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Glossary and Character Taxonomy  Breakdown by Country of Origin   Bibliography   Table of Contents    The Best of the Encyclopedia

AC-12. AC-12 was created by the Canadian author Marc Lancret and appeared in Les Aventures Amoureuses de la Belle Francoise AC-12 #1-15 (1947?-1951?) and Les Aventures Amoureuses de la Belle Francoise AC-12 #1-323+ (1952-1967).

AC-12 is a top spy for the Canadian government. Her secret identity is Francoise, a Québécois patriot. She fights vampires, various Superhumans including female supersoldiers and Yellow Perils (including invisible Chinese spies), communist assassins like “the Red Scorpion,” aliens from Tombolos, Communist masterminds like the Red Dragon, and Mad Scientists. She also survives being raped.

AC-12 appears in stories with titles like “Death of a Seducer,” “The Perverse Gypsy,” and “Explosion of Love.” 

* I've included AC-12 and Les Aventures Amoureuses de la Belle Francoise AC-12 in the Best of the Encyclopedia category because it's a prime example of the Canadian ideasplosion pulp. My summary above doesn't really do it justice; Les Aventures Amoureuses de la Belle Francoise AC-12 had a relatively high percentage of fantastic stories compared to mundane, realistic stories. The only reason I don't rank Les Aventures Amoureuses and AC-12 higher--why I don't enthuse about it--is that Marc Lancret's attitude toward AC-12 is exploitative. You can tell from the image above that Les Aventures Amoureuses is interested in pandering to men, and that pandering extends nastily to things like writing rape scenes in which AC-12 is victimized. I respect Les Aventures Amoureuses' game--it has great ideas--but I can't really call it fun to read. 

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