The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec

Tardi’s Adèle moves through prewar Paris amid murders, conspirators and impossible creatures. The series began with Adèle et la Bête in 1976; its changing mysteries turn newspapers, museums and city streets into places where ordinary evidence and the fantastic collide.

The pleasure lies in Tardi’s refusal to make Adèle a conventional heroine. She is curious, skeptical and often surrounded by less capable men, while the serial adventure form remains open to dark comedy.

Historical mystery and gaslamp fantasy are equally important here. The supernatural material is part of the series’ identity, not a claim to realistic history.

Tardi’s precise Parisian architecture and caricatured faces let the outrageous events inhabit a recognizable city.