On sale date: November 21, 2011
The saturnine heroine returns for further adventures in early 20th century Paris.
After establishing the world of the prickly heroine with the first two episodes of this classic series (combined in Fantagraphics' The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, Volume 1), Jacques Tardi plunges us back into Belle-Époque Paris for another double dosage of heroic derring-do, evil and crazy malefac- tors, mad actresses (yes, Clara Benhardt makes a return appearance) and monsters!
In "The Mad Scientist," the science that brought us revived dinosaurs now results in a pithecanthrope stalking the streets of the City of Light, climaxing in an amazing car chase involving a foe from the previous volume. Will the perpetually inept Inspector Caponi just make things worse? Probably. Then in the second episode, "A Dusting of Mummies," the mummy glimpsed in Adele's apartment in previous episodes comes alive! The volume concludes with the sudden startling (and delightful) incursion of some characters familiar to Tardi fans, and a shocking climax that leaves the future of both Adele and this series in doubt as World War I erupts. (It's the only story in the entire series not to feature an "in our next episode" teaser.)
The Extraordinary Adventure of Adele Blanc-Sec, Volume 2, is the lucky seventh book in Fantagraphics' acclaimed series of Tardi reprints, showcasing the rich variety of graphic novels from one of France's greatest living cartoonists.
Our web store won't be receiving any more stock of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec: The Mad Scientist / Mummies on Parade, but you may be able to find it from a site like Indiebound or Bookshop, or at your local independent bookstore.
Praise
"With their wryly overwrought captions, melodramatic dialogue, and convoluted plotlines, the stories work both as gentle genre parodies and full-out fantasy-detective thrillers, thanks in great part to Tardi's lithe cartooning, which vividly evokes the period while sporting an entirely contemporary sensibility." — Gordon Flagg - Booklist
"...Adele Blanc-Sec is an extraordinary character in a quite extraordinary world.... The cartooning is really wonderful... The strong-willed and smart Blanc-Sec is charming in a fairly hard-luck, tough-as-nails way…, contending not only with the evil that men do, but with steampunk and cult/mystical elements. [Rating] 8/10" — Jeremy Nisen - Under the Radar
"The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec are extraordinary indeed.... Tardi creates a wonderfully unique and exciting world in these comics, one that I absolutely loved exploring." — Jason Sacks - Comics Bulletin
"For my money Jacques Tardi is . . . a true maestro... This second helping collects two of the original French albums and serves up a heady cocktail of conspiracies, secret societies, black magic practicioners, mad scientists. . .and all set against a beautifully realised backdrop of Belle Epoque, pre-war Paris. . . .I'd recommend everything [Fantagraphics translated], but for the sake of this piece I'll go with the wonderful Adele." — Joe Gordon - Forbidden Planet International
Specs
- Pages
- 96
- Format
- Hardback
- Color
- Full-color
- Dimensions
- 8.9" × 11.8"
- ISBN-13
- 9781606994931