Moebius by Jean "Mœbius" Giraud
Just a one page piece of art with Major Grubert in the foreground.
New Tales Of The Arabian Nights: The Last Voyage Of Sindbad - Richard Corben and Jan Strnad
This installment has Sinbad recounting the tale of his eighth and final voyage to a merchant, after he's become a Sufi and renounced his wealth. The story itself starts with Sinbad saying to his wife the oft-repeated refrain to men who are unable to perform at that key moment, "I'm sorry, but this never happened to me before." Lamenting his fate, Sinbad gets dressed and goes tavern crawling. Later in the evening, as he tries to return home, he's confronted by a Jinni whose wife, the Jinn alleges, was killed by Sinbad. To Be Continued.
.Q.C. LAF. 1 by Picotto
The crew of a powerboat attempts to escape a dictatorial empire only to, apparently, sail off the edge of the world. So, another pair of people try to escape by plane, only to discover that the empire has a dome built over it. The end. Haven't had an ending like this in a while.
The Death Of Orlaon, Or: Legendary Immortality by Enki Bilal
Orlaeon, psychopath of the universe, comes to a mysterious world where he finds himself facing hordes of duplicates of him, who all act just like him. There they fight amongst themselves for all eternity.
Orion: Chapter Four by Gray Morrow
Mamba is saved from horrific beasts by nomadic tribesman who would certainly kill him if he was revealed to be a border guardsmen. Unfortunately, he was recognized as a border guardsmen. However, he shows sufficient swords & sorcery hero cunning (which is great for a sidekick), and talks his way into being captured, and then from there after potentially facing immediate execution again, talks his way into a trial by combat - leading to a fight against the biggest guy in the tribe.
Meanwhile, Orion's wanderings continue through the hallucinogenic mist, before he finally breaks free and finds a mysterious unmanned ship sitting on a lake. Orion boards and the ship carries him by its own accord across the lake. Mamba triumphs in his fight. While he fights dirty, he also doesn't kill the other man, which would probably have been how it ended otherwise, so no harm to his reputation there. Mamba then enlists the tribes help in finding and saving Orion, as well as killing Lamonthos - the evil sorcerer.
Heilman by Alain Voss
While our Nazi-rocker protagonist (I refuse to call him a hero), is mourned and buried, in another universe he is reborn. The place appears to be ruled by jackbooted thugs working for another rocker, now dead, who Heilman once idealized. Heilman calls out his former idol to a guitar battle, and triumphs, but ultimately is "crucified" by the inhabitants of this dimension on a giant guitar, and electricuted.
Galactic Geographic: Harvest On Insador by Karl B. Kofoed
This world currently has no active civilizations, though at one time it did have one - one that built the giant humidifiers and condensers which allow life on the planet. Again, another world that I could see stealing for a space opera game.
Finally this series is getting continued. Say what you will about Druillet, and I've said much, he does amazing environments. Anyway, dark and sinister forces are plotting. To Be Continued.
More Than Human: Chapter Two - Theodore Sturgeon, Douglas Moench, and Alex Niño
Wew have several more short mini-stories here, each covering the same common themes of repression, discovery, and self-knowledge the last installment had.
The Story Of The Acrylic Magus And His Vibratory Perturbations by Serge Bihannic and Philippe Druillet
I can't remember where I saw this character before, but it's one of Druillet's prior characters returning. However, the character seems like more of an anti-intellectual idiot than he was before - though that may be the translation. To Be Continued.
Barbarella by Jean-Claude Forest
Well, after bringing us to our climax, Barbarella and her boyfriend awake from their dream, and we wrap this up with a song. Yes, indeed this is all a dream, though to be fair they set it up that way at the beginning. It doesn't make me hate this series less.
1996 by Chantal Montellier
Once again, I have no idea what's going on here - partially because I can barely tell what people are saying. However, this one too wraps up with a song.
Our back cover is by Clyde Caldwell.
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