The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec (also known as Adele: Rise Of The Mummy) is an adaptation of French-Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Jacques Tardi. They were first serialized in the French newspaper, Sud-Ouest in 1976, and then serialized by Dark Horse Comics in the early 1990's, with NBM publishing some of the titles in graphic novel form. Fantagraphic books are to release Translated Adele Blanc-Sec material at some stage in the future.
The stories are set before and after the first World War. Tardi is credited as saying that his heroine was so spirited that given
the politics of the time she couldn't have easily existed during that
period in history. So to get around that he had his character injured and put into
hibernation until she could be cured properly.
The cinematic version of the stories was released in France in April 2010, it has a United Kingdom release date of March 2011. As yet there is no release date for North America, though a search on Amazon.com does show a small number of the translated editions and some of the original French language editions too. The search also reveals a very small number of the French DVD's. I find it very curious that more DVD's are not available. Perhaps the storyline of a feisty heroine joining forces with mind experimenting scientists and searching for an ancient Egyptian mummy was just too quirky. I would have thought the 'Amelie' factor (and the sustained interest in 'World Cinema' in general), where cinema goers showed that they were more than ready for something a little different, might have tempted a North American Distributor to take a chance. Perhaps one still might.
French Trailer (with German Subtitles):
The Original Titles
1. Adele et la Bete [Adele And The Beast]
(1976)
2. Le Demon de la Tour Eiffel [The Demon Of
The Eiffel Tower] (1976)
3. Le Savant Fou [The Mad Scientist] (1977)
4. Momies en Folie [Mummies On Parade]
(1978)
5. Le Secret de la Salamandre [The Secret
Of The Salamander] (1981)
6. Le Noye a Deux Tetes [The Drowned Man
With Two Heads] (1985)
7. Tous des Monstres [Everyone A Monster]
(1994)
8. Le Mystere des Profondeurs [The Mystery
of the Depths] (1998)
ComicBookBin
