• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

  • Reading Orders
    • Marvel
    • My Marvelous Year
    • DC Comics
    • All Comic Book Publishers
    • Most Recent
  • Beginner Guides
    • Beginner’s Guide To Comics In 2023
    • Marvel 2023: Where to Start?
    • DC 2023: Where to Start?
    • Best of Lists
    • Tablets for Comics
    • Guides for Digital Readers
  • Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
    • DC Comics
    • Comic Book Movies
    • Comic Book TV
    • Video Games
  • Podcasts & Video
    • My Marvelous Year
    • Best Comics Ever (CBH)
    • CBH on Youtube!
  • About Me
    • My Favorite Comics of All Time
    • Columns
    • CBH Email Newsletter
  • Support Comic Book Herald
    • Ways to support
You are here: Home / Featured / Valerian Reading Order – How To Pick Up The Sci Fi Comics Masterpiece!

Valerian Reading Order – How To Pick Up The Sci Fi Comics Masterpiece!

September 2, 2017 by Dave 2 Comments

It’s often a challenge to truly appreciate an innovative genre-defining piece of art when you come to it decades after the fact. Sure, you can hear all about the trendsetting wizardry of Citizen Kane, but in 2017, it’s mostly just a story about a newspaper publisher with a sled (my Dad’s rolling over in his Lazy Boy and he has no idea why).

I expected a similar experience reading Valerian, the esteemed French comic by Pierre Christian and Jean-Claude Mézières. After all, the first translated story, “Bad Dreams,” was published in 1967, and that’s practically B.C. As it turns out, though, Valerian is excellent with thoughtful science fiction that holds up today, and clearly influenced the Star Wars generation to follow.

Valerian graphic novel reading order
The Valerian Falcon?

Recent years and the 2017 film adaptation by Luc Beeson have led to an increase in translations and collected editions, making it a great time to try and explore Valerian for yourself. It’s a surprisingly unclear order to stories, with fans making a lot of custom orders to better reflect the deep and long-running adventures through space and time.

For example, the collection titled Valerian Volume 1: The New Future Trilogy, actually contains books #13 to #15 in the series. I started with this collection, and although I enjoyed, I absolutely felt like I was missing grounding in the universe.

To avoid similar confusion, I present the best collected edition approach to Valerian graphic novels below!

Support For Comic Book Herald:

Comic Book Herald is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a qualifying affiliate commission.

Comic Book Herald’s reading orders and guides are also made possible by reader support on Patreon, and generous reader donations.

Any size contribution will help keep CBH alive and full of new comics guides and content. Support CBH on Patreon for exclusive rewards, or Donate here! Thank you for reading!

Valerian Reading Order

Valerian: The Complete Collection , Volume 1




Collects:

Book #0 “Bad Dreams”

Book #1 “The City Of Shifting Waters”

Book #2 “Empire of a Thousand Planets”

You’ll see plenty of recommendations – from staunch Valerian die-hards – that suggest it’s actually a big mistake to begin with “Bad Dreams” and “The City of Shifting Waters.” The primary reason is that these stories reflect the creators still getting a feel for what Valerian would ultimately become, which is better displayed in “Empire of a Thousand Planets.” The general concern is that Books #0 and Book #1 may turn you off to Valerian before you really get to see the science fiction journey at its peak.

Personally, I recommend you do start with those earliest works, as they set the rules of the universe and provide enough backstory that you feel grounded in the world. All of this is a fancy, overcomplicated way of saying “Uh, yeah, start at the beginning,” but this can be surprisingly confusing!

Valerian: The Complete Collection Volume 2

Collects: 

Book #3 “World Without Stars”

Book #4 “Welcome to Alflolol”

Book #5 “Birds Of The Master”

Valerian: The Complete Collection Volume 3

Collects:

Book #6 “Ambassador of the Shadows”

Book #7 “On the False Earths”

Book #8 “Heroes of the Equinox”

Châtelet Station, Destination Cassiopeia

Brooklyn Line, Terminus Cosmos

Books 9 and 10 are connected stories, as are the ensuing books 11 and 12.

The Ghosts of Inverloch

The Wrath of Hypsis

Following Valerian and Laureline’s adventures in “The Wrath of Hypsis,” the series continues with the oddly labeled “Volume 1” of the New Future Trilogy:

Valerian Volume 1: The New Future Trilogy

Collects:

Book #13 On the Frontiers

Book #14 The Living Weapons

Book #15 The Circles of Power

Hostages of Ultralum

Book #16

Orphan of the Stars

Book #17

In Uncertain Times

Book #18

At the Edge of the Great Void

Book #19

The Order of the Stones

Book #20

The Time Opener

Book #21

Memories From The Futures

Book #22

Filed Under: Featured, Reading Orders Tagged With: valerian

Heroically Support Comic Book Herald!

If you like Comic Book Herald, and are able to donate, any small contribution will help keep CBH alive and full of new comics guides and content. Donate here! Or, support CBH on Patreon for exclusive rewards! Thank you for reading!

Become a Patron!

About Dave

Dave is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Comic Book Herald, and also the Boss of assigning himself fancy titles. He's a long-time comic book fan, and can be seen most evenings in Batman pajama pants. Contact Dave @comicbookherald on Twitter or via email at dave@comicbookherald.com.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dredd says

    September 5, 2017 at 6:20 pm

    The correct name of the series is Valerian & Laureline, and the movie is loosely based on #6 – Ambassador of the Shadows.

    Reply
  2. David says

    September 3, 2017 at 11:23 am

    If you’ve read the wrath of Hypsis, I think you understand why the new future trilogy is called that

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

The Comic Book Herald Podcast!

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsRSS
My Ultimate Year podcast and reading club

Recent Posts

  • Pax Americana and The Infinite Loop Of Imperiums March 25, 2023
  • Fall of X Teasers & Al Ewing’s Sins of Sinister | Comic Book Herald Live! March 24, 2023
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 6: Immoral X-Men #2—in Review! March 23, 2023
  • DESTINY OF X | The Krakoan Empire Divided March 22, 2023
  • “Secret Identity” with Alex Segura | CBH Interviews #107 March 21, 2023
  • 2002 Pt. 3: Daredevil & Elektra March 20, 2023
  • Immoral X-Men #2 and Wolverine vs. Dark Beast! | Comic Book Herald Live! March 17, 2023
  • X-Men: The Animated Series Season 2 Rewatch! March 16, 2023
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 5: Nightcrawlers #2—in Review! March 15, 2023
  • My Marvelous Interview: Paul Jenkins on Wolverine Origin, Inhumans, Spectacular Spider-Man, & More! March 13, 2023
  • The Dark Knight Trilogy 15 Years Later: Film & Comic Influences! March 11, 2023
  • Sins of Sinister: Nightcrawlers, X-Men #20, New Mutants: Lethal Legion #1 | Comic Book Herald Live! March 10, 2023
  • 2002 Variant A: Ant-Man & Wasp Quantumania TAKEDOWN! March 6, 2023
  • Steve Orlando’s Marauders #1-5—Annotated! March 4, 2023
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 4: Immoral X-Men #1 in Review! March 3, 2023

Popular Articles

DC Rebirth Guide

Batman Reading Order

DC New 52 Reading Order

Marvel Ultimate Universe Guide

Civil War Reading Order

Marvel Cosmic Reading Order

The Best Comics of All Time!

Deadpool Reading Order

Justice League Reading Order

Complete Thanos Reading Order

X-Men Reading Guide (Modern Era)

Age of Apocalypse Reading Order

Modern Marvel Universe in 25 Trades

Best Tablet For Digital Comics

Is Marvel Unlimited Worth It?

Footer

New to Comic Book Herald?

Hey there - my name's Dave and this is my comic book blog. It's my way of sharing my borderline obsessive addiction to the comic book medium, and I hope you like some of what's going on here.

Most people that come here are looking for my (WIP) Marvel reading order guide. You can probably also get a sense if CBH is for you by taking a look at some of my columns.

If you like what you see, let's connect on Facebook or Twitter. Or, leave a comment on the blog here, I'm always looking for new awesome people in the comic book community.

More on Comic Book Herald

  • Home
  • About
  • Support CBH
  • My Marvelous Year
  • Join!
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

Recent Posts

  • Pax Americana and The Infinite Loop Of Imperiums
  • Fall of X Teasers & Al Ewing’s Sins of Sinister | Comic Book Herald Live!
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 6: Immoral X-Men #2—in Review!
  • DESTINY OF X | The Krakoan Empire Divided
  • “Secret Identity” with Alex Segura | CBH Interviews #107

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in