What was this French comic, published circa 1990, involving a group of mages fighting?

Question

I remember reading this comic when I was a child. I think (but am not 100% certain) that it was published in the defunct magazine Hello Bédé, between 1989 and 1993. Most likely after 1991.

My memories are very vague, so I am unsure about the drawing style, as I may be conflating memories from several different stories. There is, however, one scene that I remember with high precision:

There is a group, lead by an old men, walking inside some structure which may be a cave or a high-tech building. They all move to a circular teleporting platform, all pronounce some magic formula, and disappear in a flash of light. One of them remains, saying something along the lines of:

“Dammit, my tongue twisted again.”

Then the story focus moves to another main character. After a while it goes back to the group of mages, who first appear, translucent, into a different place. They materialize, and prepare to move, while one of them remarks:

“But where is (name of the guy who failed to teleport)…”

…just as he appears in the transluscent form, saying:

“Here I am, here I am.”

A bit later, they confront some bad guy or thing, and the leader of the group does some magic again, invoking:

“…by the Great Melchior.”

This is all I remember. Anyone could help me solve this riddle, which has been bugging me for years?

Answer 1

Going to do a “Hail Mary” on this one, but could it have been The Magic Crystal (Original French title: Le Cristal Majeur) series from Moebius (Jean Giraud) and Marc Bati that dates back to 1986 or so but was translated into English from 1989 to 1990? Original published by Les Éditions Dargaud in France but translated into English by Catalan Communications for their Comcat imprint. Here is a summary from an Amazon review for the first book in the series:

“Hoping to capture a star princess, a bumbling wizard accidentally releases an evil superbeing. A young elf, trying to get to the bottom of the resulting chaos, is stopped by a mysterious stranger who proves to be the agent of a technologically advanced civilization. Hounded by agents of evil, the duo struggle to reach the stranger’s techno base.”

And here is a similar summary from the second book:

“In this volume techno-observer Lorcan, his elven sidekick Altor, and Aurelys flee the troll army into the realm of the burrowers. When pursued even there Aurelys is able to transport herself and her companions to safety on the mystic Unicorn Island. Meanwhile Lorcan is captured by the Dark Star and his superiors at galactic central must decide how to address the Dark Star’s intrusion.”

And here is another similar summary for the third book:

“In this volume Aurelys, now understanding her ability to awaken the power of the mystic crystals that form the planet’s defense grid, takes her companions on a quest to complete her task, falling into wizard HQ where she finds the bumbling wizard. While the top wizards launch a showdown against the Dark Star, Aurelys and her companions pursue their own ideas. Once in the Dark Star’s castle they are contacted by Lorcan, who has escaped and found the Dark Star’s captured crystals. Unable to act directly, Lorcan advises the companions on how to deal with the Dark Star’s secret, and Aurelys’ true nature is revealed.”