Publication date 1962 – 1964 | Writer(s) Jean-Claude Forest Adaptations Barbarella (1968) | |
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Similar Valentina, The Adventures of Phoeb, Modesty Blaise, Blueberry, The Extraordinary Adventur | ||
Barbarella is a fictional heroine in a French science fiction comic book created by Jean-Claude Forest.
Contents
History
Jean-Claude Forest created the character of Barbarella for serialization in the French V Magazine in spring 1962, and in 1964 Eric Losfeld published these strips as a stand-alone book, titled Barbarella. The book caused a scandal and became known as the first "adult" (pornographic) comic-book, though its eroticism was slight and the American erotic 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-twentieth-century sexual revolution. The struggle for sexual freedom in comic books was most prominently carried on in France through emancipated female characters like Barbarella (1962), Jodelle (1966), Pravda (1967), Scarlet Dream (1981), Saga de Xam (1967), Wolinski's Paulette (1971). Works in this trend outside France include Phoebe Zeit-Geist (1965) and Vampirella (1969) in the USA; Modesty Blaise (1963) in the UK; and, Valentina (1965) and Angiolini's Isabella (1966) in Italy.
Characters
In popular culture
1980s 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").
Adaptations
