Humanoids has announced a newly translated version of the 1960's science fiction classic graphic novel Barbarella.  Debuting September 17th in the UK and September 24th in the US, Barbarella includes a new English-language translation by Kelly Sue DeConnick (Pretty Deadly, Captain Marvel) and a preface by comics historian Paul Gravett.  

This limited edition, deluxe coffee table book will be a 12" x 16" duotone numbered volume of only 1200 copies.  Planned as the first of multiple volumes reprinting the original stories, Book 1 retails for $79.95.

Written and illustrated by creator Jean-Claude Forest, Barbarella premiered in 1964 after earlier serialization in French magazines in 1962.  The first English-language edition of Book 1 was released by Grove Press in 1968, the same year the erotic space-adventure film starring Jane Fonda premiered.  The sequel, Book 2 Les Coleres du Mange-Minutes (The Wrath of the Minute Eater), did not appear until 1974. 

Although Heavy Metal would also serialize English-language versions of Barbarella in the 1970s, original French-language stories continued with Le Semble Lune (The False Moon) and Le Mirror aux Tempetes (The Storm Mirror) in the late 1970s and early 1980s, respectively.  French-language versions have been in print by Dargaud and Les Humanoides Associes. 

Humanoids has revealed that Book 2 will be released in a complete edition including Book 1 in January 2015, also translated by DeConnick, but there is no information on the subsequent sequels or pricing for these volumes. 

--Nathan Wilson