In Review: Yoko Tsuno: The Curious Trio

Roger Leloup's Yoko Tsuno returns in the seventh of her books to be translated into English by Cinebook, The Curious Trio, which was actually the first of the Yoko Tsuno albums published in France back in 1972.

Vic Van Steen and Pol Paris are a TV director and cameraman who, on leaving the station late at night, spot some unusual goings-on at a nearby building site where they follow a female cat-burglar into a laboratory. There they discover the 'burglar' is actually testing the lab's security and is a Japanese engineer called Yoko Tsuno who is between jobs.

Yoko accepts the job of a sound engineer from the two men and a few days later is part of a camera team shooting a documentary in an underground lake. However as they dive in the lake attempting to discover where the water exits to, they are drawn into a current and end up in an underground cavern populated by an advanced race of blue skinned humanoids.

It is not unusual for Cinebook to publish their various series out of order when the stories in those series are not sequential. This origin story that introduces Yoko to Vic and Pol was first published as Le Trio De L'Etrange in the weekly Spirou comic between May and September 1971 and then combined into an album in 1972 - a further 25 have since been published. So here readers see writer and artist Roger Leloup's early versions of the now familiar characters and they are not that different - Yoko is resourceful, Vic is unshakable and Pol is the comic foil.

What is different is the artwork and here Leloup uses a more humorous style of art than his later ligne claire, indeed Cinebook felt the need to for a brief introduction to point out that this is the earliest book due, presumably, to the difference in art style to what they have published from the series before. While I prefer the later artwork, the art style and the science-fiction nature of this story mean that this bears quite a resemblance to the early Valerian and Laureline books that Cinebook are also currently publishing.

Like all Yoko Tsuno titles this is aimed at a slightly younger audience, late primary school girls would probably be the bulls-eye, with a relatively straight-forward tale of futuristic underground railways, sleeping aliens and a dangerous main computer. While it is not too taxing for an adult reader, it always remains imaginative and fun.

Yoko Tsuno - The Curious Trio maintains the series style of good, adventurous story telling for a younger audience and, in a market lacking in good graphic novels for younger girls, it comes especially recommended for daughters and nieces.

• There are more details of all the English language Yoko Tsuno books on the Cinebook website.

• There are more details of the original French books on the official Yoko Tsuno website (in French).

In Review: Yoko Tsuno - The Morning Of The World

Roger Leloup's adventurous electrical engineer returns in the latest Yoko Tsuno offering from Cinebook, The Morning Of The World. The previous Yoko book reviewed here on downthetubes was The Dragon Of Hong Kong which had Godzilla overtones however with The Morning Of The World the theme is rather more Doctor Who-ish.

Yoko Tsuno returns to Bali with her adopted daughter Morning Dew and her friends Vic and Pol and there they meet up with Yoko's cousin Monya who has developed a time machine that Yoko has travelled in before. However Monya has travelled in time to 1350 and caused Narki, a native dancer, to be sentenced to death and she wants Yoko to return to the past with her to help save the girl. In 1350 Monya and Yoko are captured by the girl's tribe and, in an attempt to save the girl's life, are forced to fight off the pteranodons that dwell near the Agung volcano that the tribe calls "The Morning Of The World".

Originally published in Spirou issues 2613 to 2630 between May and September 1988 as Le Matin Du Mond, The Morning Of The World is effectively a sequel to the earlier Yoko Tsuno time travel story The Time Spiral which Cinebook have already translated. While it would be beneficial to have read the previous title to understand all the references to it, this book can be read by itself without unduly harming the enjoyment of the book. The story itself rattles along jumping from one problem to another throwing in time travel, active volcanoes, flying dinosaurs and the imminent threat of death on several occasions for both our heroine and her friends. As long as you don't think too deeply about what is going on then this is a fast moving and exciting adventure which, like all Yoko Tsuno stories, is aimed at a younger audience and so feels simplistic to a adult reader.

This means that, for instance, there is no explanation of why Yoko flies to Bali in a private fighter jet, and straps her young daughter into the plane's rear ejection seat, when they could just as easily have travelled to the island in the same airliner as the two male characters. But that is not the point since, with Yoko, Leloup is showing his young readers that women can be just as resourceful as men in roles and jobs that may still have be seen as male preserves when the story was originally published.

Like all Yoko Tsuno books, The Morning Of The World is an exciting if somewhat junior tale and if you have a younger daughter or niece, who in earlier years you would have considered buying Bunty comics or annuals for, then this is a book that would be well worth trying out on them, especially if they also like Doctor Who.


• There are more details of The Morning Of The World and all the other English language Yoko Tsuno books on the Cinebook website.

• There are more details of the original French books on the official Yoko Tsuno website (in French).

In Review: Yoko Tsuno - The Dragon Of Hong Kong

Roger Leloup's tales of the adventures of Yoko Tsuno, a female Japanese electronics engineer, began in Spirou magazine in 1970 and while set in the modern day they can veer between full on science-fiction and more realistic straight adventure. The Dragon Of Hong Kong, despite its title and cover, is one of the straight adventure stories. The 16th of the 24 Franco-Belgian Yoko Tsuno albums, this is the Cinebook's 5th Yoko Tsuno book and the first time that the story has been published in English.

Yoko has travelled to Hong Kong to visit with Chinese relatives and while sailing in Victoria Harbour her junk is attacked by a lizard-like sea monster. Surviving the attack, Yoko sets about locating the huge lizard and discovers that an orphaned child, Morning Dew, has befriended it. Morning Dew lives with her frail grandfather who gives his permission for the child to go with Yoko to search for the lizard.

During this search their boat is attacked by a different monster that breathes fire and nearly kills them. Morning Dew's grandfather tells Yoko that the two monsters were created to star in a film The Dragon Of Hong Kong which leads Yoko to a businessman with a surprising secret.

Yoko Tsuno is very much a adventure series for children with Yoko something of a Nancy Drew like character. For this particular story, which ran in in Spirou between issues 2527 and 2536 in 1986, there is no great need for Yoko to have an electronics background. What she does have is a logical mind and a need to understand the unnatural beasts she comes across coupled with the desire to set things to rights. That also includes protecting Morning Dew from the deaths of those she loves which includes legally adopting the girl. Roger Leloup's story is decidedly upbeat with Yoko being a positive role model throughout whilst his artwork is effective on his monsters and accurate on his ships and planes.

With the story nearly a quarter of a century old it takes place in British Hong Kong rather than Chinese Hong Kong but that is irrelevant to the plot and the only thing that noticeably dates it is when Yoko is taken to the computer room of a bank, with its tractor-feed printers, when she is trying to find the businessman. The reasons behind the creation of the two sea monsters are childishly effective, if somewhat far fetched for an adult, but I do like Leloup's concept of an oriental monster movie being shot on location with full size creatures rather than men in monster suits like the Toho Gojira/Godzilla movies, as impractical as it would be in reality.

Yoko Tsuno - The Dragon Of Kong Kong is a well executed adventure story for children, perhaps of more interest to girls with the two female lead characters, but the two monsters should be more than enough the keep boys interested as well. This would certainly make a change from buying daughters and nieces manga books as birthday or Christmas presents.

• There are more details of the English language Yoko Tsuno books on the Cinebook website.

• There are more details of the French language Yoko Tsuno albums on the official Yoko Tsuno website (in French).