Fantômette is a series of 52 volumes created in 1961 by Georges Chaulet.[1] The books were destined for young readers and feature a female superhero named Fantômette. It was published in the "Bibliothèque rose" series from Hachette Editions. Fantômette's alter ego, Françoise Dupont, is a girl of about twelve years who dresses up in order to fight crime. She has two sidekicks: Ficelle, a tall and not-very-bright blonde, and Boulotte, a short and chubby brunette who is fixated on food. Neither of them are aware of her secret identity, despite meeting Fantômette regularly.
Fantômette was the first female superhero in French literature. The Fantômette books were aimed at eight- to twelve-year-old girls. There are 52 books in the series, which is still published today, as well as a comic book series by François Craenhals, a 1993 live-action TV series starring Katia Sourzac, and a cartoon series in 1998.
In 1957, the author, Georges Chaulet (1931–2012), proposed his first series, Les 4 As au collège, to Hachette, one of the biggest French publishers. But Hachette refused, having just bought the rights to all of Enid Blyton's novels, most notably The Famous Five. It was finally Casterman, a French-Belgian publisher, that published it. Very quickly, Les 4 As au collège was adapted as a comic book.
Strengthened by this first success, George Chaulet then proposed a new series to Hachette, this time accepted: Fantômette was born. Forty-nine volumes were then published from 1961 to 1987 in the Bibliothèque rose series. In 2006, to celebrate the 150 years of the Bibliothèque rose and after an eighteen-year absence, Georges Chaulet wrote a new adventure for his favorite heroine: Le Retour de Fantômette. He died on 13 October 2012, having written more than one hundred fifty books for youth in the course of his career.
List of titles
Here is the complete list of the Fantômette novels in their original order of publication:
1961: Les Exploits de Fantômette
1962: Fantômette contre le hibou (July 1962)
1963: Fantômette contre le géant (January 1963)
1963: Fantômette au carnaval (September 1963)
1964: Fantômette et l'Île de la sorcière (August 1964)
1964: Fantômette contre Fantômette
1965: Pas de vacances pour Fantômette
1966: Fantômette et la Télévision
1966: Opération Fantômette
1967: Les Sept Fantômettes
1967: Fantômette et la Dent du Diable
1968: Fantômette et son prince
1968: Fantômette et le Brigand
1969: Fantômette et la Lampe merveilleuse
1970: Fantômette chez le roi
1970: Fantômette et le Trésor du pharaon
1971: Fantômette et la Maison hantée
1971: Fantômette à la Mer de sable
1971: Fantômette contre la Main Jaune
1972: Fantômette viendra ce soir
1972: Fantômette dans le piège
1973: Fantômette et le Secret du désert
1973: Fantômette et le Masque d'argent
1973: Fantômette chez les corsaires (October 1973)
1974: Fantômette contre Charlemagne (March 1974)
1974: Fantômette et la Grosse Bête
1974: Fantômette et le Palais sous la mer
1975: Fantômette contre Diabola
1975: Appelez Fantômette !
1975: Olé, Fantômette !
1976: Fantômette brise la glace
1976: Les Carnets de Fantômette
1977: C'est quelqu'un, Fantômette !
1977: Fantômette dans l'espace
1977: Fantômette fait tout sauter
1978: Fantastique Fantômette
1978: Fantômette et les 40 Milliards
1979: L'Almanach de Fantômette
1979: Fantômette en plein mystère
1979: Fantômette et le Mystère de la tour (August 1979)
1980: Fantômette et le Dragon d'or (June 1980)
1981: Fantômette contre Satanix (April 1981)
1982: Fantômette et la Couronne (January 1982)
1982: Mission impossible pour Fantômette (October 1982)
1983: Fantômette en danger (October 1983)
1984: Fantômette et le Château mystérieux
1984: Fantômette ouvre l'œil
1985: Fantômette s'envole
1987: C'est toi Fantômette !
2006: Le Retour de Fantômette
2007: Fantômette a la main verte
2009: Fantômette et le Magicien
Hors-Serie (2011): Les Secrets de Fantômette (encyclopedia on the adventures of Fantômette containing an original novel: Fantômette amoureuse)
Adaptations
Live-action TV series
The series was first adapted in 1993 (21 episodes of 24 minutes) starring Katia Sourzac. It uses the characters from the novel in original new adventures. The series was first aired on the French channels France 3 and Canal J on 20 April 1993.
Title: Fantômette
Realisation: Christiane Spiero, Marco Pauly, Christiane Lehérissey
An animated series of 26 episodes of 25 minutes each was produced in 1999. The settings are drastically different from the ones of the novels. The action takes place in an international metropolis named Furtive-Ville instead of the small fictive French city of Framboisy. The young characters have families, sometimes parents in the animated series when they had none and lived independently in the novels. (For example, Œil-de-Lynx becomes Ficelle and Boulotte's brother whereas in the books, there was absolutely no family bond between them at all). Françoise is even given a particularly dramatic family past (dead Egyptologists for parents), something that does not exist in the books. Boulotte lose her obsession with food, having instead a passion for animals, while Ficelle appear much more intelligent than in the novels.
As far as graphism goes, the Fantômette of the animated series is heavily influenced by the American animated series of the time such as Batman.
Comic books
A series of comic books following the original scenarios of Georges Chaulet was published from 1982 to 1985 for a total of four albums, drawn by François Craenhals for the first three albums and Endry for the last one.
