Aldebaran 1-3 + Betelgeuse 1-3 (data9724-DCP) [DCP-D]

Hi everyone.
Heere is a little gem for you all, Aldebaran and Betelgeuse, an european sci-fi series, published by Cinebook.
This is one of the best sci-fi comics out there, I personally rate it up along Valerian, Wake, and The Chimpanzee Complex.

I took the liberty of grabbing this short review of the series:
This story cycle deals with the consequences of humanities attempts to colonise other planets. Aldebarans fourth planet being very similar to Earth in size and rotation and being only 64 light years away from Earth is the chosen planet for this story. The first book “The Catastrophe” is set 100 years after the colonists have lost contact with the home planet. We see what the humans have made of themselves and their planet. Strange events have been happening in one particular seaside village which a stranger named Driss has recently visited. Within days a catastrophe occurs, that destroys the village and everyone in it. There are only a small group of survivors, A young man called Mark, and Kim, the young girl that has a crush on him are amongst them. Who is Driss, and what is his connection to the ‘Mantis’, the strange creature that caused the Catastrophe and how the fates of Mark and Kim are entwined with his mission. Over the next 4 volumes the story expands and we witness not just an exploration of Aldebaran but the growth of Mark & Kim not just into adulthood but also as people coping with adversity. A strange cast of protagonists including the irascible Mr Pad, an amoral old trickster, begins to surround our 2 heroes and the interstellar influence of the Mantis is hinted at.

By the end of the Aldebaran cycle, we have a lot more answers but none regarding the origin of the Mantis. This has to wait for Betelgeuse, in which we see Kim exploring humanities 2nd disastrous attempt at colonisation. The results of this are far more primitive as these colonists, who have also lost touch with Earth started their lives in a far more precarious situation than Aldebaran’s inhabitants. For 5 volumes we explore Betelgeuse and humanity’s effects on it. The story hits its climax as we finally discover the truth about the Mantis.

This story is in all aspects a sociological sci-fi epic and it performs that function magnificently. As such though, it can tend to be a little slow in terms of plot development and this may make it more palatable to sci-fi purists.

Cinebook unfortunately censors some of their books, this included. I work together with Artnet to bring back the original nudity, but have put the censored pages in the back of the books as extra material.
This goes for all books, apart from Aldebaran 3, which took so long to decensor (20 pages, 20% of the bloody book was changed), that I had to release both a censored and an uncensored version. Both are included in this pack.

Cinebook at first printed these books as dual albums, having 2 french books pr english release, then switched to single issue books for the last few books. So the books include the following:
Aldebaran 1 = french Aldebaran 1-2
Aldebaran 2 = french Aldebaran 3-4
Aldebaran 3 = french Aldebaran 5 AND Betelgeuse 1
Betelgeuse 1 = french Betelgeuse 2-3
Betelgeuse 2 = french Betelgeuse 4
Betelgeuse 3 = french Betelgeuse 5

So just read Aldebaran first, then Betelgeuse, and all will be fine :)

Aldebaran 1 - The Catastrophe
In Aldebaran’s Worlds, you’ll live one of the most fantastic sagas ever written by man. The author tells the story of humanity’s first attempts to colonise distant planets. In their travels, Kim and her companions will encounter strange creatures and face the dangers of unknown worlds. They’ll witness the destruction caused by the madness of mankind. In the first album, Kim meets Mark, another teenager who has survived the annihilation of their village. Together they set out to find explanations for this terrible catastrophe...

This two-volume book includes “The Blonde.”





Aldebaran 02 - The Group
We return to Aldebaran, the planet where the first human colony in the solar system was founded. Mark and Kim, teenagers whose village was annihilated, have met a woman named Alexia during their escape. She is a biologist and a friend of Driss, the man who knows a lot about the catastrophe.Alexia shares Driss’s secrets. The government is very interested in her and sends soldiers to pursue her. While trying to help her, Mark is arrested and languishes in prison for 3 years. It’s the mysterious Mr. Pad, an odd character Mark has already met, who helps him escape from prison…

This two-volume book includes “The Photo.”





Aldebaran 03 - The Creature
The Creature: Mark and Kim, who have lost the rest of the group, are left with the wounded Ling-Li. Luckily, Alexa quickly meets up with them, and they’re on their way to the sea again. But when the Governor and Father Loomis catch up with them, they take them straight to the mantris.

The Betelgeuse Planet: The second cycle takes the theme of the colonisation of space further than most sci-fi comics by looking at its ecological aspect.
Leilah Nakad studies the Lums, cute animals living on the planet Betelgeuse. Seven years earlier, she led a 3000-strong group who were to settle on Betelgeuse. But the spaceship is still flying around, lost in space. Driss and Alexa investigate.

This two-volume book includes “The Betelgeuse Planet.”





Betelgeuse 01 - The Survivors
The continuing adventures of our Aldebaran heroes

Mark and Kim are sent to Betelgeuse to look for survivors of the spacecraft crash that killed 3,000 people seven years earlier. They do find survivors, among them Tazio Menegaz and Colonel Logan, who tell them the colonisers had been divided over whether the Iums (indigenous creatures) are as intelligent as humans. If they are, the humans would have been forced to abandon their colonising enterprise according to UN laws. Kim decides to investigate for herself.

This two-volume book includes “The Expedition.”





Betelgeuse 02 - The Caves
A wounded Kim has been rescued by Hector, but they are stuck inside the planet’s vast network of caves. Steve and Inge leave the expedition behind to look for them. All of them make their way through multiple, winding tunnels, trying to avoid particularly hostile and dangerous fauna in order to meet up. But the nightmare creatures aren’t the only ones down there. A strange technology reveals itself, and the Iums come and go in large flocks. Soon, an alien yet hauntingly familiar sight will put Kim on the track of Betelgeuse’s hidden secret…




Betelgeuse 03 - The Other
In this conclusion to the second cycle, Kim, Inge, Mai Lan and Hector have been camping for weeks in the wilds of Betelgeuse’s canyons, waiting for Hector’s ankle to heal. As they get ready to head back to the settlement, unaware that Alexa and Mark have finally reached the planet and made contact with the colonists, the mantris sends Kim an invitation! What follows is an extraordinary encounter that will decide the future of Betelgeuse and change the course of Kim’s life forever.