Jessica Blandy

Few comics heroines carry themselves with quite the self-possessed mystique of Jessica Blandy, who stepped onto the page in 1987 courtesy of creators Dufaux and Renaud for Dupuis — a European publisher with serious pedigree. Born at the dawn of the Copper Age, she anchored her own long-running series for nearly two decades, a remarkable testament to the hold she clearly had on her readership. That kind of sustained solo spotlight — her name on the title, year after year through 2006 — speaks to a character with genuine depth and staying power in the Franco-Belgian tradition of sophisticated adult comics. If you're exploring beyond the American mainstream, Jessica Blandy is exactly the kind of discovery that reminds you how wide and rich the world of comics truly is.