Adele Blanc-Sec's introduction came as something of a surprise, considering that her appearance is clouded in mystery. On page 11, a figure is seen from the back and on the following page, a person with a very similar appearance is seen from the front, accompanied by the mysterious man from the last panel on page 11. Altogether, the cues are there to see the two figures as representing the same person. (Obviously there is a difference in the name, but such a name as Adele Blanc-Sec could well be a pseudonym.) When first I read those pages, I was taken in by the false identity because the representations seemed to match; only when Adele and Edith came face-to-face did I have reason to retroactively amend my understanding of who was who on the train. I thought that this introduction of the heroine was quite inventive, since it relies on the tropes of the adventure/mystery genre while involving the power of representation in comics. For an instant, Adele and Edith are merged into a single figure.
This kind of identity play occurs throughout the story, and I found it very inventive: the first appearance of the psychic pterodactyl-man Boutardieu, for example, has him positioned with his arms outstretched like wings. There is an obvious visual connection between the bottom two panels on page 5, and again on page 10. His gaping mouth, beady eyes, and ruddy skin all evoke a kind of visual assonance when he is compared with the pterodactyl, but it is not until the explanation of his powers that we can go back and fully form the connection. Boutardieu and the pterodactyl, like Adele and Edith, are two identities momentarily represented by a single figure.
I think your idea of the "single figure" in Tardi's work is really astute. It seems to callback to the wholeness of the work's formation, coming solely from Tardi's efforts. But I wonder if your first example, Adele and Edith, pushes not only identity but power. When we assume that Adele and Edith are the same person, Adele is succeeding in her ploy. She has actual power over the audience and what they know. I think goes toward Tardi's want to create a non-sexualized heroine who can compete with men. Because of her whit, Adele doesn't have to be reduced to a sexual object in order to gain power over men, specifically, and people in general, including the audience.
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