The seventeenth album in the series, Le Matin du monde asks a pretty important question: is a bande
dessinée still good when it’s a simple story told by a highly skilled
storyteller? I would argue that yes, it’s still good but it makes for a slightly
disappointing read.
The story is very straightforward. Yoko visit Monya in
Indonesia (confirm) and they, along with Rosée du matin, Vic and Pol (confirm
name) travel back in time to 1350 in order to save the life of a dancer who’s
condemned to death because of Monya who interfered in the local village during
a previous visit. Monya’s reason for travelling back in time in the first place
was that she simply wanted to. After making Indonesia her adoptive home in the
present at the end of La Spirale du temps,
she began to study the country’s history. This led to an exploratory trip back
in time. That’s pretty irrational behaviour for someone who’s seen the negative
side effects of time travel. You would think she’d be more responsible.
Likewise, it’s kind of unsettling to see Yoko endangering herself without a
second though to her newly adopted infant daughter, Rosée, on so many
occasions. I can’t say I’m happy about it but at least her friend Vic (dark
haired one, confirm name) called her out on it.
I get the feeling that Leloup liked the idea of the
special bond Yoko developed with the mural of the dancer at the temple near the
home of her cousin Izumi and he wanted to explain that bond through a time
travel story. That seems to be a pretty clear starting point when thinking of a
time travel story, start from the end and work your way back. It’s unfortunate
that Leloup couldn’t think of anything more interesting than a time travel
rescue mission, especially when the end of the story is a breakneck race to the
finish line, as if Leloup ran out of pages in which to tell his story.
For a series that has regularly been defined by its
intelligent plotting, it’s disappointing to see Leloup produce something with
so little depth. I can forgive him because his art continues to be top notch
but I sure hope the next Yoko Tsuno
story I read seems him once again in great form.
My review is based
on the French edition published by Dupuis in 1988.
 |
| The resolution sucks. It went all wonky when I shrank it down. |
The Jewels of
Aptor written by Samuel R. Delany:
The Jewels of Aptor is the second book written by Samuel
R. Delany that I read. I’m not sure exactly how I discovered him, it could have
been because some of the writers I like listed him as an influence or maybe I
regularly found his work on lists of best science fiction and fantasy books. I
don’t know. I can’t remember but he’s been on my radar for a little while so
naturally I looked for his books at my local used bookstore. I found most of
his oeuvre and many of the novels were there in multiples. The first I read was
Babel-17 because I liked the title
and the cover. I read this one because it as a slim volume and I wanted to read
something quick between other novels. I was good but I’m not blown away. I had
a similar reaction to Babel-17
thought the latter is a much better work and I think I would enjoy it better
during a second read because I know what to expect. One great thing about Babel-17 is that it defies expectation
of a science fiction novel of the 1960s. I doubt I would enjoy rereading The Jewels of Aptor and it’s a shame
because I really want to like Delany’s work.
The story is one of those often strange and regularly
unappealing combinations of fantasy and science fiction. It might be better
described as post-apocalyptic fantasy. There isn’t much science so I’ll just
drop that entirely. The story is set approximately 1,500 years after the Great
Fire, a nuclear holocaust of some sort. The Great Fire resulted in many
different birth mutations and other strange phenomena. Even after all those
years women are still giving birth to children with multiple limbs or to
children with magical abilities. Sometimes the mutations are obvious and other
times they are more subtle, such as a man who’s grown larger and stranger than
any other man. His mutation has gone unnoticed for most of his life while
others, such as people with four arms, are easily identified as mutants.
It’s in this setting where a goddess, or one
representation of the goddess, sends two men to the island of Aptor to acquire
her daughter (or yet another facet of the same goddess) and the titular jewels
of Aptor. The men in question are Geo, a young poet, and his friend Urson,
giant sailor. Most of the book focuses on their time spent on the island and
their various theories as to what is going on. The characters frequently
discuss what is happening to them and they try to make sense of it all. The one
constant of the book is that everything changes. Perceptions, allegiances,
individuals, magic and technology, religious and mythology, everything is
constantly shifting. It’s one of the main themes of this work, mutability.
Knowledge, understanding and discussion also play an important part but it
doesn’t make for a captivating story. Yes, the prose is dense yet filled with poetic
language and turns of phrase. Delany, who wrote this novel at the tender age of
19, shows tremendous potential and he’s lived up to that potential.
Like the story, The
Jewels of Aptor constantly changes. It’s a story that works within a few
different genres; the characters are both fascinatingly original in how they’re
presented but also very familiar. Events that take place seem to involve science of old on
moment and the next, something more akin to magic. Parts of it are great, they
really art but parts of the book are also a real bore. While I didn’t love Babel-17 I could recognize why it’s
considered a classic novel. It was, at the very least, interesting. I haven’t
enjoyed The Jewels of Aptor nearly as
much but I’m still glad I read it as it’s helping me better understand the
works of Samuel R. Delany. I’m not done exploring his oeuvre, I have at least
two novels waiting on my book case. I just hope they’re more along the lines of
Babel-17 or something even better.
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