Valérian #4

The fourth installment in the beloved French science-fiction series finds Valérian and Laureline aboard what appears to be a primitive sailing vessel, its great red sail billowing as they navigate waters shared with a startling pink sea creature rearing up alongside the hull. Jean-Claude Mézières' cover work brilliantly juxtaposes the ancient and the alien — a futuristic cityscape visible on the horizon while the crew contends with this very earthly-feeling maritime moment on a decidedly unearthly world. "Bienvenue sur Alflolol" ("Welcome to Alflolol") promises the kind of imaginative world-building that made Valérian, agent spatio-temporel one of the most distinctive European comics of 1972.