Science Fiction’s Under-Appreciated Feminist Icon

“The first woman I fell in love with was probably Laureline,” Luc Besson, the French director behind the forthcoming film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, said last year. “She was totally free and badass, and ... was a very modern heroine at the time.” Besson was talking about one half of the duo at the center of Valérian and Laureline, the legendary sci-fi comic series his new movie is based on. Written by Pierre Christin and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières, the comics debuted in 1967 and follow the two eponymous “spatio-temporal agents” who work for an organization called Galaxity, and, later, as mercenaries. Valérian and Laureline travel as partners—both professional and romantic—through space and time to resolve conflicts and foil villainous plots.

In the 50 years since its inception, has , including films like and the series. Part of the Franco-Belgian genre of comics known as , the seriesis immensely popular in Europe, and Valérian and Laureline are among . Yet the series—new special of which are being published this summer—remains little-known in America. And despite the adoration of fans like Besson,and predating sci-fi’ Princess Leia and ’s Ellen Ripley,Laureline herself rarely receives the critical attention she deserves. Arguably the heart of the comics, she’s a remarkably powerful, and believable, feminist figure who still resonates today as a “very modern heroine”—though Laureline first arrived in an age when women in sci-fi were rarely presented as more thancrude stereotypes.