Pierre Christin dies, he was 86 years old and was the father of ‘Valérian’

Pierre Christin one of the great French comics writers, creator with the artist Jean-Claude Mézière of the famous science fiction series ‘Valérian et Laureline’ (in Italy known as ‘Valerian‘), died on Thursday 3 October in Paris at the age of 86. The announcement of his passing has been made by its publisher Dargaud with a press release titled ‘The end of a magnificent story’. “His death is an invaluable loss to our profession– wrote the publisher – who contributed to developing to the same extent as René Goscinny, the creator of Asterix”.

Life and career

Born July 27, 1938in the Parisian suburbs, Pierre Christinwho signed himself Linus, was one of the most prolific authors in the world of comics in France. In his fifty-year career he has published around a hundred works, collaborating with a series of important cartoonists, from Mézières and André Juillard to Enki Bilal, François Boucq and Jacques Tardi. In 2018 at the Angoulême International Festival he was awarded the Prix Goscinny for the autobiographical album ‘Est-Ouest’ and for his overall work.

At the end of 1967, in the magazine ‘Pilote’, Christin created her most famous character, Valérian, with Mézière, flanked by the beautiful and emancipated Laureline: from this moment on, it would be her greatest comics commitment. The series focuses on the adventures of Valérian, a space-time agent, and his red-haired colleague, Laureline, as they travel the universe through space and time. The science fiction saga developed in 23 books until 2010. In Italy 001 Edizioni collected the entire cycle in 7 volumes. This science fiction series, translated into twenty languages, has inspired directors such as George Lucas (author of the intergalactic saga ‘Star Wars’) e Luc Bessonwho in 2017 made a film adaptation of the comic ‘Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets’, starring Dane DeHaan (Valérian) and Cara Delevingne (Laureline).

Pierre Christin worked on projects designed by Jacques Tardi, Annie Goetzinger, Jijé, François Boucq and Enki Bilal, with whom he collaborated on ‘The Phalanges of the Black Order’, ‘Cruise of the Forgotten’, ‘The Stone Vessel’, ‘The City That Didn’t Exist’ and ‘Hunting Trip’.