Strangers (French comic book)

"Strangers" is a French comic book depicting a superhero team, consisting of many of Editions Lug' most popular heroes, all aliens residing on Earth (hence its name). It was written by Jean-Marc Lofficier and illustrated by various artists for publishers Semic Comics and Image Comics in 2002 and 2003.

Membership

The team was composed of the following characters:
* Futura, a mysterious woman from another dimension somehow related to Wampus
* Homicron, a NASA physicist whose body is inhabited by the energies and memories of a powerful alien
* Jaleb, the agent of a race of galactic telepaths
* Jaydee (or Jayde in the French version), an alien shapeshifter killing machine and last of its kind
* Starlock, the former servant of awesome cosmic entities, now a fugitive
* Tanka, a former Tarzan-like jungle lord, empowered by men from the distant future to safeguard our segment of time.

tory

Homicron asks Starlock to assist the international security organization C.L.A.S.H. with the disposal of WMDs stored in a space station. Meanwhile, on Earth, Tanka enlists Futura's help and tries to rescue Jaleb from his comatose state. In orbit, the space station is taken over by the robotic army of the power-mad scientist Astaroth.

Homicron, Starlock and Futura join the forces of C.L.A.S.H. to battle Astaroth. However, all is not what it seems, as a new villain is revealed, who was secretly pulling manipulating Astaroth all along: the deadly Tarantula, who uses a brainwashed Jaydee as her tool and plans to crash the station on Earth, virtually ending all life on the planet. Finally, the true mastermind behind the doomsday scheme is revealed: the arch-villain the Necromancer.

From his base on the Moon, the dying Necromancer schemes to turn Earth into his funeral pyre. But his passing would not be complete without the humiliation of his arch-enemies, the super-group known as Hexagon. As the Strangers mount a last, desperate attempt on the Moonbase to stop the villain's suicidal plan, he turns Hexagon against them.

The villain then takes refuge in his ultimate citadel: a station in orbit around the Sun, from which he plans to cause our star to go nova, using Starlock's precious starseed which he recovered on the Moon. The Strangers follow, and the final battle against the Necromancer begins. Tanka and Jaleb arrive in time to save the day.

The ultimate chess player finally reveals himself: Duke Oxian, the mad neuroform from the far future, who, from the heart of the Sun itself, schemes to reshape the patterns of time. Only Homicron and Jaleb can safely go to challenge him in the heart of the Sun.

The subsequent episodes dealt with the origins of Futura and Starlock.

Bibliography

* No. 0 (Prologue) titled "Le Château de Cartes" (The House of Cards) published in "Planète Comics" No. 14 (Semic, July 2002), a jam comic with contributions by François Cortegianni (script), Mike Ratera, Chris Malgrain, Patrice Lesparre, Jean-Michel Arden, Philippe Xavier, Mauricet, Jean-Jacques Dzialowski, Stephane Louis, Frédéric Grivaud, Willy Hudic, Stephane Peru, Olivier Peru and Jean-Marc Lainé.

* No. 1 titled "Les Anges à l'Oeil Fauve" (Semic, September 2002) and "Like an Angel, Feral-Eyed..." (Image Comics, March 2003), art by Manuel Garcia and Eduardo Alpuente.

* No. 2 titled "Les Ombres de la Nuit" (Semic, November 2002) and "In the Shadows of the Night..." (Image Comics, April 2003), art by Manuel Garcia, Javier Pina and Eduardo Alpuente.

* No. 3 titled "Caresses de Serpent" (Semic, January 2003) and "Caresses such as Snakes Give" (IOmage, May 2003), art by Javier Pina and Eduardo Alpuente.

* No. 4 titled "Le Matin Livide" (Semic, March 2003) and "The Livid Daylights" (Image, June 2003), art by Fernando Blanco and Eduardo Alpuente.

* No. 5 titled "Au Soir, Il Fera Froid" (Semic in "Image Comics" No. 1, July 2003) and "Icy till the Evening" (Image Comics, July 2003), art by Fernando Blanco and Eduardo Alpuente.

* No. 6 titled "Régner par l'Effroi"( Semic in "Image Comics" No. 2, September 2003) and "Rule With Fear" (Image Comics, August 2003), art by Fernando Blanco and Eduardo Alpuente.

* No. 7 titled "L'Autre Côté du Monde" (The Other Side of the World) (Semic in "Image Comics" No. 3, November 2003), art by Reed Man.

* No. 8 titled "Où l'On Parle de Fins et de Débuts" (Of Endings and Beginnings) (Semic in "Yuma" No. 9, October 2003), art by Fernando Pasarin.

* No. 9 titled "Le Pont sur les Étoiles" (The Starbridge) (Semic in "Yuma" No. 10, December 2003), art by Mariano de la Torre.

External links

* [http://www.lofficier.com/strangers.htm Strangers page]
* [http://www.hexagoncomics.com/strangers.htm Strangersentry on Hexagon Comics site]