Back in my introductory post for Shared Universe Reviews
I mentioned how I first got introduced to comics via my dad’s collection of
bandes dessinées. So far I’ve only ever reviewed one of them (the latest volume
of Blacksad, read about it here) but it wasn’t very representative of the BDs I read in my youth. I read
a whole bunch, the entire Tintin
series, all of Lucky Luke and Astérix. I also really enjoyed reading
the zany adventures of office slacker Gaston
Lagaffe but one of my favourite series to read was Yoko Tsuno by Roger Leloup.
For those who don’t know him, Roger Leloup is a former
collaborator of Hergé on his most famous creation, Tintin. He’s mostly known for creating the series and eponymous
character of Yoko Tsuno which he has been writing and drawing since 1970! The
most recent album came out in 2012. I haven’t read all of them albums but by
reading through my dad’s collection and the albums available at my primary
school library, I’ve read nearly 20 out of the 26 album and one novel long
series. It’s been ongoing for forty years and with good reason. It stars Yoko
Tsuno, an electrical engineer, and the many adventures she has throughout
Europe and the rest of the world. She also regularly has adventures in space
with the Vineans, blue humanoids with advanced technology. Nearly all of the
stories deal with advanced science but I wouldn’t typically categorize the
series as being firmly in the science fiction genre. That’s probably because
Leloup ensures that each story is firmly grounded in reality by providing the
reader with strong characters.
La Spirale du Temps
begins while Yoko is spending time in Borneo visiting her cousin. While
visiting the local ruins she witnesses a strange event. A whirling device materializes out of thin air
and a young woman emerges to meet with two men who seem to have prepared for
the arrival of the machine. Yoko rescues the girl after she’s attacked by the
men and soon she’s wrapped up in what will be her first time travel adventure.
The young girl Yoko rescued is called Monya and she’s
from the 39th century. It was her father’s wish that she travel back
in time to prevent the destruction of Earth during their time period. Aided by
Yoko, she sets out to find Dr. Webbs, the inventor of “la bombe a contraction”
or the contraction bomb. When they meet up with Webbs he shares part of his
research with them but chooses to ignore Monya’s warning that his experiments
will one day lead to the doom of mankind. After finding a sealed door bearing
her great uncle’s name on in in Webbs research facility, Yoko decides to travel
back in time to uncover the secrets of Webbs’ antimatter research.
La Spirale du Temps
is a notable entry in the series because it introduces the concept of time
travel as well as the recurring character of Monya. Leloup also shows that he’s
adept at writing a time travel story that doesn’t get stuck or bogged down by
the details. He merges two types of time travel paradoxes together into a tale
that doesn’t feel overly constructed but unquestioningly dealt with time
travel. What’s interesting is that one of the paradoxes is used for travelling
back in time and the other is used for travelling forward in time. Leloup uses
the Novikov self-consistency principle in how Yoko travels back to the time of
World War II and the events that happen during her visit affected certain
things like what Yoko’s mother chose to name her daughter and the difficulties
her great uncle alluded to in letters to his wife. In this sense, everything
Yoko did back in time was meant to happen since it had already happened. When
Yoko asks Monya if she will leave for the future she replies that she’ll be
staying in the present. It’s dangerous to travel to an unknown future. She goes
on to explain the branching universe hypothesis which Leloup uses for future
time travel. The event that took place in the present changed the course of
history which means that tomorrow now holds just as many secrets for Monya as
it does for Yoko since history has branched off, using the present events as
the split in direction. It’s an interesting approach to time travel but I think
it works rather well, both paradoxes being used at the same time but separately
based on the direction of travel.
One of the reasons I enjoy this series so much is the
art. A bit unsurprisingly, considering his background, Leloup uses a “ligne
claire” (clear line) style of art. Hergé, creator of Tintin is often regarded as the father of ligne claire, a detailed
style of art that is also notable for its clean and crips finish. All of the
details are produced using a single, uniform ink line. Leloup doesn’t use
crosshatchings to creating shading; in fact shadows are used sparingly. Leloup
is very good at combining both key elements of ligne claire, the use of strong
cartooning skills for the characters and a highly detailed and realistic style
for the backgrounds. Leloup’s characters are usually less cartoonish than what
is traditionally found in other ligne claire BDs. Yoko’s stories take place in
various exotic settings around the world and some of the albums also deal with
science fictional and alien locations but it’s all drawn in a very realistic
way. Leloup regularly uses photo reference for buildings, clothing and
vehicles. Yoko often changes outfits through the course of one story.
I never noticed it before but Leloup’s pages are split
horizontally into two halves. Presumably this is how he’s able to produce
significant details in his drawings while using a uniform line because each
page is actually made up of two separate sheets. I have no idea how large he
initially draws these pages but each finished page is made up of a top and
bottom portion, labeled by the page number and the suffix of A (for the top)
and B (for the bottom). The art is clearly shrunk down and combined, two sheets
at a time, to form a complete page. It’s interesting to notice that some panels
are very large but they never more than one sheet (or half a page) in size.
The colouring, which was done by Béatrice from Studio
Leonardo is also indicative of the type of colouring often used with ligne
claire art. It presents an objective view of the world, leaving almost nothing
in shadow. A scene taking place as night is coloured in such a way as to
clearly indicate the time of night but the details of the background are as
clear as the characters.
Yoko Tsuno is a perfect comic for North American
audiences who are tired of the often sexist and thoughtless comics that line
the walls of comic shops. Yoko is a beautiful and very capable woman and her
stories are exciting because of the quality in the writing. Though Leloup
doesn’t draw women in an exploitive way, there is an uncanny similarity in the
physique of many of the female characters in the series. But since the same
criticism can be made regarding the male characters, I don’t fret over it. I
have to clarify that this comic doesn’t have a feminist agenda. It’s much more
neutral in tone and it would rather spend time with themes of technology,
family and ecology than be bogged down by gender politics. Intelligent writing
and a clear, classic looking art give Yoko
Tsuno a timeless feel and I’m certain I’ll be revisiting the series time
and again.
My review is based
on the French edition published by Dupuis published in 1981. Also thanks to my
father for unknowingly letting me borrow this and a few other Yoko Tsuso albums. I
promise to bring them back.
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