Vengeur #12
Vengeur #12 delivered to French readers in January 1975 the first French-language printing of The Cat #1 (November 1972) — the origin of Greer Nelson, one of Marvel's earliest female solo headliners created by an all-woman creative team of writer Linda Fite and artist Marie Severin. That origin story, paired with an early Avengers tale and a Nick Fury/Strange Tales two-parter introducing the cult-leader villain Dredmund Cromwell (Le Druide), made this pocket-format digest an unusually dense introduction to multiple corners of the Marvel universe for francophone readers who otherwise had no access to these stories. It is also part of the short but historically important run of the Arédit/Artima Comics Pocket Vengeur series, which served as the primary vehicle for translating classic Marvel material into French throughout the early 1970s.
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Published by Arédit/Artima as part of its long-running Comics Pocket line — a black-and-white small-format (13×19 cm) series aimed primarily at adult readers — Vengeur ran 18 issues in its initial 'Comics Pocket' incarnation from January 1972 through early 1976. Arédit operated under a 'bandes dessinées pour adultes' label that exempted the publisher from certain French press-commission restrictions but also restricted its newsstand visibility. The issue assembled stories from very different corners of Marvel's catalogue — a 1972 feminist-inflected superhero origin, a mid-1960s Avengers adventure, and a 1966 Nick Fury espionage thriller — in Arédit's characteristic practice of bundling multiple translated stories into a single digest.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Vengeur #12 was published by Arédit/Artima in January 1975 as issue #12 of the Comics Pocket 'Vengeur' series (2nd series), titled 'La Chatte qui tue.'
- The lead story reprints The Cat #1 (Marvel, November 1972) — the origin and first appearance of Greer Nelson as the Cat (La Chatte), written by Linda Fite and drawn by Marie Severin, making this the first French-language publication of that story.
- The Cat #1 was notable in Marvel history as one of the rare early-1970s Marvel books both headlined by a woman and produced by a female creative team (writer Linda Fite, artist Marie Severin).
- The second main story reprints The Avengers #17 (Marvel, June 1965), titled 'Quatre contre le Minotaure,' featuring the post-founding-lineup Avengers roster of Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch facing the Mole Man and the Minotaur (William Taurens).
- The Nick Fury installment reprints Strange Tales #144–145 (Marvel, May–June 1966), titled 'L'heure du Druide,' which is the first appearance of the villain Dredmund Cromwell (Le Druide) — a cult leader and alchemist who later fought both Nick Fury/S.H.I.E.L.D. and Captain America across multiple Marvel storylines.
- Dredmund Cromwell (Le Druide) is a scientist-occultist who developed hypnotic powers through self-administered alchemical potions and built a druidic cult with a hidden underground headquarters; his Strange Tales debut thus reaches French readers here for the first time.
- Greer Nelson would later be transformed into Tigra in Giant-Size Creatures #1 (1974), but this issue presents her solely in her original Cat identity, predating that transformation in publication terms.
- The Vengeur Comics Pocket series was the principal French-language vehicle for early Marvel content at Arédit/Artima, operating under the publisher's 'bandes dessinées pour adultes' designation to navigate French press-commission regulations.
Cast · 23 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
A gem merchant hears of the world's largest ruby guarded by a legendary giant statue in Tibet. He travels to Tibet and steals the ruby, but his escape is cut off by a boulder as he drives his jeep down the mountain pass and he is startled to see the giant statue is alive and pursuing him.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).