''The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec'' (french: link=no, Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec) is a gaslamp fantasy comic book series first appearing in 1976 written and illustrated by French comics artist Jacques Tardi and published in ''album'' format by Belgian publisher Casterman, sometimes preceded by serialisation in various periodicals, intermittently since then. The comic portrays the titular far-fetched adventures and mystery-solving of its eponymous heroine, herself a writer of popular fiction, in a

secret history A secret history (or shadow history) is a revisionist interpretation of either fictional or real history which is claimed to have been deliberately suppressed, forgotten, or ignored by established scholars. "Secret history" is also used to desc ...

-infused, gaslamp fantasy version of the early 20th century, set primarily in Paris and prominently incorporating real-life locations and events. Initially a light-hearted parody of such fiction of the period, it takes on a darker tone as it moves into the post– World War I years and the 1920s. One of Tardi's most popular works and his first to span multiple ''albums'', it has been reprinted in English and other translations and has been adapted as a feature film.

History

''Adèle Blanc-Sec'' takes place in the same

fictional universe A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes may ...

as three earlier Tardi comics: ''Adieu Brindavoine'' ("Farewell Brindavoine"), serialised in 1972 in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Pilote'' #680–700, its direct sequel ''La Fleur au fusil'' ("The Flower in the Rifle"), a ten-page

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'' (2 ...

first published in 1974 in ''Pilote'' No. 743 and included in ''albums'' of the former, and the 1974 original graphic novel ''The Arctic Marauder'' (''Le Démon des glaces'', "The Demon of the Ice"). It is, however, the more technology-focused, what might now be called

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or ...

, ''Arctic Marauder'' that takes place first in the fictional continuity, being set in the 1890s, with Lucien Brindavoine's adventures, considered a less refined, early prototype for Adèle's, occurring during the World War I hiatus in ''Adèles story line. ''Adèle'' itself came about as a consequence of a commission from Casterman for a multi-''album'' series, something Tardi had not been particularly interested in pursuing of his own accord at the time but took them up on the offer. A survey of popular series demonstrated an abundance of strong male

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

s but women in the lead role represented only by, on the one hand, the ingenuous

Bécassine ''Bécassine'' is a French comic strip and the name of its heroine, appearing for the first time in the first issue of ''La Semaine de Suzette'' on February 2, 1905. She is considered one of the first female protagonists in the history of French ...

and, on the other, the primarily sexual Barbarella; thus, he sought to differentiate his series by centring it on a heroine every bit the equal of these other comics' heroes. Contradictorily, however, and in particular contrast to Forest's ''Barbarella'', he was also to set the series in the 1910s of Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin, when her independence would be even more extraordinary. And so he created... Edith Rabatjoie and, subsequently, Adèle Blanc-Sec (her family name coming from wine terminology, meaning "dry white") as an adversary for her. But upon the originally villainous Blanc-Sec coming into the comic he found he enjoyed drawing her far more than Rabatjoie and so she became the protagonist and title character, while ever since retaining something of a Lupin-esque moral dubiousness and disregard for the law. Her green coat, as well as complementing her

red hair Red hair (also known as orange hair and ginger hair) is a hair color found in one to two percent of the human population, appearing with greater frequency (two to six percent) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and ...

, is in ironic reference to the green dress of Bécassine, whom she is partly conceived as an antithesis of. The comic first appeared in the daily newspaper '' Sud-Ouest'' in 1976, with the pages in colour on Sundays and black and white on others, prior to ''album'' publication in colour throughout by Casterman and later in their '' (À suivre)''.

Plot

The adventures, set in Paris in the years before and after World War I, revolve around the protagonist Adèle Blanc-Sec. A cynical heroine, she is initially a novelist of popular fiction, who turns to investigative journalism as her research and subsequent adventures reveal further details of the mystical world of crime. Themes of the

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

, corruption, official incompetence, and the dangers of patriotism suffuse the series. One interesting feature is the hiatus which separates Adèle's first exploits, taking place in 1910s Paris, from later ones, instead set in the

interwar In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...

milieu. The separation is explained with her having been cryogenically hibernated following a grave injury. The expedient was deemed necessary by Tardi to avoid her entanglement in World War I. In an interview he declared: "Her feisty nature made it impossible to provide her with a place in the war. She would not have been allowed to fight, and could no more have settled for being a nurse, than she could have remained home rolling bandages."

Albums

As of November 2022, all ten of the projected ten albums have been published in French and two different English translations have been published, the first covering only the first five and the latter currently ongoing, with the aim of releasing all ten in omnibus editions of two albums each.

Translations

The first five stories were translated by Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier. They were published, as ''The Most Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec'', first by Dark Horse Comics in their '' Cheval Noir'' title and then released in book form by NBM Publishing (1990–92). # ''Adèle and the Beast'' (June 1990, ) # ''The Demon of the Eiffel Tower'' (1990, ) # ''The Mad Scientist'' and ''Mummies on Parade'' (1996, ) # ''The Secret of the Salamander'' (1992)

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was found ...

have signed a deal with Tardi to translate and release his work and series editor and translator Kim Thompson stated, before his demise, that the Adèle Blanc-Sec books will be translated but it is not his highest priority: The Fantagraphics titles are: #''Pterror Over Paris'' and ''The Eiffel Tower Demon'' (96 pp., hardcover, 2010, ) #''The Mad Scientist'' and ''Mummies on Parade'' (96 pp., hardcover, 2011, ) #''The Secret of the Salamander'' and ''The Two-headed Dwarf'' (96 pp., hardcover, TBP 2014)

Adaptations into other media

A live action feature film adapted and directed by Luc Besson, ''The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec'' was released in France on 14 April 2010 and latterly in numerous other markets, including the United Kingdom.

Notes

References

''Adèle Blanc-Sec'' publications in ''(A SUIVRE)''
at BDoubliées

at Bedetheque * *

at the International Catalogue of Superheroes {{DEFAULTSORT:Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, The French comic strips Feminist comics French fantasy Mystery comics Fantasy comics Fantasy parodies Science fantasy comics Secret histories Unfinished comics Comics set in the 1910s Comics set in the 1920s 1976 comics debuts French comics adapted into films Occult detective fiction

Adele Blanc-Sec Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a rec ...

Comics by Jacques Tardi Comics set in Paris