Shambleau was the first in a series of stories featuring the proto-Han Solo character, Northwest Smith, who wanders through the Solar System, and which originally appeared in the November 1933 issue of Weird Tales. Its author, Catherine L. Moore, was among the first women to write in the science fiction and fantasy genres, becoming a major award-winning figure in the field.

In 1955, a French translation of Shambleau was published in the French "V" magazine, fully illustrated by Jean-Claude Forest, then one of France's premier science fiction artist. It was that story that led the magazine editor to ask Forest for a full-blown sexy sci-fi comics series featuring a bold, sexy, sci-fi heroine. The result was Barbarella and the rest is history.

This first ever English-language edition of The Illustrated Shambleau is presented here as the first in a series of books released jointly by Black Coat Press and Hexagon Comics to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Forest's most famous creation, Barbarella.