Laureline, the badass heroine of a 50-year-old French bande dessinée, has her roots partly in feminist texts including Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. “She was, from the start, a radically impressive figure who set the bar high for women in science fiction. No mere beautiful figure, Laureline has a piercing intellect, a near-indomitable pride in herself, an endearing but acid wit, and formidable fighting skills. And yet she resists being an archetype of female perfection.”