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Barbarella by Jean-Claude Forest - Comic Strip
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Barbarella by Jean-Claude Forest

Comic Strip
1964
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This early Barbarella page by Jean-Claude Forest was published in 1964 in V Magazine which originally serialized the series starting in 1962. This was then collected and part of the first Tome of Barbarella and later saw reprinting several times including in early editions of Heavy Metal in English. The comic was originally considered scandalous because of the sexuality involved but later became associated with the sexual revolution of the 60's and women's liberation. Barbarella is now an icon and her influence is wide sweeping and part of popular culture having inspired movies, plays and serving as inspiration for music (Duran Duran is named after a Barbarella character among other references by other bands). I have always been drawn to the loose, stylistic approach taken by Forest and others of this genre like Gigi as it fit the sci-fi themes and monochrome printing well. Although rather large, this page is not as big as some of the later pages in this series which I understand can be poster sized or larger. I am very happy to add this landmark page to my humble collection of European masters.

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About Jean-Claude Forest

Jean-Claude Forest (11 September 1930 – 29 December 1998) was a writer and illustrator of comics and the creator of character Barbarella. Jean-Claude Forest was born in Le Perreux-sur-Marne, a Paris suburb and graduated from the Paris School of Design in the early 1950s and immediately began working as an illustrator. While at the Paris School of Design Forest drew his first comic strip, Flèche Noire (The Black Arrow). After creating Le Vaisseau Hanté (The Ghost Ship) he illustrated several issues of Charlot, a popular French comic book series loosely based on Charlie Chaplin. Forest eventually became the premier cover artist of French publisher Gallimard's leading French science-fiction paperback imprint, Le Rayon Fantastique, also drawing covers for numerous French newspapers and magazines including France Soir. Together with renowned film director Alain Resnais, Forest was one of the founders of the French Comic-Strip Club in the early 1960s.