While I understand the popularity of the "héroic fantasy" genre of franco-belgian bande-dessinée and can appreciate its importance, Lanfeust is a little more (less?) than I can handle. The rampant sexism combined with the flimsy storyline (and the early death of my favorite character) create a book that I could have lived my entire life without reading. Yes, magic powers and alternate universes are pretty cool. They're also no longer original or groundbreaking; in fact, they've become a bit trite. Though this series is remarkably popular (no doubt due to the young male fantasy crowd), it is evident in the first book that its popularity is very loosely, if at all, correlated with its literary or artistic value. ( )