I’ve been told that there is a goldmine of French comics and sci-fi but not sure where to start. I have an omnibus of the one that Fifth Element was inspired by but that’s it. Any recommendations?
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Valérian and Laureline?
In addition to the Fifth Element, Luc Besson also wrote and directed an actual Valérian movie. It wasn't very good.
That’s it! Yea, I remember Nerdrotic and Razorfist recommending the comic but not the movie
The movie was a huge disappointment except maybe the environment visuals. There's actually an animated series. French-Japanese production that lands somewhere between Saturday morning cartoon and anime. Doesn't follow the original comics either but certainly definitely more enjoyable than the movie.
The English voice acting is... yeaaaaah. But you kind of get used to it in a cheesy way and I couldn't find subbed French.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOL3hS3hSOY
Maybe you saw his video, but just in case: [Enter Bandes Dessinées: The Best-Kept Secret in Comics (https://youtu.be/_EQpXHW8vrY)
He mentions some that have been already listed by others here. In addition, there's some timestamps in the comments for a few other titles such as The Long Tomorrow, Servitude, Undertaker (+ 'Blueberry'), Conan: The Cimmerian and Durango. Durango is a wild west comic which isn't(?) available in English but he seems to have translated 8 of them himself. If you're interested you can find the links to the translations in the video description.
Thanks!
The Incal, by Jodorowsky and Mobius. Book five, 'The Fifth Essence' especially, but the whole series really. After Mobius was hired by Besson to do design work for The Fifth Element, he joined Jodorowsky's plagarism lawsuit against Besson (which they lost).
Fantastic books, probably Jodorowsky's best comics. Valerian and Laureline are like an unacknowledged shadow cast over much of modern sci-fi. Star Wars, adaptations of Dune, and half the shit that ripped them off can be traced back to Valerian, but the Incal is a clear inspiration for The Fifth Element.