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So long as we've been bringing the Franco-Belgian rock lately, I thought I'd contribute another of my favourites, Pierre Alary's Belladonne.

Alary himself is one of my favourites. A former animator at Disney France, he worked under the great Glen Keane on Tarzan before striking out on his own to create this wonder. Since then, he's released two more volumes of Belladone, started a series of Sinbad books, and has lately been posting lineart for his adaption of Mellville's Moby Dick. If you wanna get a look at some of his sketches and lineart, his blog's over here. It's mostly Sinbad and Moby work, but if you go back in the archives there's some great Belladone stuff too.

So our story begins in 1608, during the reign of Louis XIV of France, and our heroine wastes no time entering the story.

Above, she confronts the would-be assassin, but he manages to disarm her and flee, setting his men on her instead. She gets to prove that she's sudden death in all directions when she needs to be, but the delay allows the assassin to escape.

The captain of the Musketeers, Maxime, is dressed down by his superior for allowing the attempt in the first place, but the King is more interested in his saviour, who he sees as an angel. An angel he wants in his bed, which takes Maxime back a bit. After the King leaves, he and the Compte descend a hidden stair, passing beneath the Seine...

Everyone should have a secret spy training centre in their basement, adds to property value. And who should pop in, Spider-Man-like, but the angel herself. Her name is Marie, but in fact she's a secret agent code-named Belladone, charged with defending the King. And the whole spy ring is secretly run by Maxime's mother, an iron lady in her own right.

Maxime and Marie begin sparring, which is cute as hell since they have such chemistry. Apparently they have a standing wager that if Maxime can beat her, she'll take him to bed, but to date he's never won. Doesn't stop a guy from trying, though.

Aren't they adorable?

In any case, Belladone goes intelligence gathering with a visit to a masked man who sits as King in the "Cour des Miracles", presiding over a widespread community of beggars, thieves and gypsies, and an equally widespread intelligence network. And yet, even he doesn't know who the mysterious Italian who attacked the King is. The meeting is broken up by an attempted raid by Louis' forces, and Marie returns home to dream of her history, and how she got where she is now.

Quite the libertine, eh?

Meanwhile, we join the Italian with his accomplice, a servant of the King who allowed him into the palace in the first place. There's some implication that he's working to gain revenge for an assassination attempt on the Pope, although it's possible this is a lie to get her to work with him.

At his request, she seeks out an underground market of "Death Merchants" to purchase some particularly nasty poison, but when she return she's overheard by a local beggar. Of course word comes back to the Cour des Miracles, and a messenger is sent to Marie. But the messenger isn't her only visitor, as Maxime's mother comes to verbally spar with her for a bit.

Before that though, there's a scene with her trying to get information from a well-connected nobleman, and it's revealed that she has some sort of "supernatural" control over those she's shared a bed with. As Maxime's mother puts it, if she hasn't bewitched him yet it truly is love.

D'awww!

Anyhow, action time!

By now they should know better than to try to trap Marie, but down go another half-dozen mooks.

Marie takes off to the King's estate, where he's preparing for bed. He's about to take a final cordial before retiring, when his angel saves him yet again.

Well, she was near his bed, but no way she's getting in it. XD

Turns out the servant next to him is actually the Italian in disguise, so he ditches the dress and wig and heads for the chimney, with Marie in hot pursuit, with a lovely tense bit of swordfighting in the open shaft, only to spill onto the roof and then courtyard. The Italian, for his part, fights on a level with Marie herself, and manages to damage Maxime's throat with the butt of a spear. Marie, of course, is the only one with the skill to save his life, allowing the Italian to escape.

And so things return to normal, with Maxime making a full recovery, and Marie returning to her own world. But everyone knows this isn't over, since as long as the Italian is free he'll be making more attempts on the life of the King.

This volume came out in 2004, and sequel volumes were produced in 2005 and 2007, following the ongoing battle between Marie and the mysterious Italian. As far as I know, they're all still in print.

Suggested tags: Series: Belladone, Char: Belladone/Marie, Creator: Pierre Alary, Publisher: Soleil Productions, Medium: bande dessinée