Customer Reviews

Shadowmen: Heroes and Villains of French Pulp Fiction

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Most of us know very little about French popular literature. I include myself. I had read THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, and several of the stories of Jules Verne but I had only scratched the surface.

SHADOWMEN is a wonderful study of the little-known characters of the larger than life characters from French Fiction who parallel Tarzan, Fu Manchu, Doc Savage and others from the English speaking world.

The book is an encyclopedic guide to a number of htese characters. The Nyctalope, whose altered eyes can see in the dark, the quintessential mad scientist, Dr. Cornelius, and Judex, who is possibly the first of all caped superheroes in film.

It is a delightful world the book opens up to non-French speakers and one that fans of pulp stories and students of pop culture alike will enjoy.

SHADOWMEN VOLUME 1: HEROES AND VILLAINS OF FRENCH PULP FICTION provides a very informative overview of characters from French fantastic fiction of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Compiled by Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, each entry contains biographies and photos of the creators/writers, biographies of the characters, and lists of book, comic, film, radio, and TV appearances... and illustrations are plentiful! I have to admit - prior to reading this book, the only characters I was familiar with were Jules Verne's Captain Nemo and Robur the Conqueror, and Alexandre Dumas' Count of Monte Christo. Now I can also call Arsene Lupin, Belphegor, Rouletabille, Judex, and Fascinax acquaintances of mine.

As these characters began appearing in the mid-1800s, some are quite similar, with distinct trends being very apparent. For example, more than enough of them run around Paris dressed in tuxedos and top hats. Some are actually criminals, or at least have criminal tendencies. Others are quite interesting for what sets them apart from the crowd, such as Sar Dubnotal - occult investigator, and le Nyctalope, with his glowing yellow eyes and artificial heart. In any case, the write-ups are very comprehensive, and if I either can't find or am not interested in reading the original adventures, I can at least get a good idea of what these characters are about. As indicated in the book's title, they make up a broader category of related fictitious characters known as the Shadowmen, which is something of a French version of Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Family. The text posits that some characters are actually multiple aliases for one person, as confusing or excessive as it may be. Others are given direct links to characters from British and American fiction. Connecting the dots makes for fascinating reading, although it does tend to get a bit excessive. This book doesn't really have any shortcomings, although it might not be appreciated by all comic or fantasy fans due to its focus.

An excellent cover by Andrew Paquette tops off the book. Be sure to check out volume 2 of SHADOWMEN, which covers characters from French comics!

This is fascinating: a study of a great lot of popular heroes, but not from the usual American or British litterature. This time, they come from the French pulp fictions! And gathering together such characters as Arsene Lupin, Belphegor, Rouletabille or Fantomas, together with a whole lot of much more obscure ones (who knows Sār Dubnotal?!?) these studies and timelines forms both a great reference work and a real game of fiction.

Pulp fiction is a genre which needs no prior knowledge other than a general suspense of disbelief: if that is your view regarding the pulps then you may read no more. But if you appreciate the unadulterated fun ride that can be obtained from the pulps, and also like to know more about the heroes & villains, you need to read a few books. These include: "Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana" by Jesse Nevins, and the twin volumes of "Shadowmen" written by Jean-Marc Lofficier. "Shadowmen" also include brief description of the original French pulp works which had hosted these personalities, tempting you to search for more. Highly recommended!

I first became aware of Black Coat Press when I revived my interest in Philip Jose Farmer's Wold-Newton Universe concept and through Win Scott Eckert discovered Black Coat's annual Tales of the Shadowmen short story anthologies. This book is a compendium of a range of classic French pulp fiction (and some slightly older) characters. Some of the names are familiar to American audiences (The Phantom of the Opera, Captain Nemo, the Count of Monte Cristo) and some will feel vaguely familiar (Judex feels like the French Shadow; Dr. Omega is the French Doctor Who). The Lofficier Brothers' research is detailed and flawless. For the most part their author biographies and character bibliographies and filmographies are succinct. The character biographies occasionally wander a bit (if there's one consistency to "Wold-Newton scholarship," it's that penchant to wander through a character's familial history in sometimes circular fashion. Farmer was great at it!) but overall are also well done. I enjoyed learning a bit more about these characters.

The one downside to a book like this is that it is difficult to read straight through as you would a novel or even a short story collection. I actually started this sometime last year, and kept it by my bedside at home (which meant I sometimes went more than a month without reading an entry). Of course, the upside is that you don't have to read it in order, nor do you have to read it all at once. It's an excellent resource book. I finally ordered volume two last week, so I'll be looking forward to that as well.