Art within Art

Jacques Tardis' Adele Blanc-Sec is, at least visually, an homage to the Parisian art scene and history. When reading Pterror Over Paris, I was struck by how similar a lot of the settings and panels looked both to paintings as well as museums and exhibitions. The first scene in particular, when Tardis choses to open on the dinosaur fossil collection at the Museum of Naturally history, the panel itself is curated and presented to the reader as if they are experiencing the collection in person. The panels showing the pterodactyl egg is likewise presented as an exhibit, not within the context of the museum, but to the reader. Jacques Tardis has, in effect, made the book as if it were a museum.

Moving to the bottom row on page 29, we see Adele, nude, bathing. Rather than this scene feel hypersexualized, instead it feels referential to impressionist nudes. The third panel from the left especially is visually similar to one of Renoir's bather paintings-the side angle and the manner with which Adele holds a towel loosely around herself all mimics the painting After the Bath by Renoir. Tardis has worked in Parisian artistic references throughout Pterror Over Paris so that the entire work reads like an art exhibition.

Left: After the Bath, Renoir. Right: Pterror Over Paris, Tardis.