The sixty-third comic: #310 Yoko Tsuno
Although I grew up with Belgian adventure stories, the likes of Spirou and Suzke en Wiske, Yoko Tsuno never crossed my path. It's a bit of a surprise, as this fits in with the magazines I used to read - to the point where I think I might have just missed out on the right issues a few times.
Here, our main protagonist is Yoko Tsuno, a Japanese electrical engineer who is skilled in a remarkably large number of things. Most of the stories deal with some sci fi element - about a third covering the alien Vineans, a number of time travel stories and some elixyrs of life and the stuff. There are some more natural adventures as well, where it's merely some advanced robotics that rule the day, although the series starts to enjoy using the sci fi elements to create plots, rather than hinging as much of it. Still, the most interesting parts are the historic stories or those set in the real world, in lovely locales. The cities are well researched and the areas really look lovely.
The cast is pretty strong - early on especially, the core three work well, although the ever growing group can be a bit too much sometimes and I wish we wouldn't have as many of the later characters show up constantly. Still, it's well done, and some of the contemporary stories are great mysteries that are out there. Just, maybe, when avoiding some of the Vinean stories.