Heroes of the Equinox (Valerian Ser.)

The heroes are Valérian, Irmgraal, Ortzog, and Blimflim, humanoid extraterrestrials who have come to the planet Simlane to participate in a traditional contest whose victor mysteriously revitalizes the decaying world. This 1978 story, episode 8 of the long-running French comic strip "Valérian, agent spatio-temporel," is one of the four which have been translated into English. Valérian and Laureline patrol time and space to maintain the security of Galaxity, capital of the 28th century Terran empire. In addition to parodying superheroes, the other contestants symbolically represent different socio-political ideals, with the Norse Irmgraal representing the warrior mystique, the Slavic Ortzog representing totalitarian communism, and the mystic Blimflim representing a kind of new-age totalitarianism. Valérian, dutifully representing the Terran time/space authority, seems overmatched by these domineering supermen - but the battle is not always to the strong, nor the woman to the warrior! It's a fun story with a well-paced and tightly-plotted script and Mézières' mature art and excellent panel breakdowns. As in much of Christin's work the political symbolism is straightforward, not to say heavy-handed, and the story's liberal moral is very clear! The series' two main characters are defined in liberal-feminist terms: Valérian, the `good man', is well-intentioned but muscle-headed, and thoughtless about where he hangs his pants. Laureline displays a winning combination of impulsive humanism and cynical shrewdness when faced with challenges, which she overcomes with far less difficulty than Valérian.