Customer Reviews

Magic Crystal

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Part I of a fantasy epic, this graphic novel has layouts by Jean "Moebius" Giraud but the artwork is by his disciple, Marc Bati. The pictures are pretty but the story goes nowhere. Readership is probably intended to be pre-teens. Violence in the form of warship-attacks and armed trolls result in some property destruction but no personal injury. There is no sexual content.

Readers expecting something like Giraud's Arzach or even Blueberry tales will be disappointed. This is a kind of dumbed-down version of Giraud's New Age "Aedena" cycle.

Hoping to capture a star princess, a bumbling wizard accidentally releases an evil superbeing. A young elf, trying to get to the bottom of the resulting chaos, is stopped by a mysterious stranger who proves to be the agent of a technologically advanced civilization. Hounded by agents of evil, the duo struggle to reach the stranger's techno base.

The artwork is very good in the Moebius style and the action is pleasant ramble, but it's just a jumble of escapades that do nothing to advance the plot or develop the story. The theme, which does not develop until much later in the series, is that of the planet too immature for the spirituality of the galactic confederation, an idea used in other Giraud tales.

Originally published as "Le Cristal Majeur," The tale continues in "The Island of the Unicorn" and concludes in "Aurelys Secret."

Nice colours and nice drawings for a world of flowers, elfs, magicians and space ships.
A whole saga of 6 (soon 7) books, with a sense of spirituality in the complex world of the Galatic Confederation. A ray of sun in the french cartoons.