Monday, October 24, 2011

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec by Jacques Tardi

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec:
Pterror Over Paris / The Eiffel Tower Demon (Vol. 1)
by Jacques Tardi

Published: 2010
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books; Reprint edition
Genre: Comics, Mystery
Paperback: 96 pages
Rating: 5

Classic comedy-thriller by one of France’s greatest, released to coincide with the film version!

Both a rip-roaring adventure series set in pre-World War I Paris and a parody of same, Adèle Blanc-Sec has been enchanting, thrilling, and puzzling readers worldwide through four decades.

With various American attempts to publish Adèle having dribbled into nothing decades ago, Fantagraphics Books, fresh from its triumphs with Tardi’s West Coast Blues and You Are There, launches a spectacular, newly re-translated, hardcover series that intends to collect every one of its nine (soon ten) volumes. In this premiere installment, Adèle becomes involved in an interlocking series of mysteries that involve a revived pterodactyl, a frightful on-stage murder, a looming execution by guillotine, and a demon from the depths of hell — plus of course moronic gendarmes, loyal (or perhaps traitorous?) henchmen, and a climax atop the Eiffel Tower.


The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec series:
Pterror Over Paris / The Eiffel Tower Demon (Vol. 1)
The Mad Scientist / Mummies on Parade (Vol. 2)

My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): picaresque
LOVED this graphic novel with its bits of supernatural and steampunk flavors.

The heroine is tough and independent as can be during the times. The disguises really tickle too.

~*~


Check out my review today at Wag the Fox for the DVD of...

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec
Directed by: Luc Besson
Starring: Louise Bourgoin

The year is 1912. Adele Blanc-Sec, an intrepid young reporter, will go to any lengths to achieve her aims, including sailing to Egypt to tackle mummies of all shapes and sizes.

Meanwhile, in Paris, it's panic stations!

A 136 million-year old pterodactyl egg on a shelf in the natural history museum has mysteriously hatched, and the bird subjects the city to a reign of terror from the skies.

But nothing fazes Adele Blanc-Sec, whose adventures reveal many more extraordinary surprises...


~*~

THEN, come back here and tell me what you think of mummies!

 
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