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blairmahoney's review
4.0
The artwork and atmosphere are terrific as Tardi plays around with absurd adventure plots similar to those seen in Tintin or Indiana Jones. He apparently can't take them very seriously as they all unfold in a torrent of explanations. His supposedly central character, Adele Blanc-Sec, barely appears. These sound like criticisms, but I actually enjoyed this a lot.
hummeline's review
5.0
Wonderful graphic novel with a spirited heroine and fascinating mystery with a dash of the paranormal. Enjoyed it quite a bit!
andrea_c's review
4.0
It is true that the story suffers from a few too many mustachioed, look-alike secondary characters. On the other hand, Adèle is a total badass. Grumpy, cyncial heroines who are willing to kidnap to get results are far too rare.
neilrcoulter's review
2.0
As Kronk says, "By all accounts, it doesn't make sense." The time period and general tone of Adèle Blanc-Sec are intriguing, but the story is confusing and most of the characters look identical. The plot, which feels like it started before this first volume, is full of double- and triple-crossings, but because I don't know the characters and can't tell them apart, it feels meaningless to me. My experience of volume one of Adèle Blanc-Sec is similar to how I've felt about other popular European series such as Tintin and Asterix. I have this feeling like I'm missing some kind of cultural background that would make all of this make sense, as it does for so many other people in the world.
Adèle herself is uninterestingly enigmatic. She constantly scowls and usually seems to have her eyes closed. Her adventures are extraordinarily wordy, if not particularly extraordinary. I don't know if I've ever seen panels so clogged with expositional speeches—and I still have almost no idea what's going on!
What I do like about this book is the artwork. Jacques Tardi has a great eye for architectural detail and framing of panels. I enjoy the color palette, which conveys a sense of time and place so clearly.
Adèle herself is uninterestingly enigmatic. She constantly scowls and usually seems to have her eyes closed. Her adventures are extraordinarily wordy, if not particularly extraordinary. I don't know if I've ever seen panels so clogged with expositional speeches—and I still have almost no idea what's going on!
What I do like about this book is the artwork. Jacques Tardi has a great eye for architectural detail and framing of panels. I enjoy the color palette, which conveys a sense of time and place so clearly.
matt4hire's review
4.0
A real joy of a comic. It acts as a great send-up of the older French suspense stories, and Tardi's art is a joy. Great stuff.
robin_dh's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
sisteray's review
2.0
The art is gorgeous, and it is packed with fun ideas, but the writing is a mess. Tons of exposition, and yet the storytelling is muddy and confusing. Lots of stuff happens, and much of it is conceptually cool, but it is difficult to really care about any of it as there is little to no focus. Everyone just kind of runs around and does stuff, mostly getting killed in the process. The results are tons of disposable characters (that look remarkably similar) that just kind of randomly appear. Quite disappointing.
hollyevaallen's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
kirstiecat's review
5.0
I'm so glad that this was finally translated from the French and made available for sale in the US. I found this at Quimby's in Chicago, which I go to for all my comic needs and it includes Pterror Over Paris and The Eiffel Tower Demon. It's set in Paris 1911 when a Pterodactyl in a museum comes to life and it's full of alot of classic devices that make this niche topic quirky and lovable. In some ways, it's a classic detective story with all of these bizarre elements thrown in...who is controlling the monsters, mistaken identity, framing of the wrong person, etc. all are at play but it's still creative and enchanting. I would really like to see the film done based on the graphic novel but sadly it's unavailable in the US right now. Sad face.
ubalstecha's review
3.0
Adele Blanc-Sec is an adventurer, writer, con-artist and all around bad-ass. She ends up in Paris hunting for a Pterodactyl that is killing people. Then she stumbles across a Babylonian cult that is killing people. All through this adventure, she is dodging people who are trying to kill her.
A good adventure that suffers from too much dialogue in a panel. Author Jasques Tardi could have improved the pacing of this adventure by either drawing more panels to spread the dialogue out or cutting down on the dialogue. This glut of dialogue is also partially due to the work being translated from French and the French BD tradition of long exposition in dialogue.
A good adventure that suffers from too much dialogue in a panel. Author Jasques Tardi could have improved the pacing of this adventure by either drawing more panels to spread the dialogue out or cutting down on the dialogue. This glut of dialogue is also partially due to the work being translated from French and the French BD tradition of long exposition in dialogue.