avengers
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Cover of Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune by Gaston Leroux. Paris: Pierre Lafitte, 1908. Criminocorpus.org: Bibliothèque des littératures policières, Paris. No one could explain it. Late at night, Mademoiselle Mathilde Stangerson had retired to the guest bedroom attached to her father’s pavilion laboratory, rather than return to the family chateau. At half-past midnight, the
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“A Railway Drama: The Montmoreau Affair.” In Le Petit Journal, Supplément Illustré, Saturday, May 16, 1891. Author’s collection. From his prison cell, the celebrated “gentleman burglar” Arsène Lupin had been taunting Sûreté Inspector Ganimard for several weeks.[1] Charged with multiple counts of grand theft, Lupin declared he would not be attending his trial. When the
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Le Jargon, ou le langage de l’Argot Réforme (Troyes: Girardon, 1660). Bibliothèque bleue chapbook cover. Gallica: Bibliothèque nationale de France. Two centuries before Paul Féval penned Les Habits Noirs, French readers were already taking delight in publications about argot slang and an imaginary criminal underworld. The foundational Bibliothèque bleue chapbook in this regard is Le
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“The Vicount Ponson du Terrail” by André Gill. La Lune, February 24, 1867. Wikimedia Commons: Universitätsbibliothek, Heidelberg. Q: Who or what is Rocambole? A: Rocambole is the son of Ponson du Terrail, who created and gave birth to Rocambole. Q: Why did Ponson du Terrail create and give birth to Rocambole? A: Ponson du Terrail
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The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas, “Classics Illustrated” Comics no. 3 (1941). Source: Andrew Wallace, Old-Fashioned Comics, November 8, 2017. “The Diamond and Vengeance” is one of many stories recounted in Mémoires tirés des archives de la police de Paris (“Mementoes drawn from the Paris Police Archives,” 1838), attributed to Parisian lawyer, statistician,
Shady Detectives, Elegant Criminals & Dark Avengers 