Valerian & Laureline In: Ambassador Of The Shadows

Y'know, as much as the world is waiting with baited breath for Guardians vol. 2, there is another jokey, trippy way out space opera about to hit the screens. And it's this one:

So howabout a little of the literally fantastic French strip it's based on. Like the reviewers are already lining up to point out, you may not have seen Valerian, but you've certainly seen the million things it's influenced.
For those who haven't seen it, Valerian & Laureline are spatio-temporal agents for Galaxity, capital of Earth's empire in the future ( except Laureline's actually from 11th century France ), who travel the universe and space-time continuum, putting things right whenever they go merde.
Occasionally, the duo are joined in their adventures by their contact on 20th century Earth, Mr. Albert, who being French, sees no reason why the imminent destruction of all space-time should get in the way of a good lunch.

I first read Valerian in Heavy Metal, when they serialized this story, Ambassador Of The Shadows, at least some of which seems to have made it into the movie, so it's a good place to start if you've never read the strip before.
It's weird, it's whimsical, it's charming and mind bending, in short everything you'd want from a space opera. Here's the first couple of installments.

The Cruise Of Lost Souls

The Cruise Of Lost Souls was the first of Enki Bilal / Pierre Christin's so-called 'Townscape' trilogy, a series of environmental fables, that all follow much the same basic idea. As a group of unscrupulous politicians and businessmen set out to ruin the lives of the average working man, something magical happens to block the path of 'progress'. Always involved is the mysterious white-haired man ( who looks kind of like a gallic Elric ) who turns up at opportune moments, and always knows more than he lets on.
Titled The Voyage Of Those Forgotten when it originally ran in Heavy Metal, ( a better title I think ) this tale is about a tiny Italian ( or possibly French ) village that takes it upon itself to one day float off into the sunset.
The message is sometimes forced, but Christin's script manages to hit just the right side of whimsy, ably lightening Bilal's usual gloom encrusted worldview ( although he really lets himself go in later episodes, where army officals start mutating into hideous monsters ). But it's the comedic, secondary characters I like, such as the bedridden old man who refuses to believe any of it is happening, the kids who realise they won't have to go to school, and the fact that, confronted with such a bizarre set of happenings, the villagers take the only sensible option, and break out the wine, bread and pate.
Here's the first few episodes.