Barbarella (comics)

For the 1968 film, see Barbarella (film).

Barbarella is a fictional heroine in a French science fiction comic book created by Jean-Claude Forest.^[1]

Barbarella
Barbarella: Le Semble-Lune (1977) published by Pierre Horay; cover art by Jean-Claude Forest
Character information
Created by	Jean-Claude Forest
Publication information
Publisher	Dynamite Entertainment (2017–present)
Title(s) V Magazine Evergreen Review #37-39 Heavy Metal (vol. 1) #11 (vol. 2) #3
Formats	Original material for the series has been published as a strip in the comics anthology(s) V Magazine, Evergreen Review and Heavy Metal and a set of graphic novels.
Genre	Erotic, science fiction
Publication date	1962–1978
Number of issues	(Dynamite – vol. 1): 13 (Dynamite – vol. 2): 10
Creative team
Writer(s)	Jean-Claude Forest Mike Carey Sarah Hoyt
Artist(s)	Jean-Claude Forest Kenan Yarar Madibek Musabekov
Reprints
The series has been reprinted, at least in part, in English.

History

Jean-Claude Forest created the character of Barbarella for serialization in the French V Magazine in spring 1962,^[2] and in 1964 Éric Losfeld published these strips as a stand-alone book titled Barbarella. The book caused a scandal and became known as the first "adult" (erotic) comic book, though American pornographic comic books known as "Tijuana bibles" had long predated it. For her creator, the character embodied the modern, emancipated woman in the era of sexual liberation, and as a result, this literary work has come to be associated with the mid-20th century sexual revolution.^[3] The comic would stop publishing in 1978.^[4]

Barbarella was relaunched as an ongoing series by the American publisher Dynamite Entertainment in December 2017. The creative team included writer Mike Carey and artist Kenan Yarar. The comic would be supervised by Jean-Marc Lofficier, who worked with the original creator.^[4] It ran for 12 issues with a holiday special.

Another relaunch was announced in May 2021, with writer Sarah Hoyt and artist Madibek Musabekov.^[5] This run continued for 10 issues.

After the announcement of a movie remake, Dynamite announced in November 2022 it would relaunch the comic with the title Barbarella: The Center Cannot Hold. Sarah Hoyt would return as writer, this time joined by artist Riccardo Bogani.^[6] In July 2024, a new series was announced with writer Blake Northcott and artist Anna Morozova. This iteration of the comic will return more closely to Jean-Claude Forest's concept for the original comic series.^[7]

Characters

• Barbarella: a young woman who travels from planet to planet and has numerous adventures, often involving sex. The aliens she meets often seduce her, and she also experiments with a "machine excessive" or "orgasmatron".
• Professor Ping: a one-eyed old man who helps Barbarella.
• Pygar: a blind 'angel' guided by Barbarella, he is the last of the ornithanthropes (bird-men).
• La Reine noire (The Black Queen): a villainess who reigns in the maze-surrounded town of Sogo on the planet Lythion.
• Lio: a brown-haired teenage girl saved by Barbarella; she must save the town governed by her father in Les Colères du mange-minutes.
• Mado: a fembot sex worker whose "breakdown" Barbarella repairs.
• Narval: an aiguiote (aquatic man) who comes from Citerne IV to complete his scientific research in Les Colères du mange-minutes.
• L'artiste: a self-insert of Jean-Claude Forest. Named Browningwell in Le Semble-Lune, he and Barbarella have a child together.

Bibliography

• Barbarella (originally serialized in V Magazine, 1962; book by Éric Losfeld, 1964)
• Les Colères du Mange-Minutes [The Wrath of the Minute Eater] (Kesselring, 1974)
• Le Semble-Lune [The False Moon] (Horay, 1977, ISBN 2-7058-0045-X)
• Le Miroir aux Tempêtes [The Storm Mirror] (Albin Michel, 1982, art by Daniel Billon, ISBN 2-226-01441-1)^[8]

The stories have been reprinted by Dargaud and Les Humanoïdes Associés.

Barbarella also guest-stars in Mystérieuse, Matin, Midi et Soir [Mysterious, Morning, Noon And Evening] (originally serialized in Pif, 1971; book edition by Serg, 1972)

Barbarella was translated into English by Richard Seaver and published in Evergreen Review #37-39 (1965–1966) and Heavy Metal (vol. 1) #11 through (vol. 2) #3 (1978), as well as the trade paperback Barbarella: The Moon Child (HM Communications, Inc., 1978).

An updated adaptation of Book 1 was released by Humanoids Publishing^[9] on September 24, 2020; this new adaptation was done by Kelly Sue DeConnick. Book 2 saw its first English adaptation in January 2015 by DeConnick from Humanoids as well.

PUBLICATION	PUBLISHER	WRITER	ARTIST	COLLECTED EDITION *=not collected
Barbarella (1-12) (2017-2018)	Dynamite Entertainment	Mike Carey	Kenan Yarar
Barbarella Holiday Special (2018)	Dynamite Entertainment	Jean-Marc Lofficier	Jose Louis Ruiz Perez
Barbarella/Dejah Thoris	Dynamite Entertainment	Leah Williams	Germán Garcia
Barbarella Vol. 2 (1-10) (2021-2022)	Dynamite Entertainment	Sarah Hoyt	Madibek Musabekov
Barbarella Center Cannot Hold (1-5)	Dynamite Entertainment	Sarah Hoyt	Riccardo Bogani

Adaptations

• A Barbarella film adaptation was made in 1968, directed by Roger Vadim and starring Jane Fonda.^[10] Several remakes were considered with Bridget Fonda, Drew Barrymore,^[11][12] Sherilyn Fenn^[13] and Rose McGowan, the most recent of which was abandoned in 2009.^[14]
• A Barbarella musical based on the film was produced in 2004.
• A Barbarella TV series was in development with writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, and Martha De Laurentiis, widow of the film's producer Dino De Laurentiis, were all involved.^[15] In May 2013, Refn said to Vulture that they are still writing and are going back to the original comics. As of May 2013, no one has been cast for the series yet.^[16]
• In 2017, Dynamite Entertainment announced they had acquired the license to create new comics based on Barbarella.^[17] A twelve issue series written by Mike Carey with art by Kenan Yarar was published by Dynamite during 2017 and 2018, in conjunction with Barbarella's 55th anniversary. Jean-Marc Lofficier - longtime custodian of the Barbarella character - joined Carey as supervisor on the project.^[18][19] The single-shot Barbarella Holiday Special was published in December 2018, written by Locifier with art by José Louis Ruiz Pérez.^[20] Barbarella/Dejah Thoris was a four issue series published in 2019, uniting Barbarella with Edgar Rice Burroughs' Princess of Barsoom. It was written by Leah Williams with art by Germán Garcia.^[21] In July 2021, Dynamite launched a new ongoing series written by Sarah A. Hoyt with art by Madibek Musabekov.^[22]
• On October 11, 2022, Deadline reported that a film is planned, with Sydney Sweeney set to star as the titular character and serve as executive producer.^[23] Due to this, a new comic series will be released in 2023.^[6]

In popular culture

• 1980s British pop band Duran Duran takes its name from a character in the 1968 film Barbarella: Barbarella's mission in the film is to find a scientist named Durand Durand (pronounced "Duran Duran").^[24] In addition, the band's first single from 1997's Medazzaland is entitled "Electric Barbarella".
• Belgian pop singer and actress Lio took this stage name from a character in the Barbarella comic books.
• American rock band Clutch details a meet-up between the singer and Barbarella in which a Motel 6 is destroyed, among other exploits, in their song "In Walks Barbarella".
• Scott Weiland's only single from his debut album 12 Bar Blues is titled "Barbarella" as an homage to the iconic character.
• Commander Cody's song "Dreams of Barbarella", from his 1978 album Flying Dreams, details a man's descent into a fantasy world where he lives with Barbarella, in a magic ship out by the Milky Way.

Reception

Barbarella has been criticized for being dated and sexist.^[25][26] Barbarella has also been described as a sex symbol.^[2][27][28]

References

1. "FRENCH CARTOONIST JEAN-CLAUDE FOREST DIES". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
2. "Rappelle-toi Barbarella.Mort du père de la blonde héroïne SF, Jean-Claude Forest. – Libération". September 11, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-09-11.
3. jbindeck2015 (2017-09-19). "Barbarella Returns to Comics After 35 Years". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2022-11-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
4. White, Brett (2016-10-04). "Barbarella Returns To Comics In 2017". CBR. Retrieved 2022-11-18.
5. Collinson, Gary (2021-05-06). "Barbarella returns for all-new adventures with Dynamite Entertainment". Flickering Myth. Retrieved 2022-11-18.
6. Johnston, Rich (2022-11-17). "Sarah A. Hoyt & Riccardo Bogani Bring Back Barbarella For 2023". Bleeding Cool News And Rumors. Retrieved 2022-11-18.
7. Fang, Sam (2024-07-19). "First Look: New Barbarella Series Announced Ahead of Sydney Sweeney Film". CBR. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
8. MAGNERON, Philippe. "Barbarella - BD, informations, cotes". www.bedetheque.com.
9. "Barbarella - Coffee Table Book (Limited)". www.humanoids.com.
10. Collins, Elle (12 September 2016). "Celebrating Jean-Claude Forest And 'Barbarella'". ComicsAlliance.
11. Jenkins, Jason (April 29, 2022). "Drew Barrymore as Barbarella? Writer John August Details the Unmade Movie [Phantom Limbs]".
12. "'Barbarella' remake planned with Drew Barrymore in the title role". The Independent. October 1, 2000.
13. Idato, Michael (January 21, 2014). "Jane Fonda's 1968 Barbarella movie to become TV remake". The Sydney Morning Herald.
14. "EXCLUSIVE: Robert Rodriguez's 'Barbarella' Adaptation Is Dead". MTV. Archived from the original on August 9, 2022.
15. Andreeva, Niellie (29 January 2013). "James Bond Writers Neal Purvis And Robert Wade To Pen Gaumont's 'Barbarella' Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
16. Yuan, Jada (24 May 2014). "Only God Forgives Director Nicolas Winding Refn on Getting Booed at Cannes". Vulture.com. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
17. "Dynamite picks up Elvira, Barbarella licenses". 17 July 2017.
18. "Dynamite® Barbarella #1". www.dynamite.com. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
19. "NYCC: DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT TO PRODUCE NEW COMICS STARRING SCIENCE FICTION'S ORIGINAL HEROINE, BARBARELLA!". www.dynamite.com. October 4, 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
20. "Barbarella Holiday Special". Archived from the original on September 8, 2021.
21. "Barbarella/Dejah Thoris #1". Archived from the original on September 18, 2021.
22. Spry, Jeff (26 June 2021). "Barbarella will launch on wild space adventures in new Dynamite comic series". Space.com.
23. Kroll, Justin (2022-10-11). "Sydney Sweeney To Star and Exec Produce New 'Barbarella' Movie For Sony Pictures". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
24. Akbar, Arifa (2 December 2012). "Barbarella, the queen of cult sci-fi, is reborn for the 21st century". Irish Independent. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
25. "Fire up the orgasmatron: why we can't let Barbarella go". the Guardian. October 5, 2016.
26. "Why on earth do we want a remake of Barbarella?". The Independent. October 21, 2022.
27. Lesage, Sylvain (January 1, 2023). Ninth Art. Bande dessinée, Books and the Gentrification of Mass Culture, 1964-1975. Springer Nature. ISBN 9783031170010 – via Google Books.
28. MacLeod, Catriona (August 5, 2021). Invisible Presence: The Representation of Women in French-Language Comics. Intellect Books. ISBN 9781789383928 – via Google Books.

Sources

• Favari, Pietro (1996), Le nuvole parlanti: un secolo di fumetti tra arte e mass media.

External links

• Official website
• Barbarella at the Grand Comics Database
• Barbarella at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Barbarella at Bedetheque (in French)
• Barbarella (Dargaud) at Bedetheque (in French)