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

History

Jean-Claude Forest created the character of Barbarella for serialization in the French V Magazine in spring 1962, 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. The comic would stop publishing in 1978. 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. It ran for 12 issues with a holiday special. Another relaunch was announced in May 2021, with writer Sarah Hoyt and artist Madibek Musabekov. 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. 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.

Characters

Adaptations

In popular culture

Reception

Barbarella has been criticized for being dated and sexist. Barbarella has also been described as a sex symbol.

Sources