Posted in: Comics | Tagged: baby cyanide, barbarella, hexagon, Jean-Claude Forest, shambleau

Out Now: Baby Cyanide & Shambleau by Barbarella's Jean-Claude Forest

Hexagon Comics celebrates the 60th anniversary of Barbarella by releasing two comic books by Jean-Claude Forest, for the first time in English.

Hexagon Comics USA continues to put back into print European comics, mostly written by Jean-Marc Lofficier, translated into English and distributed solely through his website, Amazon page or at conventions. Selling enough copies to make it more than worthwhile, as well as making certain comics available to a wider English-speaking audience. And repackaging work by familiar names in American comics before they made it big. Retailers can purchase Hexagon Comics at a 40% discount from distributor Ingram or from the publisher. And for March that means two brand new comics from Barbarella creator Jean-Claude Forest.

Barbarella first appeared in the French magazine V, in 1962 and ran for a couple of years before being reprinted in a hardcover graphic novel by publisher Eric Losfeld in 1964. It gained international fame as a movie in 1968 starring Jane Fonda, and naming Duran Duran in the process. Now, Euphoria's Sydney Sweeney is set to star in a new adaptation and a new comic from Dynamite by Sarah A. Hoyt and Riccardo Bogani. And it is amidst all this that, for March, Hexagon Comics celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Queen of the Galaxy by releasing two comic books by her creator, Jean-Claude Forest, for the first time in English, Baby Cyanide and Shambleau, as well as a the third volume of Lord Of The Depths.

BABY CYANIDE

Story & art by Jean-Claude Forest adapted by Randy & Jean-Marc Lofficier; cover by Jean-Claude Forest; 48 pages color. US$15.95. ISBN 978-1-64932-213-5.

In the 53rd century on the planet Venus, Baby Cyanide and her younger brother have just escaped from the orphanage where they lived when they find themselves involved in a strange quest for a mysterious treasure chest pitting rival space clans against each other…

Baby Cyanide was the second major character created by Forest, just after Barbarella. Originally published in 1965, this colorful, planetary fantasy tale of two orphans stranded in a whimsical universe, relying only on their wits to survive the most extravagant adventures, became an instant classic which has never been out of print since.

This first ever English-language edition, introduced and translated by the award-winning team of Randy & Jean-Marc Lofficier, is presented here as the first of two books released jointly by Black Coat Press and Hexagon Comics to celebrate Barbarella's 60th anniversary.

THE ILLUSTRATED SHAMBLEAU

Story by Catherine L. Moore; illustrated by Jean-Claude Forest; cover by Jean-Claude Forest. 40 pages b&w. US$10.95. ISBN 978-1-64932-211-1.

Shambleau was the first in a series of stories featuring the proto-Han Solo character, Northwest Smith, who wanders through the Solar System, and which originally appeared in the November 1933 issue of Weird Tales. Its author, Catherine L. Moore, was among the first women to write in the science fiction and fantasy genres, becoming a major award-winning figure in the field.

In 1955, a French translation of Shambleau was published in the French magazine "V", fully illustrated by Jean-Claude Forest, then one of France's premier science fiction artists. It was that story that led the magazine editor to ask Forest for a full-blown sexy sci-fi comics series featuring a bold heroine. The result was Barbarella and the rest is history.

This first ever English-language edition of The Illustrated Shambleau is presented here as the first of two books released jointly by Black Coat Press and Hexagon Comics to celebrate Barbarella's 60th anniversary.

THE LORDS OF THE DEPTHS #3: OCEANIA

Story & art by Leone Frollo & Perluigi Sangalli; cover by Mike Hoffman. 88 pages b&w. US$12.95. ISBN 978-1-64932-186.2.

Underwater heroes and amphibian characters from Jules Verne's famous rogue submariner, Captain Nemo and his myriad imitators, to Marvel's Sub-Mariner and DC's Aquaman (1941), have always proved popular with comic book aficionados. Hexagon Comics introduced their own "Lords of the Depths" in six series, which we have sampled here in three issues. This is the third and last. In this volume, meet:

Oceania (1972), drawn by Leone Frollo, in which two members of the Bathy teams, Alan Foster and Robin Mallet, discover an Atlantean outpost and help its inhabitants fight an evil tyrant.

Marino (1974), drawn by Pierluigi Sangalli, is a young orphan who discovers that he can breathe underwater. This is his very first adventure in which, prior to joining the group Kidz, he meets two young Atlanteans, and fights alongside them against the Sirenids.

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