The shipwrecked of Ythaq

The castaways of Ythaq is a comic series by author Christophe Arleston and illustrator Adrien Floch .

The main character, the astronavigator Granit, is stranded on the planet Ythaq when the cruise ship, comet dust , on which she is serving, is shipwrecked there. Together with the on-board technician Narvarth and the bitchy passenger Callista, she is initially on her own on Ythaq and has to fight for survival. It turns out that there is a great mystery surrounding the cometary dust's crash that must be solved if they are to escape from the planet again.

The work can be classified into the genre of science fiction and action .

action

The Astronavigatorin granite Welgoat has because of their constant delays on taking up appointment on the cruise ship comet dust to perform the Silver Star Lines detention as a bartender. When the cometary dust crashes on the unknown planet Ythaq due to an unexplained phenomenon , it is one of the few to survive. Together with the on-board technician Narvarth Bodyssey and the annoying, conceited passenger Callista from Sargamore, she tries to orientate herself. The two have to deal with the Banfoos, a people of Ythaq, and get to know the Feng Tao, who helps them escape from the Banfoos. Narvarth, who is in love with Callista, overlooks Granit's reticent advances in the course of events. In the meantime Dhokas, the brutal henchman of the Margravine Ophyde, has also taken up the pursuit of the castaways. Ophyde rules part of Ythaq and wants to receive new technologies from the shipwrecked. On the run from Dhokas and his mercenaries, granite reveals the strange power to control fire and to be able to direct it. Meanwhile, Callista is captured by Ophyde, but she manages to kill Ophyde and take her place. (Part 1)

Granit and Narvath are together with Tao and the Banfoo Krurgor on the way to Kreac'h, where they suspect Callista to be in captivity, but without knowing that she has taken Ophyde's place. Ophydes twin sister recognizes the fraud, but she is publicly accused of cheating by Callista. Dhokas plays on Callista's side and helps her to capture Ophydes sister in order to blackmail Callista and to be able to secretly exercise the rule herself. Meanwhile, Callista and her friends arrive at Kreac'h and, unaware of the double game, free Ophydes imprisoned sister from the dungeon. Meanwhile, Dhokas has Callista taken to the dungeon, in the turmoil of the fighting the castaways come together and can flee with a small dream ship found in Ophydes palace. Granite's ability to fire becomes more and more evident: it is a so-called ember , so it can control fire. There seem to be other gifts with which the other elements air, water and earth can be controlled. Since the embers are obviously the most gifted, they are of particular interest. (Volume 2)

Granit, Narvarth, Callista, Tao, Krurgor and some other crew members of the crashed cometary dust flee with the captured spaceship from Dhokas in the direction of the distress signal of a ship of the Silver Star Lines. While Narvarth continues to adore Callista, Granit is frustrated by it. However, when Tao and Callista disappear one night, Granit, Narvarth and Krurgor follow them while the crew members fly on towards the distress signal. When the troops reunite in the Feng City of Wettra , Tao reveals that he needs Callista to open a seal. Callista has had one mark on her forehead since wearing Ophydes headband. This time, apparently, can loosen the seal and thus release the log of the first starship that landed on Ythaq. The troops decide to fight their way through the monster-populated deep plains of the city to find the logbook. When they finally get hold of it and open it with Callista's mark, there are only indications of a mutiny among the passengers on board. Meanwhile Dhokas has with his mercenaries receipt by Wettra reached and waits to return the castaways. He is surprised by Khengis, the leader of a large army of mercenaries. This takes Dhokas prisoner and begins to be interested in the castaways. (Volume 3)

The majority of the cometary dust with crew and passengers was able to make an emergency landing in an ice desert and was shortly afterwards surrounded by Khengis' hordes and has been besieged ever since. The ship's energy is still enough to repel its troops, but it is gradually threatening to run out. Obstructed by ambushes and betrayals, Granit and her friends are making slow progress on the way to Comet Dust. Granite's fire abilities unfold more and more as she gradually takes pleasure in her new power. When they arrive in the Arctic Ocean, they are captured by Khengis shortly before the cometary dust . There they also meet the Dhokas, who are also in captivity. Thanks to granite embers, the small troop and Dhokas can escape and finally get into the cometary dust . Through the escape, Khengis learns of Granite's abilities and now wants to capture her all the more doggedly. When the fugitive finally arrives in the ship, Granit's commander recognizes in Dhokas the owner of the Silver Star Lines, Myrthellius Kharmon Dhokas, one of the richest men in the galaxy. (Volume 4)

Khengis' army is getting closer and closer as the ship's energy reserves decrease and the weapons can use less and less firepower. While Granit tries to force Dhokas to confess and is arrested by the commandant for this, Khengis starts a surprising attack. Although Narvarth can briefly put a thermal reactor into operation to supply the ship with new energy, it is quickly destroyed by a counter-attack by Khengis. However, his army soon fails because of the impenetrable outer shell of the ship. Only when Dhokas flees the cometary dust through a hangar lock on a glider , Khengis' troops can penetrate through this opening. Narvarth, Callista and Tao release Granit from their custody, while the ship's crew and passengers fight in vain for their lives. Khengis has most of the castaways killed. Immediately after their escape from the captured ship, Granit and her friends take up pursuit of Dhokas. When they almost catch him in a volcano, they are transferred from a strange sphere into a strange world. Feng Leah, who escaped with them from the cometary dust , reveals to them that they are all apparently part of a huge game. (Volume 5)

Granit learns from Dhokas that all the castaways on Ythaq are involuntary participants in a game. Only a few players like Dhokas, Kenghis or Leah know about it, so now Granit and her group. Meanwhile, Kenghis pursues his opponent Hetzel, who has mutated into a scopander. Meanwhile, the group around Granit finds itself after a strange transport on a small, tropical island, which apparently also houses other stranded people. Callista mistakenly kills two Pandhes and has to look after their two offspring. As the group explores the island and meets a group of other stranded people, Narvarth changes. His injury from a scopander left him with a parasite that is beginning to dominate him. Its aim is to unite the four abilities of element control in Narvarth on behalf of the strange yths. Granite is therefore in danger of being killed by Narvarth as soon as its parasite gains the upper hand. After his first attack on granite, Callista regularly knocks Narvarth unconscious. Driven to escape by a rainstorm, the group hides in a temple. There Narvarth is finally drawn underwater to a chamber and disappears. Granit, Krurgor and others follow him. Arrived in a kind of command center, Krurgor opens the present Hersheen, which he claims to win the game because he was the only game to have gathered all the elements. Granit realizes that Krurgor is one of the players and has betrayed them. She furiously destroys devices used to control the game, whereupon the island volcano threatens to erupt. (Volume 6)

Narvarth is drifting towards the island again on the ocean. In the meantime, Krurgor captured by granite tells the prehistory of the game: the Hersheen recruited bored super-rich or powerful of the galaxy to participate in a planetary game on the world of Ythaq on behalf of the Ythen. Eternal life beckons the winner as a prize, which means that new players can be recruited again and again despite the danger. The motivation of the yths remains unclear. In the meantime, the group of castaways has finished their ship and is about to set sail. Granit, Callista, Tao, and the captured Krurgor remain on the island to find further answers and Narvarth. Enraged by pirates whose ship is sunk by the Ythen, the castaways are driven back to the island. There the pirates take hostages and force the castaways to work on a new ship. Narvarth has also arrived, who has to control himself more and more in Granite's presence. In an installation by the Hersheens, Leah finds a transfer portal to the town of Dhorna, where they procure weapons. Calista throws himself at the rich merchant and councilor Malko and stays. Just in time, before some of the pirates want to do violence to two of the captured girls, Granit returns with their small troop and attack. Granite burns the pirates with their ember ability when the hostages are freed. At that moment, another spaceship crashes on the island's beach. (Volume 7)

The deliberately crashed military cruiser Enola 47 was sent out to investigate the disappearance of the many spaceships in the Ythaq sector. Narvarth's parasite takes over him again and leads him into the cruiser to get the gifts for the control of air and water from two carriers who are there on board. He sucks them out and kills them through. The crew of the Enola comes into contact with Granit, Krurgor, Leah and Tao and brings them on board. The researchers at Enola find out that there is a huge being in the planet Ythaq itself, which they believe to be responsible for the disappearance of the spaceships and a threat. They plan to blow up the planet. Narvarth overhears this and frees and escapes with Granit's troop from the ship to Dhorna, a command of the Enola 47 on their heels. The military cause chaos on their search in Dhorna and encounter the bitter resistance of the city. The fugitives meet Callista there, who, in view of the luxury in which she can finally live, has decided to stay with Malko. When he wants to get rid of Granite and her troops under the impression of the attack, they can only barely escape through the sewer system. Narvarth separates himself and meets a bearer of the gift of fire, overpowers and kills him. He has all four gifts. (Volume 8)

The prehistory of the struggle of the civilization of the Targylls against the evil being Sarkun'hr Mortmer is described. These took away the four decisive powers of the eater of the world - fire, earth, air and water - and banished him to the planet Ythaq. Granit and her friends have meanwhile been picked up by the rush weavers who are holding them prisoner while they are on the run in Dhorna's slums. Narvarth fights against the growing influence of the parasite ruled by Sarkun'hr Mortmer by constantly reciting poetry in search of granite. He can free his friends and they flee into the wild. Meanwhile, Malko has established the connection between Callista, granite and the attack by the foreign military and hands Callista over to them in order to induce the military to withdraw. In the forest, Granit, Narvarth and the others come to rest and Narvarth can tell the story of Sarkun'hr Mortmer, which was revealed to him through his connection through the parasite. He wants to prevent the latter from seizing his and thereby his powers, as well as that the military destroy the planet. Under the impression of Narvarth's story and his deeds, Granit can finally reveal her feelings to him and they spend the night together. The next day they are caught again by the crew of the Enola. Sarkun'hr Mortmer awakens with the intention of uniting himself with Narvarth and begins to detach himself from the planet. Faced with the threat of the Eater of the World, the Enola's commander decides to blow up Ythaq. Granite tries in vain to stop the occupation and fails. At the last moment, Narvarth can activate his ability to master all of the four elements by reciting poetry. He succeeds both in absorbing the spirit of Sarkun'hr Mortmer and petrifying the being as well as stopping the countdown of the bomb. The group of castaways can finally leave the planet with the Enola. (Volume 9)

publication

The series has been published in France since July 2005 by Soleil Productions . The comic has been published in German by Splitter Verlag since 2006 . The series was the first translation and publication of the publishing house, which was re-established in 2006. All albums are designed as hard covers and have 56 pages. In some albums, the last few pages are reserved for sketches, large-format drawings, or other content.

• Volume 1: Terra Incognita (Terra Incognita, 2005)
• Volume 2: The False Ophyde (Ophyde La Géminée, 2005)
• Volume 3: Sighs of the Stars (Le soupir des étoiles, 2006)
• Volume 4: Khengis' Shadow (L'ombre de Khengis, 2007)
• Volume 5: The Last Secret (L'ultime arcane, 2007)
• Volume 6: Revolt of the pawns (La révolte des pions, 2008)
• Volume 7: The Sign of the Yths (La marque des Ythes, 2009)
• Volume 8: The mirror of lies (Le miroir des mensonges, 2010)
• Volume 9: The Incredible Truth (L'Impossible Vérité, 2011)
• Volume 10: Nehorf-Capitol Transit (Nehorf-Capitol Transit, 2012)
• Volume 11: The Breath of the Ogre (L'Haleine de l'Ogre, 2013)
• Volume 12: The Keys of Nothing (Les Clefs du néant, 2014)
• Volume 13: Glebo, the strange planet (Glèbe la singulière, 2015)
• Volume 14: The jewel of genius (Le Joyau du génie, 2016)
• Volume 15: Imperator Express (Imperator express, la caravane de l'étrange, 2018)

reception

Simon Weinert from Comicgate writes at the start of the series: It's not great literature, but exciting and fun. The figure constellation is classic: a stupid guy out and about with two attractive women in a ludicrously baring outfit. But despite all the clichés and silliness, the plot has a number of beautiful moments of adventure and even a really surprising cliffhanger to offer. This album is an all-round successful start to the new publishing program.

Stefan Pannor from Spiegel Online writes about the third volume: In addition, pointed dialogues and sophisticated word games are captivating, excellently translated in the German edition. Arleston combines the visual joy of the classic "Star Wars" films with the dialog wit of a screwball comedy. And illustrator Adrien Floch, a newcomer in the comic field, surpasses his text supplier with a multitude of visual allusions, not only to the science fiction genre, but also to the commedia dell'arte and classic coat-and-epee fabrics. Alien adventures haven't been that entertaining for a long time.

Frank Drehel from Fantastiknews rated the final ninth volume: Visually still an eye-catcher, story-wise not quite the worthy ending that one wished for, because the resolution lacks originality and the hectic staging ultimately mutates into a tension and atmosphere killer.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ German Comic Guide: The Shipwrecked of Ythaq
2. ↑ BD Gest 'Bedetheque: Les naufragés d'Ythaq
3. ↑ "The castaways of Ythaq first (. No longer available online) comic gate October 27, 2006, filed by the original on June 14, 2008 , accessed 23 January 2012 . Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ "Die Schiffwüchigen von Ythaq" Review on Spiegel-Online for volume 3. Spiegel online , September 3, 2007, accessed on January 23, 2012 . 
5. ↑ The Shipwrecked of Ythaq 9: The Incredible Truth (comic). Fantastiknews, December 1, 2012, accessed January 23, 2012 . 

Web links

• Éditions Soleil - Publisher (French)