Orbital 1. Cicatrices

Orbital #1

by Sylvain Runberg

El guionista Sylvain Runberg y el dibujante Serge Pellé nos presentan en esta obra de ciencia ficción un universo en el que la paz entre los diferentes mundos pende de un hilo. La acción se sitúa en el S.XXIV en Orbital, una estación espacial donde se reúnen las diversas razas que forman la Confederación. Después de un largo y duro veto a la Tierra, Caleb Sawny es el primer terrícola que entra a formar parte de ODI, un cuerpo diplomático destinado a resolver conflictos de manera pacífica. Despreciado por sus compañeros, no será fácil llevar a cabo sus misiones.

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Bande Dessinée, Comic Book, Fiction, Space Opera

48 pages, Paperback

First published April 5, 2006

Reviews

[Caro the Helmet Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review for vol. 1 and 2, as they are actually one story.

This was surprisingly good. Not like I expected less from this title, I just didn't know what to expect at all.
It's a story about a pair of Interworld Diplomatic Office (IDO) agents on their intergalactic diplomatic peace missions. Diplomatic peace missions here include jumping from high buildings, shooting and some other stuff James Bond normally does as his boring everyday tasks. The agents here are Caleb Swany, a Human, and Mezoke Izzua, a Sandjarrian, who looks like someone wearing full body zentai suit under her uniform and a lipstick.

Humans, while being pretty fresh in interplanetary Confederation, but also being their usual asshole selves, are already infamous for slaughtering almost the whole population of Sanjarrians on their own native planet not so long ago. This is why pairing Caleb and Mezoke for their mission is rather unexpected and politically delicate. Also from the very start we can see that not everybody in Confederation is happy that humans joined it and they are ready to make their moves. Not to mention there is a human group unhappy with it too, calling itself Isolationists. We have all kinds of aliens and I really love this part, because it feels like I'm back to Babylon 5 + 5th Element universe. Plus we get an alien technology living starship and an older very charismatic lady as its pilot. And so the story of Caleb and Mezoke duo begins.


Graphics are simply awesome. It's so unlike the regular aseptic line of Japanese manga and its cute characters that I had to get used to it. Most of faces are simply caricatural and aliens sometimes look better than humans... Well, maybe not better but definitely more organic in this world. Serge Pellé has some mad skills, he's creating technologies and races that look amazing and sometimes I had to stop reading just to enjoy his work. The technical detail is amazing.

So far the story is pretty simple and a bit cliche, also - where's humour?? But it had some nice twist and a lot of background, the world is rich and I expect to get more intrigue very soon and simply can't wait for it. Also more aliens and more action!

Art - 5 shining stars! Story - 3,5 but I guess just for starters.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay these books are rather short - just as well since after getting only few pages in to instalment 8 I realised that I need to read this series from the beginning to remind myself where I got to.

So here I go again (although it does cross my mind that when - or IF - number 9 comes out I may have to do this all over again). So what are my thoughts having read this series before - yes still impressive and breath-taking. The grand scale of the storyline the different races and technology - this is the work of a mind far more creative than mine will ever be.

This series was a total surprise to me being advertised in the copy of Valerian and Laureline. So why not give it a go - and I will admit I was amazed. Okay at 40 odd pages it was a short read and instantly called out for the next installation but still I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So much so I gave it 5 stars - but why?

Well the artwork is fabulous and so detailed - every time I open the books pages (and I have done that several times since it was delivered, did I say it was 40 odd pages) I find something new to look at.

The creators of this story have not limited the scope of the story or of the artwork to support it. The story fills me full of nostalgia of some of the very best comic storylines - back in the day when every page, every pane had to be hand drawn and coloured.

And being something new and unknown to me the story can go just about anywhere and I love that - I guess too many major comics and graphic novels these days feel familiar and predictable even when you have no clue about what is really going on. However every so often and I will admit I am not expert here there comes a story which you have no idea where it is going and this is one of them.

As a result it really does make me want to rush out there and buy the next instalment and see what the hell really is going on.

[Jokoloyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

One more evidence European graphic novels have better space opera stories than American graphic novels. More review to come.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very excellent European Science Fiction graphic novel. Amazing artwork. Loved it.

[Diz · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a future where the universe is administered by a confederation of alien races, humans find themselves in a disadvantageous position thanks to their history of violence. In this story a human becomes the first of his kind to join the Interworld Diplomatic Office (IDO) and is partnered with a Sandjarr, an alien species that had suffered atrocities at the hands of humans in the past. Their first mission is to deal with an intractable colony of humans.

The world building is quite impressive and the art is attractive. The story could be tighter though.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story: pretty good
Dialogue: passable
Graphics: absolutely outstanding

[Václav · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4 of 5 for nice intergalactic sci-fi)
Orbital is pretty good, even if it uses some well-known schemes and tropes, so far. But I still enjoy that, it's well fitted into its own world (which is a variation to classic multi-galactic-races collective narrative).
The art is fine, feels "European" and works for the story well. I thought that I would be able to say more, but after the first "book", which is some fifty pages of comics (so something like double-issue), which is not much and we only get basics and the start of the story. But I like where it is cut - quite a cliffhanger, but it's more like a clean cut from the whole thing than an "orchestrated" episodic one, like with regular issues.

[Nazım · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muhteşem çizimler ve muhteşem bir evren yaratmış çizer. Her paneli incelerken "bunun filmini niye yapmamışlar yahu" diye geçirdim içimden.

Konuyu idrak etme açısından ilk cilt çok karmaşık. Gezegenler, uzaylı ırkları, ayrılıkçılar ve kendi aralarındaki husumetleri derken biraz ambale oluyor insan. İlk iki kitap bir görevi anlatıyor ve maalesef devam kitapları basılmamış.

Birinci görev ikinci cildi de okuduktan sonra bu yorumu hikaye ile ilgili de güncelleyeceğim.

[Jesús · Rating 4 out of 5]

(for the 2 first volumes, which correspond to the same story) A vey nice surprise, with a interesting and hooking story. I also likes the setup, where any fan will find a wide range of influences, from Star Wars to FarScape, passing through Star Trek, Babylon 5, Aliens, Pitch Black, Moebius, etc.

[Maia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Orbital vol 1: Scars is a sci-fi comic very much in the vein of Star Wars. In the 23rd century, the human race is admitted for the first time to the intergalactic, multiracial peacekeeping organization which overlooks the galaxy. This story follows the first human cadet allowed in, and the other enforcing officer he is partnered with- both of whom soon realize that humans are not welcomed by all into this new alliance.

This book is extremely beautiful and well drawn, but there is one aspect of the art that I would like to complain about here for a minute. Why, oh why, do all of the extraterrestrials have to be basically humanoids with a few extra arms and blue or orange skin? I know why they usually are in movies- budget reasons, cheaper to have aliens played by humans (though with CGI that's not the excuse it used to be). But this is a COMIC. The illustrator could have drawn the aliens whatever way he wanted! It costs nothing more to draw them as bowls of liquid, clouds of gas, intelligent plants, or mountain sized slabs of sentient silicon. And yet, sadly, pretty much every non-human in this book is... basically a human with weird eyes or fur or tentacles instead of arms. Very well draw, mind you- just not very different from us.

[Peter Derk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just the beginning of the story here, what we're basically talking about is space diplomacy. Which is sort of like regular diplomacy except that it involves really weird aliens, shooting lasers, and generally more weirdos.

Here's what I don't get about space diplomacy: Why do space diplomats always seem so surprised that things go to shit and they have to stomp some ass? If I've learned one thing from science fiction, it's that throwing in the word "space" before anything means that it's going to involve stomping ass. A research station? Boring. A SPACE Research station? Prepare to be attacked by some weird alien poltergeist. Going for a walk? Yeah, enjoy the fall colors, grandpa. Going for a SPACE walk? I hope you brought a laser sword because you are definitely going to need it. Opera versus SPACE Opera? Forget it.

This one reminded me a little bit of Mass Effect in that the characters go from place to place trying to solve problems. Also in that I felt like I should like it more than I did for some reason. Anyway, if you're a Mass Effect fan, you'd probably get something out of this too.

[Ricardo Loureiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little reminiscent of the new Star Wars trilogy ( it can be no coincidence phrases such as "i've got a bad feeling about this referendum") but with a more adult tone. The art also serves the story really well, although not to the standards of Sillage, with which it also shares some ground.

[Paul Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Orbital series is a space opera set in the 23rd century, a time when the human race has just been allowed to join an intergalactic federation of planets that’s been around for millennia. Humans were previously considered too aggressive and undeveloped to join. Another race, mysterious isolationists called the Sandjarr, have also recently joined the confederation after their war with Earth. Our protagonists are a human, Caleb Swany, and a Sandjarr, Mezoke Izzua, paired with each other in an attempt to improve relations between species. They work as diplomat-agents, and each of their missions are split over two books.

Creators Sylvain Runberg and Serge Pellé wear their influences on their sleeves proudly, and the opening sentence – “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” – will be familiar to all Star Wars fans (it’s in every movie). This lets us know from the get-go what to expect.

Being the first book in a series means Runberg and Pellé have their work cut out for them when it comes to world building. Completely ignoring the adage of ‘show, don’t tell’, they choose instead to kick things off with a lot of exposition. The blurb has already told us much of what we need to know, and it does it a lot more succinctly than the characters in the first scenes, all of who speak in unfeasibly explanatory chunks. With that exposition out of the way, the story gets going.

Our two heroes meet and quickly overcome their species’ distrust of each other to build a mutual grudging respect (so, every buddy cop movie ever, basically). Their first mission is to prevent war from breaking out between a renegade human colony and an alien race that lays claim to the moon the colonists are mining, and our tale cuts between scenes of diplomatic wrangling, time spent with our agents and affairs heating up between the miners and the alien race they’re antagonising.

While not all of Pellé’s art is quite as polished as the lovely front cover, most of it is well executed, and the action scenes are particularly exciting, made all the more so by the fact that our heroes employ a fighting style that involves swinging around on cables like a sci-fi Spider-Man.

So, it’s a derivative story set against a very political background, told in a style that’s constantly info-dumping, and in which half of the dialogue is completely unnatural. But, like Star Wars, the one thing it’s probably closest to, there’s no denying that when it works, it works well. And it’s not as if George Lucas’ saga was overburdened with originality.

Perhaps the litmus test for any book like this is if it leaves one wanting to know what happens next, and that’s certainly the case. Right at the end things become downright thrilling when a bunch of insect-like alien monsters (straight out of The Matrix) attack the place where our heroes are holed up with a bunch of angry miners who are trying to kill them. However, as mentioned above, each mission is split over two books, so you’ll have to read Ruptures for the conclusion to this story.

[Silas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know a lot about this book going in, just that it involved space and aliens and that it was originally in French. It does betray a European sensibility, with a greater focus on politics and diplomacy, and a bit less violent action than you might expect in an American comic. There is still some action, though, and different factions of alien species that interact around a human diplomat along with his partner from an alien race with which humans have warred. It's nuanced and interesting, and the partner has an ambiguous gender, which is interesting (and rather French). The pacing is a bit slow, though, which hurts the book a bit, but it is an interesting book if you want to read a political book in space.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something "Valerian"-like about both the illustration style and the narrative: full of weird-looking aliens, with weirder-sounding names, and weird concepts. Although this is a bit less metaphysical than Valerian, thankfully.

Of course, one of the built-in hurdles of Sci Fi is that along with telling a compelling narrative, the futuristic universe has to be established, too, and there are only about 56 pages to do it. So it takes almost the whole book for everything to kind of make sense . . . and then it ends on a cliffhanger. (Sigh.)

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I was wrong thinking this was a standalone, it is continued into volume 2.

That being said for a first installment in the series this was quite close to getting a four star rating. In a small sample size the reader gets

*Some character development for both the leads and a couple of supporting characters
*Decent world building for both Terra and the confederation
*Good pacing and plot development

Actually, minus Keith Laumer's Retief, where the humor never worked for me, this is how I could see diplomatic field agents working in a large scale interstellar setting.

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an English language edition of a French graphic novel currently available on Kindle Unlimited. This is clearly an opening chapter for a lengthy story with a cliffhanger in mid-action.

It’s rather good with a complex world and plenty of political shenanigans even though the storytelling lacks clarity at times. The artwork has a lot of imagination but the visual storytelling is again a little confused.

Overall not a classic, but I’ll definitely read on the rest of the series.

[Highland G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the art. Reading this after finding out it was the story that outlaws was spun out of.
Story was ok in this first volume, nothing groundbreaking.
My niggles are, too much narration(info dump) mid book, lots of terminology being thrown at us and I don’t even know how to pronounce the words, felt a little rushed (its a comic, show dont just tell)
The art really did carry this volume and it was great. Characters expressions are spot on and the holographic layer over effects are really kl.

[Stephanie Racette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Avril 2022. Je le confesse, des « space opéra » c’est pas trop mon genre. Je suis allée avec la curiosité. Beaucoup d’informations (trop) pour une mise en place confuse. Et pas d’attachement encore aux personnages qui deviendront les héros (si on se fie à la couverture).
Cela dit, l’ensemble se lit. Les illustrations sont bien. Je vais peut-être tenter ma chance avec le tome 2 pour voir.

[Tamahome · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this 48 page translated French comic in 30 min on Hoopla. Pipeline Comics recommended it. Really nice art and some fun worldbuilding. It has 2 scifi diplomats, one alien and one human, but luckily they have guns. It ends on a cliffhanger though and finishes in vol. 2, the second album. I'll probably read it soon.

[Emre Yavuz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Çizimler çok güzel ama konuya hakim olmakta biraz zorlandım. Ana konu basit gerçi ama arka plandaki detaylar biraz kafa karıştırıyor. Kim kimdir, hangi gezegendendir, hangi ırktandır vs. kısmı biraz bulanık. Okudukça açılıyor gerçi ama biraz yordu açıkçası.

[Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Nice art work, disappointing storytelling. It ends with a huge cliffhanger that still manages not to make me want to read any more of it. It's all world building (with too much, and confusing, information) and no character.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well received, well written - a good example of Cinebook excellence. It reminds me somewhat of the series the EXPANSE based on James Corey's series THE LEVIATHAN. I've watched the series, but have yet to read the series. It is, of course, original and engaging, but similar atmosphere.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

European, socially conscious sci-fi. The artwork bearing close study of the details.

[Matias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the best modern comics I have read for some time. Love the detailed and action filled drawings, but the story is complex and intriguing also.

[Svxrt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nä. Inte för mig

[Ma. Rojas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pura Acción y Adrenalina.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great experience. Wonderful world-building, good characterisation and amazing artwork. Some of themes it tries to address it does a bit clumsily but I appreciate the ambition. Recommended.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a big fan of the art style - colouring is oddly washed out - but the story is very intriguing!

[Guillaume Levesque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fait beaucoup penser à Sillage. Pas mal!