Aquablue
Aquablue is a French science fiction graphic novel by writer Thierry Cailleteau with several artists, Olivier Vatine and Ciro Tota and Stéphane Brangier. An adventure and military-based series, it also features ecological themes and criticism of colonial exploitation. Much of the series has been translated into German and parts into English.
Plot
Aquablue centers around the adventures of Wilfried Morgenstern, also known as Nao, a young Human orphan and one of the few survivors of the White Star cruise spaceliner wreck. Growing up on a space lifeboat with only Cybot to care for him, he eventually arrives on Aquablue, a planet almost totally covered by water. Arriving on the surface, Uruk-Uru – a gigantic manta ray-shaped whale – takes an interest in him before disappearing back into the depths of the sea.Taken in by the indigenous blue-skinned humanoid natives on the planet who see in him a messenger of their gods due to the visitation of Uruk-Uru, he grows up one of their own. Eventually he becomes a strong young man, skilled at swimming, diving and fishing to non-human levels, even though he has neither gills nor other water-adaptions the locals possess. His abilities, strength, ingenuity, creativity, as well as the friends he makes during his adventures, help him overcome the challenges he faces during the series.
Volumes
''Aquablue'', Cycle I: Volumes 1–5
Eventually, Nao's idyll is shattered shortly after his coming-of-age, when a Terran company, Texas Energy Consortium AKA 'Texec', supported by new colonial policies back on Earth, decides to use Aquablue as a location for special power plants feeding on the ocean's warmth. If they aren't stopped, they would eventually cause the planet to glaciate, as well as destroy the native life and culture.With the help of his native friends, a repaired Cybot and some Human sympathizers disillusioned by the ruthless colonial expansion, he decides to fight back at the intruders. However, they are guarded by private military contractors from a powerful mercenary private army - 'Morgenstern Brigades', owned and led by Nao's aunt, Ulla Morgenstern, who inherited billions from Nao's parents when they died on the White Star.
The original series chronicles the fight against the invaders, on Aquablue, in space and in the courtrooms of Earth, where Nao tries to regain his inheritance. Numerous setbacks occur, with Nao and the natives losing several major battles, but always eventually being rescued by new allies or their own skill and ingenuity.
The first four volumes were drawn by Vatine, before Tota took over in the last volume.