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Jacques Tardi
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The Extraordinary Adventures of Adéle Blanc-Sec Vol 2: The Mad Scientist / Mummies on Parade (EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES ADELE BLANC SEC HC) Hardcover – November 15, 2011

by Jacques Tardi (Author, Artist), Kim Thompson (Editor)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 20 ratings
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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 Adèle’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 Adèle 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.)
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  1. Print length
    96 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Fantagraphics Books
  4. Publication date
    November 15, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    9 x 1 x 12 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    160699493X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1606994931
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"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

About the Author

Tardi is a pioneering, internationally award-winning European cartoonist. His Adele 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.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fantagraphics Books (November 15, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 96 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 160699493X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1606994931
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.6 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9 x 1 x 12 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 20 ratings

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Jacques Tardi

Jacques Tardi

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
20 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Josef
5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the Adele Blanc-Sec books (currently available in English) ...
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2018
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The best of the Adele Blanc-Sec books (currently available in English) - this book features 2 books in one. Beautifully written and illustrated by Jacques Tardi - in full color - these books follow the adventures of journalist Adele investigating fantastic mysteries in 1912 Paris. Fun for older kids and sharp enough for adults to enjoy. Book 1 (with robotic Pterodactyls) is also great and very much worth it! The best work of Tardi's long and prolific career!
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rosemary
4.0 out of 5 stars Book
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2017
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I like the movie
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R. Barnes
5.0 out of 5 stars Odd French comic
Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2017
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I have loved the hard cover editions of Adele Blanc-Sec. The narrative flow is rather odd (in a good way) and the main character is missing a lot of the characteristics you expect in a protagonist in an American comic. The art is very appealing and fits the story and setting quite well. If you are a fan of late 19th century tales that mix magic and steam punk, I encourage you to give this a try.
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Sachin Walia
5.0 out of 5 stars One of Tardi’s timeless adventure
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2020
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Love anything written and drawn by Jacques Tardi and published by Fantagraphics. Highly recommended. Hope they publish the remaining five volumes soon.
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Alessandra Kelley
4.0 out of 5 stars Absurd, humorous mad-science conspiracies in prewar Paris
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2012
I kept reading this series after a baffling first volume, and I'm glad I did. Jacques Tardi's bizarre supernatural-tinged adventures are more overtly humorous in this volume, if no more comprehensible than his earlier stories of Mlle. Blanc-Sec.

There are still double-crosses, mistaken identities, disguises, and conspiracies. It is still difficult to tell the conspirators apart. But it hardly seems to matter. There is a swirl of treachery and deceit around Mlle. Blanc-Sec, and if one man is a villain and another not, somebody will surely step up to take the necessary rôle in the plot regardless.

There are some artistic changes between this and the earlier volume of Mlle Blanc-Sec's adventures. Mlle Blanc-Sec's expression changes from time to time. She sometimes looks astonished, or even almost cracks a smile. Although many of the men are visually interchangeable, the truly good ones have quite distinct looks; possibly it helps that two of them are not human in the normal sense. There are still remarkable, lovingly detailed renderings of Parisian street scenes and old automobiles.

The plot twists have gotten more absurd since the first volume, and somehow this makes the story hold together better. The characters are more self-conscious of being within a story (when lightning strikes during a snowstorm and a character questions it, another says "It heightens the mood. ... have you never read Mary Shelley?"). Characters sit down and say "Let us recapitulate" before crowded panels of absurd amounts of text exposition. Towards the end Mlle Blanc-Sec actually says "Look: From its very beginning this story hasn't made a jot of sense to me. And I'm fed up to the gills with complicated stories. What the poor readers must think ..."

The color palette is muted, as in the first book, but seems a bit lighter in this volume. There is even a tragically doomed romantic character who wears some bright red, although mostly the bright colors are reserved for blood and violence.

As with the first book, the author, Jacques Tardi, has drawn many lovingly detailed scenes of Paris of about a century ago. The humor almost disguises the tour de force of his artwork, as for example, a running gag involving a gentleman walking past the "utterly uninteresting" equestrian gold statue of Joan of Arc drawn three times from three completely different angles, each time beautifully. The reader could do worse than this volume to get a visual introduction to Paris immediately before World War I.

This story has some violence and blood and some very mild nudity.
8 people found this helpful
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Karl
5.0 out of 5 stars freaking awesome worth your money
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2019
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freaking awesome worth your money
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Robert Grandberry
2.0 out of 5 stars Beaut is only surface
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2019
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Beautiful illustrations...but too much horror for me.
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Top reviews from other countries

angela mckeon
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Product
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 12, 2014
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Excellent product, it is very good and deserves the five star rating. This product is exactly what I expecting and I would recommend this to anyone who is considering buying it.
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Lieva
5.0 out of 5 stars Gave my dad as he loved it. Seems to like them
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 16, 2016
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I got these because of the film. Gave my dad as he loved it. Seems to like them
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Marmmoose
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous fun
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2012
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I loved this series. Lots of fun, I only wished I had read it when I was younger. A wisecracking, fearless female adventurer - whats not to love?
3 people found this helpful
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