Orbital Volume 4: Ravages. Sylvain Runberg (Writer), Serge Pelle (Art), Jerome Saincantin (Translation). Cinebook (2011)

A brilliant piece of romantic science fiction and a great conclusion to the story. The peace conference being in Kuala Lumpur , to mark the end of the Human - Sanjarr war, is being overshadowed by mysterious deaths and the presence of a nomadic group of aliens, the Rapakhun. Caleb, a human and his partner Mezoke, a Sanjarr are responsible for the security of the conference. Caleb is determined to push ahead with conference, Mezoke is increasingly reluctant. Caleb's superiors agree to support him, giving him full responsibility for any failures. The deaths grow and start to include attacks within the city. When the identity of the attacker is established it escalates rather than resolves the situation. Caleb and Mezoke take a desperate action to deal with the problem. The story continues to twist and turn, balancing galactic politics with local affairs and the grand sweep of space opera with small , effective , moments. The conclusion is unexpected and sharp, nicely playing against a readers expectations.
Sylvian Runberg solves the problems of romantic science fiction and space opera with disarming ease, making it all look easy and natural. The wide reaches of space, the romance of the starts and the pull of the future are all present, nicely enmeshed in entirely believable bureaucratic complications and institutional, racial and personal politics. Alien races and humans do not just mingle at elevated planetary levels, they are also co-workers drinking in a bar working to take advantage of an unexpected situation. This gives the story a great context and detailed weight against which the plot can take place. The plot is suitably grand, the threads are pulled from different planets and have to be countered with a great science fiction solution.
The two leads, Caleb and Mezoke work together under increasing pressure from their own private histories and still striving to be professional. The supporting cast, including the smaller walk-on parts are all given an opportunity to shine.
Serge Pelle's art is a consistent joy, it is detailed and creates a solid physical environment that enables the story to fly. From the mangrove swamps to space, the cast get to inhabit a environment which gives their actions context and force. The cast themselves are varied, and full of motion and life. The body language and the physical movements are assured and natural, they interact with each other and their context wonderfully.
Orbital is the real deal, science fiction that takes the unlimited budget of comics and uses it with care, craft and tremendous precision. Not to be missed.

Orbital Volume 3: Nomads. Sylvain Runberg (Writer), Serge Pelle (Art), Jerome Saincantin (Translation) Cinebook (2011)

Wonderful adventure science fiction that mixes the politics of interglacial species co-existing with smart action. Caleb, a human and Mezoke, a Sandjarr, are agents and partners in an intergalactic organization that promotes and supports peace. Both are on Earth, in Malaysia to supervise security at a celebration to mark the end of the Human-Sandjarr wars. When a group of nomadic aliens disrupt a fishing fleet in in Malaysian waters a major diplomatic incident becomes possible. While Caleb and Mezoke resolve the situation sufficiently to allow the celebrations continue, tension remains and become very dangerous when the fishermen return to the aliens camping grounds and have a disaster. The situation becomes increasingly complicated as both Caleb's and Mezoke's past actions cast a shadow over the present. The reveals are very well staged, the plot is clever and sharp and the story end with enough hooks to pull the reader on to the next volume.
Comics are a natural platform for science fiction, with an unlimited effects budget they can bring the widest range of situations to life easily and effectively. What is harder is to balance the small scale of effective story telling, giving the reader something to care about along with the grand, widespread context that science fiction can provide. Sylvain Runberg manages the balance superbly, the mix between the cast, human and alien, and the scale of the context is great. One of the most effective things he does is to equalise the humans and aliens by occupation, the alien nomads, the Rapakhun are fishermen just like the humans they encounter, the context draws them together and pushes them apart at he same time.
In the organisation that Caleb and Mezoke work for, they are agents among a wide range of other agents and officers, this allows for the differences between the species to be less important than the organisational politics that surrounds them. The personal backgrounds of both Caleb and Mezoke are important and give them both room for conflict and difference which allows them to be  more fully realised characters too. The way that politics, personal, local, intergalactic all swirl throughout the story provide a very effective context that adds greatly to the story and drives the action.
Serge Pelle's art is a joy, it gives the detail that makes the future credible and a solid and effective physical location for the action as well as providing an expressive cast that communicate with gesture, expression, body language as well as words. The non-human cast are given subtly human expressions and attitudes that gives them room to be different and still readable and so contributing to the story. The world looks lived in, the colours are used to give it the sense of a working future where making a living is still vitally important.
High grade, thoughtful science fiction, a great pleasure.

Orbital Vol 2. Ruptures. Sylvain Runberg (Writer), Serge Pelle (Art), Jerome Saincantin (Translator). Cinebok (2009)

A great science fiction adventure story. Caleb,(a human) and Mezoke(a Sandjarr) are agents of an intergalactic diplomatic corps. They are on the planet Senestam to mediate in a dispute between humans and Javlods regarding the mining for the valuable Trelium. There are factions within the human colony on Senestam, within the Javlods and within the diplomatic corps all of whom are pursuing their own agendas. With the human colony under attack from very aggressive insects called Stilvulls, the diplomatic mission becomes increasingly fraught. The plot moves at a fast pace, the reveals are very well staged and the conclusion surprising and satisfying.
As the second part of a story, this book sidesteps most of the continuity problems that bedevil comics. There is enough information provided in a natural and effective way to easily identify all the actors and for the plot to be completely coherent. The story takes great advantage of the possibilities of science fiction, the scope of the story is widespread and the cast varied. The conflict is nicely balanced between local and the galactic. The actual crisis is local and the factors driving it are clearly shown, the political context intertwined with this conflict between two species is nicely displayed. The galactic implications are also shown, scale is an important aspect to the book. The cast, human and non-human, are well developed and very engaging.
The art is a joy, it is detailed and concrete. The locations, on the human colony, a sentient spaceship or the Javlods' home planet are designed to be sufficiently lived in to feel right. The spaces look futuristic and naturally inhabited by the cast. The art provides a solid context for the actions of the cast. The cast are drawn with a quiet expressiveness that is a pleasure to read, they are communicating with body language as easily as with words and this gives the action an edge and force. Thoughtful, articulate, exciting science fiction comic storytelling, bliss.

Orbital Vol. 1. Scars. Sylvian Runberg (Writer), Serge Pelle (Artist), Cinebook (2009)

A very entertaining space opera that sets up a varied and interesting set of possible story threads to follow up in later volumes. While a conference on Earth meets to consider joining an intergalactic alliance, a party opposed to joining attack the conference killing all the attendees including the parents of Caleb and Kristina. Some years later Caleb is a candidate to join the diplomatic agency of the federation and he is paired with Mezoke, Sandjarr, a race that had just finished a devastating war with humanity. Caleb an Mezoke are sent to the Senestam to resolve escalating tension between a human colony and the native Javlods over mining activity. The multiple threads in the story are well introduced and the political and social tensions are nicely revealed, with a well timed cliffhanger closing the volume.

This is very well crafted, classical space opera. A huge context, an intergalactic federation that has been in existence for thousands of years, is carefully balanced against smaller scale political issues that exist on Earth and on Upsall with the Javlod population. There is a suggestion that these local tensions are tied directly to greater political currents within the federation and this gives the mission a nice set of layers to it. The cast are well defined and move with force and purpose. This volume is mostly concerned with set up, it manages to convey the information in a logical way that moves the story forward rather than slowing it down.

The art is slightly subdued, the colouring cool and there are no splash pages, the panels are varied and match the pacing of the story. The physical context for the story are very well done with an effective mix of detail and blur that suggest the alien and the long established at the same time. The cast are very well defined with the body language well expressed. First rate adventure science fiction.