N.).

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Valerian graphic novels. I’m using the Cinebook translations when they exist, and my own when there’s no English language material yet.

Helper(s): Darci.

Writeup completed on the 4^th of May, 2017.