The Extraordinary Adventures of Ad le Blanc-Sec Vol. 1 Hardcover by Tardi

Product Details

• Publisher: Fantagraphics (2026-07-14)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 196 pages
• ISBN-13: 9798875002380
• Item Weight: 946.89 grams
• Dimensions: 27.94 x 21.03 x 2.29 cm

The iconic adventure series celebrates its 50th anniversary! In atmospheric Belle Époque Paris, feisty adventuress Adèle contends with dinosaurs, demons, and death cults.

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 episodes: “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.

About the Author

Tardi is a pioneering, internationally award-winning European cartoonist. His Adèle Blanc-Sec series was adapted into a feature by Luc Besson, and the animated film April and the Extraordinary World was inspired by his cartooning. He lives in Paris with his wife, the singer Dominique Grange, and their cats.

Kim Thompson (1956-2013) was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the co-publisher of Fantagraphics Books and a champion of alternative and global comics. He lived in Seattle, WA, with his wife, Lynn, and their dog.

Cynthia Rose is a British author, journalist and broadcaster based in Paris. She has published four books on art, design and why James Brown screamed and she is currently writing the history, in French and English, of a Paris dive bar.