Comic book artist Jacques Tardi is a legend in his native France, but in the U.S. he has never been anything more than an intriguing cult figure. However, in 2009 Fantagraphics, a well-respected comics publisher based in Seattle, announced that they would begin putting out new translations of Tardi’s work. A slew of releases have come out since then, and a couple of months ago Fantagraphics put out the first volume of a proposed 10) featuring Tardi’s most famous creation – Adele Blanc-Sec.This book collects Adele’s first two adventures, Pterror Over Paris and The Eiffel Tower Demon. These are thrilling, absurd, convoluted stories, with dinosaurs hatched from prehistoric eggs, crazy cults featuring famous actors, hilariously inept policemen and endless double-crosses. This book surely has it all; in fact, some might argue that it has too much stuff packed into too few pages, and that the plot twists and switched identities are so numerous and byzantine as to befuddle all but the most astute readers. But really, one shouldn’t take this book too seriously – it’s really just a couple of rollicking adventure stories that move at a breakneck speed, backed up with gorgeous art and the breathtaking setting of Paris circa 1911.
-Eric
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