Léo (1)

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/bellatrix-episodes-1-and-2-by-leo/

The first two in what we are promised will be a four part story from the Brazilian-French comics writer Leo, following on from the previous 26 albums in the Aldebaran cycle since 1994. Kim, who has been the central character for most of the stories, is sent with her friend and colleague Manon to investigate the backward world of Bellatrix, where a misogynist conservative faction seems likely to win the elections and remove show more women’s rights.

Meanwhile their support mission in orbit, supported by the alien Avarants who have requested the Bellatrix intervention, runs into problems of its own when another alien race, the Arctarods, turns up.

As ever, gorgeously drawn; the political point is a lot more cogent than in some of Leo’s previous work; both of the first two albums end on cliff-hangers, which suggests that a decent amount of thought has gone into the plotting. Even minor characters get some credible presence here as well. show less

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2908882.html

I got properly hooked by this after reading Épisode 1, and ploughed enthusiastically through the rest of the sequence. I felt that Leo is on top of his game here, balancing the travails of the exploration party (led of course by Kim, who is the heroine of the entire story) with the story of the evil fundamentalist cultists who are trying to assert control over the entire colony and put women like Kim in their place. At the same time the sensawunda show more is maintained, with the last volume knitting together strands from the Aldébaran and Bételgeuse cycles to reach a pretty satisfying conclusion to Kim's story, all as ever gorgeously illustrated. show less

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3115771.html

I was delighted to discover that Leo has started a new story cycle in Les Mondes d’Aldébaran, the comics series which has been going for two decades. The storyline is that Kim, heroine of the previous series, has returned home to become the key interlocutor between the humans of Aldebaran and the alien Tsalterians (one of whom is father to her child Lynn); and has also become a celebrity, dealing with some very unwelcome attention. The show more Tsalterians invite her to help them assess a peculiar huge hovering cube, which turns out to be a portal to yet more lushly forested worlds, where both human and inhuman dangers await. (And there’s a bit of freshness to the lush forests, because Leo has handed over the colours to Florence Spitéri rather than do it himself.) Meanwhile Kim has two new allies, an Earth couple who are trapped in perpetual youth. All good stuff and set-up for another few albums. show less

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2908882.html

I got properly hooked by this after reading Épisode 1, and ploughed enthusiastically through the rest of the sequence. I felt that Leo is on top of his game here, balancing the travails of the exploration party (led of course by Kim, who is the heroine of the entire story) with the story of the evil fundamentalist cultists who are trying to assert control over the entire colony and put women like Kim in their place. At the same time the sensawunda show more is maintained, with the last volume knitting together strands from the Aldébaran and Bételgeuse cycles to reach a pretty satisfying conclusion to Kim's story, all as ever gorgeously illustrated. show less