Adam Parker looks at the first volume the epic Valerian and Laureline series, The City of Shifting Waters.
This article discusses the plot of Valerian and Laureline: The City of Shifting Waters in detail.
Valerian and Laureline: The City of Shifting Waters
Written by Pierre Christin | Artist by Jean-Claude Mézières | Colors by Evelyn Tran-Lé
By Adam Parker // There twenty one volumes of the adventures of Valerian and Laureline, all originally published in French between 1968 and 2010. To coincide with the publication of the final volume all the previous volumes were translated into English. All the volumes are available from on line book retailers and any good comic book store.
The City of Shifting Waters was published in Pilote magazine between July 1968 and July 1969. It was translated into English in 2010 and is published by Cinebook as Volume 1 of Valerian and Laureline. The City of Shifting Waters is the second story in the series with the first being Bad Dreams. Bad Dreams is being released for the first time with an English translation as part of a hard back volume of the first three adventures of Valerian and Laureline which was published by Cinebook in May 2017.
It Begins
The opening spread sees Valerian and Laureline relaxing on holiday after the unseen adventure in the Hydroponic farms of Venus. They are swiftly recalled to the The Spatio-Temporal Service Offices. Across the first spread there is a heavy amount of exposition with most speech bubble containing almost a paragraph of text. As a modern comic reader this is quite jarring and does feel like an information dump; fortunately this is not the tone of the rest of the tale and the writing soon moves to more punchy dialogue and more reliance on a visual drive.
The relationship between Valerian and Laureline is quickly established in a few panels. Valerian has a clear confidant swagger and thinks a great deal of himself in contrast Laureline comes across as a little more modest of her talents while also outs smarting Valerian at 3D chess. The cementing of the relationship is important early on as Laureline does not feature in the first quarter of the story after page two.
A firecracker waiting to blow
Valerian is dispatched through time from the twenty fourth century to nineteen eighty six. Xombul, the villain of the piece, has fled back in time it is believed to alter the path of human development following the breakdown of society.
A group of sailors rescue Valerian from New York harbour. The sailors are depicted all carrying guns and one clearly wears a German Iron Cross around their neck. It is quickly revealed they are looters pillaging the flooded city from their boat. Valerian is tied and left in a nearby department store. The looting sailors appear throughout the first third of the story and are always drawn in a broad caricature style. This sits well in parallel to Valerian’s square jawed hero look. Valerian soon escapes the looters and the pace of the tale moves forward rapidly often with little to no text. The escape involves several encounters with the looters and Valerian outsmarts or side steps them at every turn.
Everyone needs an inflatable chair raft
Now free Valerian can return to his mission of searching for evidence of Xombul. Spying a light in a distance building Valerian is soon heading towards it using an inflatable board room chair as a make shift raft. The colouring of the first eleven pages is brilliant in the main due to the lighting. There is a movement across various times of the day from dusk, full daylight to night. Each has a distinct and subtle look as do the internal building scenes in each time period. This is a long way from the sophisticated colour techniques of modern comics. The simple pallet of two or three colours effectively sets a tone and mood.
Valerian goes on to explore further by entering the United Nations building. He soon reveals robots stealing scientific information. Valerian is recaptured by the looters and taken to their cargo ship head-quaters where he is introduced to their boss Sun Rae. There is a deft use of sixties references in the story. Anyone who knows the tropes and cliches and pop culture of the time will raise a smile whereas those less accustomed to the era will not be put off by the references and cliches.
Down but not out
Time jumps forward, the looters enslave Valerian. He is lifting and shifting their haul while keeping one eye on his escape options. He grabs his opportunity and makes his escape. Next is a five panel sequence where he fights an unknown assailant in darkness. The silhouette panels contain only two or three colours. The dynamism of the run is great and the outcome is we see his adversary is Laureline!
Through some back flash panels Laureline’s journey to find and help Valerian is shown. After their reconciliation Valerian proposes returning to speak with Sun Rae. Valerian pitches his offer as knowledge being the real power in the now crumbling world rather than money. Sun Rae takes the offer and they pursue the mystery together. They trail the robots to their base in Washington Heights revealing Xombul as the mastermind behind the scheme.
Sixties Swagger
The panels provide frantic action and pressure after the heroes are found. This contrasts the previous two pages of the sombre approach towards the base beautifully. Captured and forced by Xombul to flee the approaching cataclysms that will destroy the city Sun Rae races them out of New York in a hovercraft. The two and a half pages that show the escape are stunning. The colour pallet is light and the ink work purveys all the movement and drama you would expect from a high speed escape. This is the end point of part one of the adventure. Readers had to wait to twelve months for the culmination of the adventure in 1969.
So far the story has been in true adventure style. Packed full of sixties swagger with a science fiction edge. All played out to a post apocalyptic background.
The adventure continues
The second act opens with our heroes and Sun Rae being taken to Xombul’s lair in the Rocky Mountains. Xombul is introduced and he is a classic sixties villain. Not shy in his explanation and exposition. Xombul introduces the one scientist he was able to snatch from the US army super laboratory, Mr Schroeder. In his first panel Schroeder shows off the synthetic whisky he has concocted, its not long before he is swigging his creation. The group are led further into the complex and Schroeder slips Valerian a metal ball device to use a distraction.
My favourite panel of the story shows Laureline sitting on the floor as Xombul’s test subject. The use of colour and line gives her an elegant vulnerability. Valerian seizes the moment as Laureline is being miniaturised to unleash the distraction. The plan works and Valerian, miniature Laureline and Schroeder escape with Xombul as their prisoner. Sun Rae heads in a different direction, keen to seek the science knowledge Valerian convinced him was the real power of the future.
One set piece too many
Xombul escapes and Laureline returns to full size over two pages. The slower pacing and build up of the first part of the story has become a lot more choppy. The continual set pieces are affecting the flow of the story. The visuals stay strong throughout and just prior to Laureline returning to full height there is a great panel of our three companions fleeing across a desert landscape.
The fight is taken back to Xombul after an abandoned military base is discovered. The dynamic action panels of the attack match the quality seen throughout the book with a particular highlight being the capture of our three companions in prison bubbles which carry them back towards the base. The eruption of a volcano adds another set piece to the story. Protected by their bubbles Valerian, Laureline and Schroeder move through a range of cataclysmic panels before their bubble come to rest and free them amongst the hot ash.
The Rocket! What Rocket??
Heading back to the base they find Sun Rae who explains he freed them and that Xombul has fled in a rocket to an orbiting space platform. Wracked with frustration they watch Xombul, via cameras, working on something using the science knowledge he has acquired. They soon unearth a failed attempt by Schroeder at creating a space-time machine. Using Valerian’s skills they soon have it finished and make a temporal space jump to the space platform. Valerian enters the platform and confronts Xombul who attempts to make his escape in his own time machine. Xombul’s skills do not match Valerians and the time machine is destroyed as Xombul tries to escape. The story wraps up with Schroeder and Sun Rae dropped near Brasilia and both heading in different directions with different intentions. For Valerian and Laureline the next adventure beckons.
The City of Shifting Waters: In conclusion
The City of Shifting Waters is a successful science fiction romp. The story has interesting characters and strong narrative ideas. The second act suffers from narrative flow issues due to the relentless number of set pieces. Had the second act been as strong as the first it would be a much better story. The combination of ink and colour work is a highlight throughout.
I would like to see more of Schroeder and Sun Rae in future volumes. The arc of Sun Rae is the more interesting of the two and where his story finishes could well be the start of something larger in the series. Hopefully this is the case and this isn’t his only appearance. I am keen to read the next adventure and will pick up Valerian and Laureline Volume 2 The Empire of a Thousand Planets as soon as I can.