1 8

The Children of Light

The Children of Light

by Jean Pleyers, translated from the French by Luke Burns, interview by Tom Oldham

$29.95
$29.95
Comics & Graphic Novels Science Fiction
Format

In the far reaches of the Andromeda Galaxy, a supernova obliterates the homeworld of the Zors, an advanced alien race. But the Zors knew this particular apocalypse was coming. To escape destruction, they built a world-sized spaceship run by an omniscient supercomputer. They search for a new home, but the odds are bleak. Aboard the ship, major unrest amongst the crew and passengers endangers the mission of survival.

Outside in the cold of space, the enemies of the Zors gather to destroy them. Watching over the Zors are the Beings of Light, mysterious godlike creatures able to intervene in the affairs of others. But will they be able to save the Zors? 

Written and drawn in two volumes by Belgian cartoonist Jean Pleyers in the early 1980s, The Children of Light is his awe-inspiring vision of a universe completely different from our own. Intricately drawn and laser-blasted with radiant color, this is the first time The Children of Light has been collected in a single volume and translated into English. This new edition features an interview with Pleyers conducted by Tom Oldham of Breakdown Press, which sheds light on the creation of this wholly original work.

Additional Book Information

Series: New York Review Comics
ISBN: 9781681379845
Pages: 112
Publication Date:

Praise

[The Children of Light] is an epic story of life and death in a universe that’s so dense in detail yet so removed from our own, I’m almost inclined to believe Pleyers’ insistence on interstellar intervention! The dazzlingly colourful, meticulous illustrations lend the work the gloriously pulpy vibe of classic postwar sci-fi comics.
—Lucy Scholes, Financial Times

A blazingly colourful work of madcap, intergalactic sci-fi, it has a retro charm—glass elevators, monorails, little green men—but also speaks to some of the preoccupations of our time . . . [Pleyers's] drawings quiver with energy which, with the great bursts of colour, makes the whole enterprise feel slightly radioactive.
—Killian Fox, The Observer (UK)

A galaxy-spanning odyssey of ancient astronauts and cosmic pilgrimages . . . What elevates [The Children of Light] above these genre trappings however is its timely allegory of disclosure: who gets to know what, and to what ends? . . . Pleyers’s work remains fascinating because it is at once a compelling science-fiction fantasy and a contactee testimony, birthed by Cold War paranoias and inexplicable encounters.
—Jamie Sutcliffe, Art Review

Pleyers crafts a universe at once grand and intimate, blending space-opera spectacle with philosophical explorations of destiny, technology, and collective survival . . . the scope of Pleyers's imagination and his densely detailed linework combine to create a uniquely immersive tour through a richly realized cosmos.
—Library Journal, starred review

Children of Light is the definition of a space oddity . . . What elevates the work . . . [are] the sheer energy of Pleyers’s art and his glorious unselfconsciousness as a storyteller.
—Séamas O'Reilly, Irish Times

View full details

  • Shopping for someone else but not sure what to give them? Give them the gift of choice with a New York Review Books Gift Card.

    Gift Cards 

  • A membership for yourself or as a gift for a special reader will promise a year of good reading.

    Join NYRB Classics Book Club 

  • Is there a book that you’d like to see back in print, or that you think we should consider for one of our series? Let us know!

    Tell us about it