The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec Vol. 1

by Cynthia Rose (introduction) Tardi, Tardi (Artist)

Paris, 1911. One gloomy night at the Museum of Natural History, a pterodactyl escapes from its display and wreaks havoc upon the city. Enter journalist extraordinaire Adèle Blanc-Sec, who must use her wits and firepower to get to the bottom of this bizarre mystery. An enchanting antihero, Adèle is fearless, brash, and thoroughly ill-tempered, smoking and cursing her way through the case — always barely escaping peril to tell her tale.Masterful French cartoonist Jacques Tardi created his iconic The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec series in 1976. Set in the atmospheric Belle Époque Paris, the series features supernatural monsters, mad science, steampunk aesthetic, murder, humor, and delightful derring-do. This new collection of classic Adèle stories includes four “Pterror Over Paris,” “The Demon of the Eiffel Tower,” “The Mad Scientist,” and “Mummies on Parade.”In celebration of Adèle's 50th anniversary, Fantagraphics is thrilled to re-issue these classic stories in luxuriously redesigned hardcover editions. While Fantagraphics published translations of the first four Adèle adventures 15 years ago, this new series will bring the complete 10 episode run of the series into English for the very first time. With an introduction by British journalist and comics historian Cynthia Rose.

Kindle Edition

Published July 14, 2026

Reviews

[Rob Boylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Belle Epoque Paris, there’s been a murder. Several, in fact. Well, what’s strange about that? Nothing, usually, but you see, these murders came at the hands of a pterodactyl (yes, the flying pterosaur), a demon called Pazuzu, an otherwise very polite Pithecanthropus (aka Java Man), and, possibly, with the help of all of the mummies in the City of Light, the Devil. Even for one of Paris’s most decadent eras, that’s a bit weird.

On their trail over the four, 50ish-page graphic albums included here -- whether she likes it or not -- is the intrepid, spitfire Adèle Blanc-Sec, a novelist (and noted hat lover) looking for a hot new story to serialize in the sensationalist newspapers of the day. She is a tough cookie, with a spirit nearly unbreakable nor unshakeable, whatever extinction or crazy occult spook comes her way.

Though she comes to see the whole thing as a pain in her ass, Adèle is mixed up in this nonsense kind of by her own fault, after kidnapping the daughter of one of the murder victims. She was trying to shake him down for one of his inventions to break a friend out of jail before his date with the infamous guillotine. He was framed, but no one was interested, so desperate measures had to be taken, and Adèle didn’t shrink from them, nor anything else. Later, when she is stalked in the streets from her home, she sets a trap and bashes the man in the head instead of becoming another anonymous victim.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec are a spiritual successor to Tintin and a predecessor to the likes of Hellboy and countless others. The books are amongst the best, most fun, of European comics. Irreverent, sly, witty, paying homage to the serial stories of Tardi’s youth -- but not too much. They’re not his most important comics, but they’re proof of his genius as a writer and artist, a showcase of his place at the top of the heap of French comics, perhaps for all time.

[Matt Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had an older paperback version of the first chapter of Adele Blanc-Sec for years now and always found it totally charming. I'm very happy to have this expanded collection of the first four chapters of Blanc-Sec's esoteric turn-of-the-century escapades. Tardi's illustration and cartooning are impeccable, per usual, the storytelling is madcap and convoluted (a point regularly recognized by the characters themselves) but fitting within the serialized pulp adventuring he's referencing. I have a total weakness for the milieu of pulps, weird science, spiritualism, and cults so not a surprise how much I enjoyed these.