| Author | Roger Leloup |
|---|---|
| Genre | Bande dessinée |
| Publisher | Dupuis |
| Preceded by | 'Les Trois soleils de Vinéa (1976) |
| Followed by | 'Les Titans (1978) |
La Frontière de la vie (On the Edge of Life) is the seventh book from Yoko Tsuno comic book series written by Roger Leloup and published in 1977. (ISBN 2-8001-0672-7)
Ingrid, the German organ player who is Yoko's friend, has succumbed to an unknown disease similar to anemia. As Yoko visits Ingrid in Rothenburg, Ingrid's cousin Rudy, a biologist, soon reveals that a strange, vampire-like apparition has been visiting Ingrid regularly at night.
Yoko keeps watch, but the same night the 'vampire' appears again after stunning the young women with knockout gas. Yoko regains consciousness in time to chase her off. Yoko chases the 'vampire' through half of Rothenburg, but the antagonist gets away - with a promise not to bother Ingrid again. Nevertheless, Yoko decides to go after her all the same. Later, she and Rudy discover that the 'apparition' is a renegade medic using Ingrid as a test subject for a kind of artificial blood.
Vic and Pol arrive, and they soon discover a huge underground medical lab under the direction of Dr. Schulz, the doctor who has been treating Ingrid for her illness. The lab is dedicated to keeping a girl - his daughter Magda - in suspended animation by induced hypothermia as she sustained fatal injuries at the end of World War II. The 'vampire', in truth Dr. Schulz's niece Eva Werner, tested the artificial blood on Ingrid for Magda's sake, as they share the same blood type. After discovering Magda's absence in the Schultz family crypt on the local cemetery and forcing Eva to come out of hiding, Eva explains the reasons for her nocturnal visits and takes Yoko to the underground lab, where she comes face to face with the still suspended Madga.
When the procedure to resuscitate Magda is inexplicably started ahead of schedule, Yoko, Vic, Pol and Rudy quickly offer their help to the scientists. But as it turns out, one of the lab workers wants to use the revolutionary processes for his own gain, and it takes a nearly fatal sacrifice from Yoko to bring the story to a good end.
The story is unusual as when Yoko arrives in Germany, she is seen wearing a red micro-mini dress and wears mini/micro mini dresses and skirts right through this story, which is very rare.
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