Momies en folie

Adèle Blanc-Sec #4

by Jacques Tardi, Jacques Tardi

Rare book

Genres: Comics, Bande Dessinée, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Fantasy, France, Historical Fiction

50 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Jacques Tardi is a French comics artist, born 30 August 1946 in Valence, Drôme. He is often credited solely as Tardi.

After graduating from the École nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris, he started writing comics in 1969, at the age of 23, in the comics magazine Pilote, initially illustrating short stories written by Jean Giraud and Serge de Beketch, before creating the political fiction story Rumeur sur le Rouergue from a scenario by Pierre Christin in 1972.

A highly versatile artist, Tardi successfully adapted novels by controversial writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline or crime novelist Léo Malet. In Malet's case, Tardi adapted his detective hero Nestor Burma into a series of critically acclaimed graphic novels, though he also wrote and drew original stories of his own.

Tardi also created one of French comics' most famous heroines, Adèle Blanc-Sec. This series recreates the Paris of early 20th century where the moody heroine encounters supernatural events, state plots, occult societies and experiments in cryogenics.

Another graphic novel was Ici Même which was written by Jean-Claude Forest, best known as the creator of Barbarella. A satire, it describes the adventures of Arthur Même who lives on the walls of his family's former property.

Tardi has produced many antiwar graphic novels and comics, mainly focusing on the collective European trauma of the First World War, and the pitfalls of patriotism spawned several albums (Adieu Brindavoine, C'était la guerre des tranchées, Le trou d'obus, Putain de Guerre...). His grandfather's involvement in the day-to-day horrors of trench warfare, seems to have had a deep influence to his artistic expression. He also completed a four-volume series on the Paris Commune, Le cri du peuple.

Fantagraphics Books translate and publish in English a wide range of Tardi's books, done by editor and translator Kim Thompson.[3] The books released so far are West Coast Blues (Le Petit bleu de la côte ouest), You Are There (Ici Même), and It Was the War of the Trenches (C'était la guerre des tranchées); a single album collecting the first two Adele Blanc-Sec volumes has also been published.

->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_...

Reviews

[Olicorta · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 (qu’est-ce que j’attends pour avoir une momie dans mon appart au juste???)

[Mendousse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mon tome préféré de la série.

[Neal Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this volume again vividly evokes belle epoque Paris, it’s ultimately a means to set Adele up for WWI, which breaks out in the final frames. So there’s plenty of space for the author to digress. For example, he riffs on an 1895 accident at Montparnasse, in which a train ploughed through the station and crashed 10 metres down onto the street below. A press photo captured the locomotive balanced vertically against the façade of the station. This is portrayed in the book (almost 20 years later) but Adele’s role could hardly be more passive, having been lured by an anonymous phone call to wait outside the station. Likewise she’s sent free tickets for the Titanic, just so that we can see its sailing and demise. The vestigial plot involves the demon-worshipping cult previously seen in volume 2, although this time with the violence being more graphic. (As mentioned before, the series is not suitable for very young kids.) Adele has a diabolical statue slipped into her flat, which makes her sleepwalk to the final showdown, where the deus ex machina is a quartet of characters from one of the author’s non-Adele books.

[Nestor B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

***SPOILERS*** The story starts out exciting and mysterious, a fat businessman stumbles upon some mysterious mummified corpses that have been hung up in various places in Paris. A goat's head is placed on top of the bundles. At the same time, two unknown people with different goals are presented, it eventually turns out that they both are going to Adèle, one to talk to her, the other to kill her. It's amazing how many people who hates Adèle and wants to kill her at this point. She is lured out of the house several times to stand in special places and wait for something to fall on her head. One case is a recreation of the train accident at Gare Montparnasse in 1895. Adèle dryly comments that someone thinks she's a fool.

2/3 into the story, on 21 June 1912, Adèle is put into a trance and lured to the Monceau Park pyramid. This is the last time she is conscious in six years. What happens inside the pyramid is quite confusing, and the first time I read it I didn't understand anything. A number of people who have nothing to do with Adèle Blanc-Sec, neither before nor after, enter furiously from different sides and then get shot by each other. Some of them are from previous Tardi albums, but what happens is really completely detached from everything. It is a veritable bloodbath, Adèle also dies in the end, but is saved and with the help of Mouginot and her mummy, she is placed in a life-giving bath. But Mouginot is also killed, and it all ends in December 1913 with Dieuleveult saying he will turn off the machine that keeps Adèle alive. Then suddenly it is August 1914, World War I is underway, and we have no idea what happened to Adèle.

Tardi plays with the medium, but I remember finding Adèle's passivity frustrating when I first read it. Tardi is aware of it himself, with comments such as "that day nothing happened" or "this story takes a long time to get going". It gets pretty wild eventually. It's enjoyable how the mummy comes to life and steps in to support Adèle on several occasions.

[Paulo Teixeira · Rating 3 out of 5]

(PT) Depois do Demónio na Torre Eifel, e do Sábio Louco, Adele Balnc-Sec ai ter algo de extraordinário: a sua múmia favorita desaparece! E ao pesquisar sobre o seu desaparecimento, descobre coisas extraordinárias, duas delas relacionadas com o seu passado... e o seu futuro.

"Múmias em Parada" ainda nos faz ligar aos outros volumes das aventuras da Adele Blanc-Sec, um pouco jornalista, um pouco detective, um pouco curiosa, sobre os meandros de Paris no período antes da guerra. Desde a corrupção nos mais altos cargos até a coisas mais mesquinhas, tudo numa mulher antes do tempo. Tem alturas delirantes, confesso, mas vale a pena ler, especialmente este volume, que tem um final surpeendente.

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

See volume one for comments on the series. Now if I thought the last volume was bonkers, this one is utterly mad and aiming for as much self deprecating humour as possible. But there’s something compelling in all the shameless vaudeville.

[Michael Wormsbecher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wederom een fantastische bizarre vertelling. Waarin en passant de ramp met de Titanic wordt verklaard. Kopen en lezen!

[David Ferreira Alves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nunca tinha lido, apesar de ver os livros desde miúdo na Feira do Livro. Foi o primeiro que li e posso não ter entendido.
Julgo que é um non sense humorístico com bons desenhos mas difícil de acompanhar.

[Nadia Costa · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'aime le dessin et l'atmosphère fin de siècle d'Adèle Blanc-Sec, par contre ce que Tardi peut-être verbeux. Souvent on voit plus la grosse quantité de texte que le dessin.

[Brent Legault · Rating 5 out of 5]

C'est cool, sa.

[Pchu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is a delight. Totally insane, but delightfully so.