What do you think?
Rate this book
Valérian and Laureline #9
Métro Châtelet direction Cassiopée
Valérian, le plus grand space-opéra publié par des auteurs français, nous entraîne dans un monde et un futur lointains. Le duo est constitué d'agents spatio-temporels : Valérian et Laureline. C'est à bord d'un vaisseau affrété par Galaxity, capitale de l'Empire Terrien, qu'ils se déplacent pour vivre des aventures hautes en couleur. Les scénarios font d'habiles clins d'oeil à notre époque, mettant en scène tyrans et dictateurs, souvent bien proches de ceux de notre 20ème siècle. Le dessin est classique mais doué d'une fantaisie qui donne une saveur rarement égalée aux créatures monstrueuses ou sympathiques que croise Valérian. Grâce à des histoires formidablement inventives, les auteurs de Valérian ont su séduire le public le plus large possible depuis 1967, année de création de cette série pour l'hebdomadaire PILOTE. L'album Les Habitants du Ciel constitue une étonnante "encyclopédie loufoque" détaillant chacune des créatures qui apparaissent dans les 13 albums.
Collects:
- Metro chatelet direction Cassiopee (1980) (Pilote Mensuel 70-73)
Collects:
- Metro chatelet direction Cassiopee (1980) (Pilote Mensuel 70-73)
48 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
3 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
Pierre Christin
209 books117 followersPierre Christin was a French comics creator and writer.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
August 6, 2017
Châtelet Station, Destination Cassiopeia and Brooklyn station terminus cosmos are two arcs of one story, so this is a review for both, in which our agents Laureline and Valerian are in trouble again, to our great pleasure. They're investigating the case of "supernatural manifestations", although Laureline's search seems to have nothing in common with Valerian's. She travels in deep space and he travels through time - he's visiting year 1980 on Earth. In everything it's a classic Valerian - light, adventurous, with beautiful art. And aliens! Not as fast paced as previous volumes though.
3.5 stars to 4.
3.5 stars to 4.
February 23, 2023
This is one of the better Valerian and Laureline stories I have read. The partners are working separately in this story. Valerian is Paris in the early 1980s (yes, time travel) and Laureline is in space in their present time doing an investigation. The pair communicate telepathically. It's funny to see how depressed and useless Valerian is without Laureline. She on the other hand is crushing it. Perhaps Valerian is holding her back from her true potential.
The thing that I like about this story is that it is a true mystery, and the characters are uncovering clues as they move through the story. However, be warned that the mystery is not resolved in this volume. So, if you are thinking of reading this, be sure to pick it up with the following volume as well.
The thing that I like about this story is that it is a true mystery, and the characters are uncovering clues as they move through the story. However, be warned that the mystery is not resolved in this volume. So, if you are thinking of reading this, be sure to pick it up with the following volume as well.
June 27, 2024
Another amazing installment. This is the first two-part story in the series. It’s also probably the most mature in tone. The story is a mystery. Like last time, it begins with V+L already on the case and it takes the reader a while to figure out what is going on. Valerian is investigating a series of strange apparitions on earth, specifically France of the late 1970s. While Laureline is out in space, following another lead which takes her to multiple planets.
With additional pages, the pacing is more leisurely and the story develops slowly. By the end of part 1, many mysteries remain.
Great art. Mezieres captures both the fantastic and real-world settings with aplomb. The depiction of 70s France was unexpectedly delightful, with little details of cafes, hotels, buses, and trains. And the whimsical guest characters are eccentric and charming. A pair of old coots, one of whom operates a ham radio in a closet and whose house is a jumble of books and papers, and the other who spends his time gardening and philosophizing on ancient religions.
SPOILER
Valerian discovers that France has been struck by a series of paranormal events, each involving an elemental creature (earth, fire, and water), that may be part of an arcane ritual. Presumably the final element, air, is next. Two giant conglomerates are also involved, one an energy company, the other a tech company.
Laureline’s quest is equally intriguing. In particular her stop on an unstable, sinking planet. Its only city must be continually constructed, as older layers sink ever deeper towards the planet’s core. On each level is a giant sentient snail, keeper of its epoch’s wisdom. Laureline travels through abandoned, cobweb strewn passageways to the 327th layer in search of a clue. What a great concept.
She then visits a garbage planet, so poor it has to accept the refuse of other worlds to survive. The natives there build strange idols from the junk, 4 of which have been recently stolen and may somehow be behind the disturbances on earth.
We also get a short historical flashback to an alien planet that was likewise afflicted by elemental apparitions and subsequently destroyed. (Raising the stakes) Even this brief interlude has a wealth of interesting designs. Palatial castles perched atop slender cliffs rising from a forest sea. And the armor of the nobles.
With additional pages, the pacing is more leisurely and the story develops slowly. By the end of part 1, many mysteries remain.
Great art. Mezieres captures both the fantastic and real-world settings with aplomb. The depiction of 70s France was unexpectedly delightful, with little details of cafes, hotels, buses, and trains. And the whimsical guest characters are eccentric and charming. A pair of old coots, one of whom operates a ham radio in a closet and whose house is a jumble of books and papers, and the other who spends his time gardening and philosophizing on ancient religions.
SPOILER
Valerian discovers that France has been struck by a series of paranormal events, each involving an elemental creature (earth, fire, and water), that may be part of an arcane ritual. Presumably the final element, air, is next. Two giant conglomerates are also involved, one an energy company, the other a tech company.
Laureline’s quest is equally intriguing. In particular her stop on an unstable, sinking planet. Its only city must be continually constructed, as older layers sink ever deeper towards the planet’s core. On each level is a giant sentient snail, keeper of its epoch’s wisdom. Laureline travels through abandoned, cobweb strewn passageways to the 327th layer in search of a clue. What a great concept.
She then visits a garbage planet, so poor it has to accept the refuse of other worlds to survive. The natives there build strange idols from the junk, 4 of which have been recently stolen and may somehow be behind the disturbances on earth.
We also get a short historical flashback to an alien planet that was likewise afflicted by elemental apparitions and subsequently destroyed. (Raising the stakes) Even this brief interlude has a wealth of interesting designs. Palatial castles perched atop slender cliffs rising from a forest sea. And the armor of the nobles.
August 12, 2019
I have a 1981 hardback reprint in French from Dargaud. Originally serialised and published in book form in 1980, this is the first part of a two part episode.
There’s a big change in style in this episode, with Valérian stuck in 1980s Paris in what seems to be a quasi police-thriller TV episode (which the French call “un polar”, the visual media equivalent of a roman noir), whilst Laureline independently (and quite contentedly) travels the galaxy solo, searching for the origins of the spatiotemporal anomalies Valérian is tasked to discreetly destroy. Once again, Valérian has a moral and physical price to pay for accepting his mission, having taken badly to the surgery that enables him to communicate through time and space with Laureline.
There’s a wonderful portrayal of the drabness of contemporary France in this episode, as well as the affectionately caricatural eccentricity of Valérian’s local handler which taps into all sorts of conspiracy and new-age counter-cultures together with old France nostalgia, and an astute political jab at US world-ravaging multinationals.
Amusingly, this episode clearly chronicles the development of the magazine Pilote in which the story was serialised. This publication was increasingly seeking a teen / adult readership at the time as opposed to its child friendly origins (hence the ever increasing sexiness of Laureline and the ever increasing intensity of violence in recent episodes). Hence Valérian gets to swear a lot in this one, which the authors gleefully draw attention to as much as possible, just to make an ironic point.
Despite all the meaty content, the story just doesn’t grip like earlier episodes. Maybe because it is somewhat depressed in tone, but also because the graphics feel comparatively stiff and lifeless, and are deliberately dark and drab to fit the “polar” theme. They are also simpler, more suggestive than descriptive. It seems that less love and energy went into their creation.
Overall a good episode, but not one of the best.
There’s a big change in style in this episode, with Valérian stuck in 1980s Paris in what seems to be a quasi police-thriller TV episode (which the French call “un polar”, the visual media equivalent of a roman noir), whilst Laureline independently (and quite contentedly) travels the galaxy solo, searching for the origins of the spatiotemporal anomalies Valérian is tasked to discreetly destroy. Once again, Valérian has a moral and physical price to pay for accepting his mission, having taken badly to the surgery that enables him to communicate through time and space with Laureline.
There’s a wonderful portrayal of the drabness of contemporary France in this episode, as well as the affectionately caricatural eccentricity of Valérian’s local handler which taps into all sorts of conspiracy and new-age counter-cultures together with old France nostalgia, and an astute political jab at US world-ravaging multinationals.
Amusingly, this episode clearly chronicles the development of the magazine Pilote in which the story was serialised. This publication was increasingly seeking a teen / adult readership at the time as opposed to its child friendly origins (hence the ever increasing sexiness of Laureline and the ever increasing intensity of violence in recent episodes). Hence Valérian gets to swear a lot in this one, which the authors gleefully draw attention to as much as possible, just to make an ironic point.
Despite all the meaty content, the story just doesn’t grip like earlier episodes. Maybe because it is somewhat depressed in tone, but also because the graphics feel comparatively stiff and lifeless, and are deliberately dark and drab to fit the “polar” theme. They are also simpler, more suggestive than descriptive. It seems that less love and energy went into their creation.
Overall a good episode, but not one of the best.
February 17, 2020
Kahden albumin, Pariisista Kassiopeiaan (1980) ja Brooklynistä kosmokseen (1981), muodostama kokonaisuus, jossa Valerian kamppailee "nykypäivän" maapalolla jostain syystä maahan ilmestyneitä ihmeellisiä elementtiotuksia vastaan. Kokonaistarina on monipolvinen, ja jälleen liikutaan aikamatkustusgenren sisällä. Paino on edellisiin albumeihin verrattuna selkeästi enemmän tarinassa aikaisempien eräänlaisten tarinallisten tuokiokuvien sijaan. Nyt mukana on runsaasti myös sivuhenkilöitä, sen sijaan että Valerian ja Laureline toimisivat ainoina tarinaa eteenpäin vievänä voimana. Jälleen kerran albumit voisivat ihan hyvin olla tämän päivän jenkkisarjakuvaa.
January 7, 2022
The first in a two-part series featuring our titular heroes. An unknown power has come to the planet Earth, seemingly to use the force of earth’s mythology to eventually destroy the planet. This is a fascinating story as it takes place between several planets and the scope of millions of years. While Valerian scours Earth’s past to find the mysterious powers, Laureline searches the future to see the handiwork of the power in effect. Both communicate through an unstable link via time and space. This is a great story, filled with fascinating art, and is a lot of fun. Can’t wait for part two.
May 5, 2024
Met het dubbelalbum 'Halte Châtelet, richting Cassopeia' en 'Brooklyn Station, Eindpunt Kosmos' bereikt de Ravian-reeks zijn hoogtepunt. Het verhaal is een intrigerende science fiction-thriller, waarin ook de relatie tussen Ravian en Laureline verder wordt uitgediept. Mezières' tekenwerk is van het hoogste niveau. Na dit dubbelalbum zou hij helaas alleen maar slordiger worden...
January 22, 2019
What the heck? Just when I've decided that this series is nothing but short psychedelic space drugs for teenagers, along comes this longer, Lovecraftian space-and-time mystery of which this is merely the first part.
So completely different in tone that I began to wonder if there was a new writer (the art is the same).
So completely different in tone that I began to wonder if there was a new writer (the art is the same).
September 3, 2017
Valerian on menneisyyden maailmassa tutkimassa outoja tapahtumia ja Laureline Kassiopeiassa etsimässä syitä niille - jatkuu seuraavassa kirjassa. Toimi myös jatkosarjiksena.
January 7, 2018
Quelque chose un peu different. Histoire un peu difficile à suivre mais c'est plus un type de mystère. Plein d'idées intéressantes. Curieux de voir comment sa ce déroule.
April 30, 2018
Exciting, different, Valerian story. Interesting, promising plot...
October 16, 2018
One of my favorites from the series ! Also the one which inspired Luc Besson for the Valérian movie.
Laureline does all the job!
Laureline does all the job!
December 20, 2019
I don't lik those Earth based Valerian and Laureline books.
August 7, 2020
Man, the 70's were such a boring era.
August 12, 2020
Plodding, slow and incomplete but somehow still engaging.
August 15, 2020
A double arch storyline. Valerian is investigating a supernatural happening on Earth while Laureline is trying to find out why in outher space.
January 11, 2021
Spoiler there is a cliffhanger
More build up
About Valerian here for a change and he is not happy that people around him think of him as an idiot
More build up
About Valerian here for a change and he is not happy that people around him think of him as an idiot
May 19, 2022
Una de las historias más interesantes y bien escritas de la serie. En realidad es un díptico formado por "Metro Chatelet, dirección Casiopea" y "Estación Brooklyn, final de línea el Cosmos".
April 4, 2023
So goddamn dull. No narrative momentum at all. Even Valerian seems bored.
October 31, 2024
The story might be good, but is poorly told.
I still like the setting of the series though. It is very inspiring
I still like the setting of the series though. It is very inspiring
August 7, 2025
Estas aventuras siempre tienen su punto
June 28, 2020
WARNING: *This doesn't stand alone*
The volume before left solo Valerian in current France (1980) at the end of a story but his presence there kicks off this longer story about "monsters" that are seemingly appearing out of nowhere in which he has Laureline's investigative support from the stars. She contributes the diverse weirdness of star-hopping that's at the core of the series' popularity while the rest of the cast feeds the reader's contemporary ego!
The wonderfully eccentric but highly effective agent -seen on the cover- alights interest in himself and the relative nature of progress and procedure between their vastly distant temporal settings. Then an older gentleman who combines philosophical and practical acumen joins at the end to put the pieces of the other three involved into perspective for strategic purposes.
This first part unfolds rather expertly.
The volume before left solo Valerian in current France (1980) at the end of a story but his presence there kicks off this longer story about "monsters" that are seemingly appearing out of nowhere in which he has Laureline's investigative support from the stars. She contributes the diverse weirdness of star-hopping that's at the core of the series' popularity while the rest of the cast feeds the reader's contemporary ego!
The wonderfully eccentric but highly effective agent -seen on the cover- alights interest in himself and the relative nature of progress and procedure between their vastly distant temporal settings. Then an older gentleman who combines philosophical and practical acumen joins at the end to put the pieces of the other three involved into perspective for strategic purposes.
This first part unfolds rather expertly.
November 4, 2015
When you pick up a Valerian and Laureline book it’s in the knowledge that’s it’s a classic series that helped to shape the modern medium, so expectations are going to be high. It’s not really fair to judge any tale by contemporary standards as something that may have been daring and original thirty years ago now may well be part of the mainstream, so with this particular series I always try to remind myself before I start reading it to bear all of this in mind, and to date I’ve really enjoyed all of the Cinebook English language translations. I couldn’t honestly say it’s a favourite ongoing series, but there’s been plenty to pique my interest and keep me intrigued. And then along came this one.
Laureline and Valerian are off on two separate but linked investigations. Laureline, at the start of the book, is in the densely populated Cassiopeia constellation while Valerian is in a bar, on our Earth, in our time period, and they’re discussing what they’ve been up to by some form of space-time crossing telepathy. The juxtaposition of these two scenarios, launched into without preamble, is a nod to the reader’s ability and will to hit the ground running, and I’m pleased to say I was completely hooked.
Valerian is attempting to get to grips with otherworldly apparitions that appear to represent the four elements, aided by Galaxity’s representative on the ground. Meanwhile Laureline’s investigation has taken her to the living keepers of a particular planet’s history, holed up deep beneath the surface on a planet that’s eternally sinking in on itself. Both of them are slowly piecing together a mystery through the strangest of means, although, it has to be said, Laureline appears to be coping rather better with her side of the task.
The book leads straight into volume 10, so to say much more of the plot would be unfair, but suffice to say that the inventiveness of the story and it’s execution upon the page make for a read that fulfils the promise of this series. In a time when so much storytelling is a rehash, reworking, extension or homage, it’s good to be surprised by a book that first saw the light of day several decades ago. If you’ve not tried this series yet then this is certainly not a bad place to start.
Laureline and Valerian are off on two separate but linked investigations. Laureline, at the start of the book, is in the densely populated Cassiopeia constellation while Valerian is in a bar, on our Earth, in our time period, and they’re discussing what they’ve been up to by some form of space-time crossing telepathy. The juxtaposition of these two scenarios, launched into without preamble, is a nod to the reader’s ability and will to hit the ground running, and I’m pleased to say I was completely hooked.
Valerian is attempting to get to grips with otherworldly apparitions that appear to represent the four elements, aided by Galaxity’s representative on the ground. Meanwhile Laureline’s investigation has taken her to the living keepers of a particular planet’s history, holed up deep beneath the surface on a planet that’s eternally sinking in on itself. Both of them are slowly piecing together a mystery through the strangest of means, although, it has to be said, Laureline appears to be coping rather better with her side of the task.
The book leads straight into volume 10, so to say much more of the plot would be unfair, but suffice to say that the inventiveness of the story and it’s execution upon the page make for a read that fulfils the promise of this series. In a time when so much storytelling is a rehash, reworking, extension or homage, it’s good to be surprised by a book that first saw the light of day several decades ago. If you’ve not tried this series yet then this is certainly not a bad place to start.
April 25, 2016
Valerian is still the most intelligent, wordy of all European comics translated into English. It is also still one of the best to cross the sea to our little island and I will look forward to reading the second part of this story very soon
Read
December 31, 2016I feel like I am reading these stories out of order which is why I am missing important back stories in regards this current story and why the duo of Laureline and Valerian are in different time eras. As usual the wealth of imagination and the dialogue is top notch.
April 20, 2017
Valerian is involved In a mysterious search for unnatural monsters in 20th century France. Laureline is trying to find pinpoint the same mystery in the cosmic scale by traveling to many different planets. Good pace and suspense as our heroes are trying to unravel the mystery.
August 23, 2017
Cette première partie d'une histoire en 2 tomes est plutôt bien ficelée. L'intrigue est pour une fois intéressante et j'ai bon espoir que ça ne soit pas résolu en 2 secondes vu que l'histoire a été séparée en 2.
J'aime beaucoup le principe de communication instauré entre Laureline et Valérian, c'est une idée ingénieuse de la part de l'auteur.
Par ailleurs, l'ambiance de cette histoire est superbe grâce à l'alternance entre le Paris des années 80 et les diverses planètes bizarroïdes.
Le bémol que je mets est toujours le même : je n'aime pas Valérian. Ce personnage est inutile, il n'est pas très efficace (à part pour tirer avec des armes) et il m'est surtout très antipathique... J'ai toujours l'impression qu'il récolte les lauriers des réussites des autres.
J'aime beaucoup le principe de communication instauré entre Laureline et Valérian, c'est une idée ingénieuse de la part de l'auteur.
Par ailleurs, l'ambiance de cette histoire est superbe grâce à l'alternance entre le Paris des années 80 et les diverses planètes bizarroïdes.
Le bémol que je mets est toujours le même : je n'aime pas Valérian. Ce personnage est inutile, il n'est pas très efficace (à part pour tirer avec des armes) et il m'est surtout très antipathique... J'ai toujours l'impression qu'il récolte les lauriers des réussites des autres.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews