Some my known her only from the arguably disastrous Jane Fonda live-action adaptation, but today we can experience the first voyage of the maiden known as Barbarella! Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of V Magazine #566 awaits!
V MAGAZINE #566
Writer: Jean-Claude Forest (English Adaptation by Kelly Sue Deconnick)
Penciler: Jean-Claude Forest
Inker: Jean-Claude Forest
Colorist: Uncredited
Letterer: Jerry Frissen (U.S. Edition Designer)
Editor: Alex Donoghu (U.S. Edition)
Publisher: S.O.T.E.P.E.
Cover Price: 250 francs (~$5.00 U.S.)
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $7,500.00
Release Date: March 1962
Previously in V Magazine: Launched in 1944, V Magazine was, as far as my search engine kung-fu and online French translation services can tell me, an old-school periodical that featured news, lifestyle features, prose stories, and comics throughout its run. Between 1962 and 1964, it was the home of the very first appearances of cosmic sexual adventurer, Barbarella. Rather than any sort of long origin arc, though, this story begins with our heroine already in progress, wandering the universe for reasons unknown. And so exhausted is Barbarella that disaster strikes!
Crashlanding into the Great Greenhouse of Crystallia, Barbarella finds herself miraculously unharmed by the impact… but the escaping atmosphere threatens to blow her into space, assuming that the shattered glass and thorns spinning through the air don’t tear her to shreds.
She is saved at the last second by a young man named Dianthus, the son of the faction leader in charge of the Adonides, a sect of gardeners who protect and maintain the blooms in Crystallia. But not all is well in paradise, as the Adonides have fallen prey to that greatest of all sins: Classism.
The other occupants of their world, the Orhomrs, live outside in the barren wasteland, watching as more and more of the resources of their world are diverted to support the greenhouse. All the springs have been rerouted, leaving the Orhomrs to live in dried-out steam shafts, with only their terrific telekinetic powers to protect them. After they launch an all-out attack, flinging boulders through the glass to try and kill their unsympathetic overloads, Barbarella goes out to try and reason with them.
Dianthus gives her the name of Aman, his connection within the Orhomr settlement, but before she can find him, Barbarella is nearly murdered by brain-stone! This also leads to her being stripped from the waist up, a development which is remarkably tasteful in its depiction. After having sex with Aman, she sneaks back to retrieve weapons from her ship, something made possible by seducing the guard, along with Dianthus’ sister, Knautia.
The original depiction of these stories used single-color tones that I find very attractive, even superior to fully colored versions, and Forest’s work is very much in the graphic design vein of an adult magazine rather than traditional comic strips or books. (Of course, since that’s what V Magazine was, it’s not surprising.) Barbarella returns to Crystallia to report that Aman and his rebels will be attacking the next morning, so she and Dianthus must attack the crystal organ, which serves as the only defense against the Orhomrs’ psionic might!
Having struck a blow for liberte, verite, et nudite, Barbarella finds that her potential suitors are otherwise occupied, and so sets off for new vistas of space in a passing freighter. It’s a pretty cool introduction to a character mostly known for a not-particularly successful movie wherein the director cast his wife, and this chunk of V Magazine #566 is remarkable for how well it captures the fully formed Barbarella in action, earning 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. There’s none of the proverbial First Installment Weirdness here, only well-done art and an engaging science fiction tale.
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V MAGAZINE #566
Action, adventure, a little sex and a lot of ambiguity make it clear why this story spawned a decade-and-a-half of Barbarella stories, introducing the character and her clever science fiction world with deceptive ease.
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Writing9
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Art9
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Coloring/Tones8
Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.