Blake and Mortimer
Blake and Mortimer
Blake and Mortimer
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Publication information
Publisher Tintin magazine
Editions du Lombard
Editions Blake et Mortimer
Cinebook Ltd (in English)
Genre Science-Fiction
Adventure
Creative team
Blake and Mortimer is a Belgian comics series created by the writer and comics
artist Edgar P. Jacobs. It was one of the first series to appear in the Franco-Belgian
comics magazine Tintin in 1946, and was subsequently published in book form by Le
Lombard.
The main protagonists of the adventures are Philip Mortimer, a leading British scientist,
and his friend Captain Francis Blake of MI5. The main antagonist is their sworn enemy,
Colonel Olrik, who has appeared in almost every book. Their confrontations take them
into the realms of detective investigation and science-fiction, dealing with such themes
as time travel, Atlantis and espionage.
Since the death of Jacobs, new books have been published by two separate teams of
artists and writers. A television series based upon the series was produced in 1997,
entitled Blake and Mortimer.
The books by Jacobs himself are generally set in the very period of their writing, but
those authored by others after his death are set mostly in the 1950s and 1960s.
Main characters[edit]
The three main characters of the series were already present in slightly different form in
the unrelated, first full-length comic strip by Jacobs, Le Rayon U (The U-Ray, 1943). In
the original Jacobs' version it is not specified that Blake and Mortimer are Welsh and
Scottish. They are simply two proud Britons serving HM's Government. The post-Jacobs
title The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent dwells on their early lives, showing how they
met in colonial India:
Colonel Olrik
• Colonel Olrik – the perennial villain from the first installment onwards. Of the
original series there was only one book that did not feature him in one capacity or
other: Le Piège Diabolique (The Time Trap). Olrik started out in The Secret of the
Swordfish as the head of intelligence for Oriental dictator Basam Damdu. His
activities have since ranged from mercenary, spy, smuggler and general
criminal adventurer. He's characterized as someone from the West, but his real
name, birthplace and exact nationality are unknown. In one of the recent series (not
written by original author Jacobs) Olrik is made to appear as if he is some sort of a
specialist in Slavic languages, and that he once fled Hungary, suggesting he's from
there. Olrik's appearance is a self-portrait of Jacobs.
• Lieutenant Ahmed Nasir – Nasir Ahmed is the faithful friend and ally of the two
main heroes Francis Blake and Philip Mortimer. He appears for the first time in
volume one of The Secret of the Swordfish, where he prevents the two men being
captured by Olrik in Iran. He is a sergeant of the 5th Battalion of the "Makran Levy
Corps" who served under Blake. Following this intervention, Nasir during this
adventure helps the two heroes in Egypt, then in London, becoming the butler of
Professor Philip Mortimer. Nasir will in fact appear only in the first albums of
Jacobs: The Secret of the Swordfish, The Mystery of the Great Pyramid, and The
Yellow Mark. His disappearance (which in time corresponds to that of the British
Empire) remains unexplained in the later albums by Jacobs. He reappears many
years later in The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, by Yves Sente and André
Juillard. It is learned that after leaving the service and Mortimer, he returned to India,
where he went into the intelligence service.
• Commissioner Pradier is a character created by E.P. Jacobs, whose physique was
greatly inspired by the actor Jean Gabin. Divisional Commissioner to the Paris
Branch of Territorial Surveillance (DST), Pradier helps Blake and Mortimer during
their adventures taking place during their stay in France.
• Nastasia Wardynska is a female friend and ally of Blake and Mortimer. She is from
Russia. She hasn't appeared in any of Jacobs books, but features several times in
subsequent works by other authors.
• Sarah Summertown is a novelist-archaeologist, a friend of Blake and Mortimer. It is
strongly implied that she and Mortimer were romantically involved during Mortimer's
youth.
• Elizabeth McKenzie is a student in Cambridge, daughter of Sarah Summertown
(and, it is slightly implied, Mortimer).
• Admiral Sir William Gray is the prime minister of the United Kingdom and first sea
lord and chairman of the chiefs of staffs committee.
• Jeronimo Ramirez is a Mexican-American who works for the Los Alamos Nuclear
Centre.
• Jessie Wingo is a half-Cheyenne FBI agent.
• Sharkey is an American henchman of Olrik.
• Razul is a Bizenjo (known as Bezendjas) henchman of Olrik.
• Jack is the glasses-wearing henchman of Olrik.
• Freddy is Sharkey's partner-in-crime.
• David Honeychurch is deputy chief of MI5 under work for Blake.
• Glenn Kendall is a Scotland Yard officer.
• Professor Labrousse is an ally of Blake and Mortimer and meteorologist from
Paris, France.
• Commander William Steele is chief of MI6.
• Basam Damdu is Olrik's commander-in-chief and the absolute dictator of the Yellow
Empire. A megalomaniac based on Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, he is obsessed
with ruling the world and is willing to destroy it rather than lose control of it.
• Mrs. Benson is Blake and Mortimer's landlady, a widow of Blake's former CO.
• Professor Akira Sato is a Japanese scientist, a cybernetician working at the
Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
• Kim is a Korean scientist, who is an assistant of Pr Akira Sato
Story characteristics[edit]
Although the series is called Blake and Mortimer, it is Professor Mortimer who is often
the main protagonist. In the original series, it is mainly he who, through his impulsive
character, gets entangled in adventurous circumstances. Blake is the straight man, the
serious army officer who comes to the rescue. On the bad-guy side, Colonel Olrik
combines characteristics of both heroes.
Blake and Mortimer adventures are characterized by a quest, often involving adventures
under cover until the final ending, free and back to normal life. The story structures
include some similarities: when the adventure begins certain important but unseen
events have already taken place; at the beginning of The Yellow Mark, for instance, the
titular character has already made himself known through various activities which the
reader only learns about when Mortimer reads a newspaper about these events. Some
of the adventures also end with the characters reflecting on what they have learned
from their experiences: after his travels through time in Time Trap, Mortimer concludes
that rather than dwell on the "good old days" or look forward to a "brighter future", one
should be content with the present.
Blake and Mortimer are sometimes shown to live in the same house, sharing
an apartment in the same manner as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. Many
francophone comics have had similar themes of confirmed bachelors living together,
including Tintin and Captain Haddock, Asterix & Obelix, Spirou & Fantasio, and Tif &
Tondu. These series were all first published during a time when censorship of youth
publications was very stringent, and segregation between girls and boys was applied
with rigor.
Jacobs always drew his stories as being contemporary and based on real
environments, so the first few titles have a 1950s look and feel while the last
installments are decidedly 1970s. One exception to this rule is, again, Time Trap, which
starts in the present (i.e. early 1960s) but whose action, due to a sabotaged
malfunctioning time machine, largely takes place in the 51st century, and includes a
short ventures in medieval times and a stopover in the Jurassic period. Post-Jacobs
stories are so far integrated in the chronology of the first ones or precede it, therefore
taking place in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
The art style of E.P. Jacobs, although typical of the Belgian comics drawings (called
"clear line" or "ligne claire"), is specific in its extensive use of light colors and shots very
similar to what can be found in film production (the panoramic view over London by
night opening The Yellow Mark being a good example).
The writing, on the other hand, is noted for its high verbosity (in The Yellow "M", a page
has over 900 words), with captions and word balloons frequently stating the action that's
also depicted visually.
Publication history[edit]
Jacobs[edit]
When Tintin magazine was launched on 26 September 1946, it included the story, Le
secret de l'Espadon (The Secret of the Swordfish) which introduced the characters of
Captain Francis Blake of the British Intelligence Service, his friend professor Philip
Mortimer, a leading physicist, and their sworn enemy Colonel Olrik. [3]
The epic of the Swordfish ended in 1949 but Olrik, Blake and Mortimer continued their
conflict through a whole series of science-fiction/detective stories that saw them go all
the way from the lost continent of Atlantis to the catacombs of Paris.
After Jacobs' death in 1987, Bob de Moor completed his unfinished last story.
Post-Jacobs[edit]
From 1987, the Jacobs estate, centered on the still-operating Jacobs Studios,
republished all of Jacobs' works.
In the 1990s, after much debate about story authenticity, Dargaud got permission to
revive the Blake and Mortimer series, with new stories by a new team of
author/draughtsman. The series was still firmly set in the 1950s and included many new
regular supporting characters, most notably Blake's colleagues in the security services.
Much of series has been created by two separate teams, Van
Hamme/Benoit and Sente/Juillard.
The first book, The Francis Blake Affair, was published in 1996.[4] Famous
scenarist Jean Van Hamme provided the storylines while Ligne claire specialist
draughtsman Ted Benoit (whose style resembles the later Jacobs's) was contracted for
the artwork.[5] Purists immediately objected to the choice of Van Hamme and, upon
publication, went on to discover some typical Van Hamme plot twists they disliked.
Jacobs' science-fiction was noticeably absent with the story focusing on espionage.
However the book became a relative success and the publisher decided to continue the
line. In the meantime, both Benoit and Van Hamme were tied up on other projects and
work on the next book started to lag.
As an interim solution, writer Yves Sente and artist André Juillard were contracted to
publish another adventure, The Voronov Plot (1998) which took its theme from the Cold
War.
Finally, Van Hamme and Benoit managed to finish their album and The Strange
Encounter appeared in 2001, with Blake and Mortimer confronting mysterious alien
creatures.
This was followed by Sente and Juillard's two-book adventure: The Sarcophagi of the
Sixth Continent (volume 1,The Universal Threat in 2003; volume 2, Battle of the
Minds in 2004) which also dealt with Blake and Mortimer's youth and how they first met
in pre-independence India.
In 2008 Sente and Juillard released another book entitled The Gondwana Shrine which
chronologically follows the events of The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent.
The next adventure in the series, The Curse of the Thirty Denarii, is divided in two
volumes and is written by Jean Van Hamme. The first volume, titled Le Manuscript de
Nicodemus (The Manuscript of Nicodemus), was drawn by René Sterne, who suddenly
died on 15 November 2006, delaying the publication of the book. Sterne's
girlfriend Chantal De Spiegeleer eventually completed his work, which was published on
20 November 2009. Aubin Frechon drew the second volume of the adventure, which
was published 26 November 2010.
List of titles[edit]
The thirteenth book in the series, The Francis Blake Affair, the first book not to be written by Jacobs.
Release
# Title Story Art
Date
Volume 1: Manetho's
4 1954
Papyrus
The Mystery of the
Great Pyramid
Volume 2: The Chamber of
5 1955
Horus
Edgar P.
Jacobs
7 Atlantis Mystery 1957
Volume 1: Mortimer in
11 1977
Tokyo
Professor Sató's
Three Formulae
Volume 2: Mortimer vs.
12 1990 Bob de Moor
Mortimer
Jean Van
13 The Francis Blake Affair 1996 Ted Benoit
Hamme
René Sterne
Volume 1: The Manuscript
19 2009 & Chantal De
of Nicodemus
Spiegeleer
The Curse of the Jean Van
30 Pieces of Silver Hamme
Antoine Aubin
Volume 2: The Gate of
20 2010 & Étienne
Orpheus
Schréder
21 The Oath of the Five Lords 2012 Yves Sente André Juillard
Antoine Aubin
22 The Septimus Wave 2013 Jean Dufaux & Étienne
Schréder
Yves Sente
Vol 1: Threat Over Hong
25 2018
Kong
Peter Van
The Valley of the
Dongen
Immortals
& Teun Berserik
Vol 2: The Thousand Arms
26 2019
of the Mekong
Jaco Van Francois
Dormael Schuiten
SE The Last Pharaoh [fr] 2019
& Thomas & Laurent
Gunzig Durieux
Christian
Cailleaux
27 The Call of the Moloch 2020 Jean Dufaux
& Etienne
Schreder
Peter Van
Jean Van
28 The Last Swordfish 2021 Dongen
Hamme
& Teun Berserik
Jean-Luc
Fromental
29 Eight Hours in Berlin 2022 Antoine Aubin
& Jose-Luis
Bocquet
Additionally, the storyboard sketches by Jacobs of Volume 12, left incomplete at the
time of his death, have been re-issued in 1996 outside of the series as Dossier Mortimer
contre Mortimer (ISBN 2-87097-022-6).
The Secret of the Swordfish originally consisted of two parts. In 1984 it was
republished in three parts.
Translations[edit]
English[edit]
Like many Franco-Belgian comics, Blake and Mortimer initially had limited publication in
English.
Blake and Mortimer Editions[edit]
Les Editions Blake and Mortimer aka The Blake and Mortimer Editions published
English translations of all three parts of The Secret of the Swordfish in 1986, both parts
of The Mystery of the Great Pyramid in 1987 and The Yellow "M" in 1988.[6]
Comcat[edit]
Catalan Communications, under its 'Comcat' line of books, published two books in
inexpensive trade paperback copies in the US. They released:
1. The Time Trap (Le Piège diabolique) (1989) ISBN 0-87416-066-9
2. Atlantis Mystery (L'Énigme de l'Atlantide) (1990) ISBN 0-87416-094-4
There were also plans to release Secret of the Great Pyramid in 2 volumes and
then The Yellow Mark. However, Catalan went under before they could get a chance to
realize them.
Cinebook Ltd[edit]
Cinebook Ltd has been publishing English language translations of Blake and
Mortimer since 2007. The following volumes have been released to date: [7]
Adaptations[edit]
Radio series[edit]
The album The Time Trap was adapted into a radio play in 1962.[8]
Television series[edit]
Main article: Blake and Mortimer (TV series)
In 1997, the company Ellipse made an animated series containing 26 episodes,
which made up 13 stories, 4 of which were entirely new and not based on existing
books.
Film adaptations[edit]
Several attempts have been made to adapt The Yellow M to film, although none has
been successful. Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia stated that he was working on
an adaptation of the comic to be released around 2010; this project never came to
fruition. At one point, it was rumored that Hugh Laurie and Kiefer Sutherland were to
play Blake and Mortimer respectively.[9] Since then, however, nothing has come of
this project.
Games[edit]
In 2014, French publisher Ystari Games released the deduction and social table top
board game Blake & Mortimer: Witness.[10]
In 2011, French publishers Dargaud and Anuman Interactive launched the first video
game adapted from the Blake and Mortimer series. Blake and Mortimer: The Curse
of the Thirty Denarii is a hidden objects game featuring 3D and comic-strip
environments.[11]
In popular culture[edit]
In 2005, as part of the Brussels' Comic Book Route, a wall was designed in the Rue
du Houblon/Hopstraat in Brussels which depicts the cover of The Yellow "M". The
wall was designed by G. Oreopoulos and D. Vandegeerde.
Parodies[edit]
Blake and Mortimer have made cameo appearances in various comic series,
particularly those series that are set in the same period of history, the twilight of
the British Empire. The cameos are often a tribute to their creator, Edgar P. Jacobs.
For example, they make a one-off appearance in the Valérian adventure On the
False Earths when the hero visits a Victorian London club.
Another example is the popular Belgian comic series concerning the adventures
of MI5 agent Colonel Clifton. Clifton once featured in a story entitled Jade, published
in 2003. In it he meets two characters called Blake and Mortimer, though even as
caricatures they bear little resemblance (perhaps deliberately) to Jacob's originals.
The story includes elements from the original books, such as the entrance to the
secret passage from S.O.S. Météores and the cave that doubles as
a submarine base in L'Affaire Francis Blake.[12]
In 2005 Dargaud published a parody entitled Menaces sur l'Empire ("The Empire
Under Threat"). This was a humorous presentation of the adventures of Blake and
Mortimer and was not part of the canon (in fact, the space reserved for the series'
title reads "Les Aventures de Philip et Francis" as opposed to "Les Aventures de
Blake et Mortimer"). Jokes included:
• Mortimer's attempts to break his diet, which his Indian manservant always
thwarts, even from a long distance;
• confusion over whether they are working for MI5 or MI6;
• the heroes catching Prime Minister Winston Churchill in bed with a young woman
who is not his wife;
• a send-up of Bruce Lee's Game of Death.[13]
Tigresse Blanche (White Tigress) by Yann and Conrad is another Belgian comic
series featuring the adventures of a Chinese Communist woman spy in post-World
War II China. It features a British agent, Sir Francis Flake, whose friend (based on
Mortimer) gets drunk on the announcement of Indian independence.
See also[edit]
• Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century
• The Adventures of Tintin
References[edit]
1. ^ mentioned in a newspaper article about him in The Mystery of the Great Pyramid
2. ^ Gaudez, Florent (2008). Les arts moyens aujourd'hui: actes du colloque international d'Albi, 30-
31 mars, 1er avril 2006, Volume 1 (in French). Editions L'Harmattan. p. 218. ISBN 978-2-296-
05870-5. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
3. ^ BDoubliées. "Tintin année 1946" (in French).
4. ^ "Blake & Mortimer".
5. ^ "Blake & Mortimer".
6. ^ "European Comics in Translation". ogtec.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 April
2005. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
7. ^ Cinebook: The 9th Art Publisher. "Cinebook catalogue – Blake and Mortimer". Retrieved 8
October 2008.
8. ^ "Blake et Mortimer – S2E01 – Le Piège diabolique (1/27) – Audio" (in French). Ina.fr.
Retrieved 16 March 2019.
9. ^ Álex de la Iglesia is interviewed in "Noches como ésta" "Breve reflexión en un momento de
tregua". El Blog De Álex De La Iglesia. 10 October 2008. Archived from the original on 13
October 2008. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
10. ^ "Witness". BoardGameGeek.
11. ^ "Dargaud et Anuman Interactive jouent à Blake et Mortimer sur iPhone et sur iPad".
Videogames Pockett. January 2011. Archived from the original on 12 July 2014. Retrieved 18
June 2014.
12. ^ Jade ISBN 2-8036-1669-6, by Bob de Groot (writer) and Michel Rodrigue (artist), published in
2003
13. ^ Menaces sur l'Empire ISBN 2-205-05457-0, by Pierre Veys (writer) and Nicolas Barral (artist)),
published in 2005
Sources[edit]
• Guyard, Jean-Marc. Le baryton du neuvième art. Brussels: Éditions Blake et Mortimer, 1996. ISBN 2-
87328-000-X
• Jacobs, Edgar P. Un opéra de papier: Les mémoires de Blake et Mortimer. Paris: Gallimard,
1981. ISBN 2-07-056090-2
• Lenne, Gérard. L'affaire Jacobs. Paris: Megawave, 1990. ISBN 2-908910-00-4
• Mouchart, Benoit. A l'ombre de la ligne claire: Jacques Van Melkebeke, le clandestin de la B.D. Paris:
Vertige Graphic, 2002. ISBN 2-908981-71-8
• Blake et Mortimer publications in Belgian Tintin Archived 15 October 2007 at the Wayback
Machine and French Tintin Archived 18 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine BDoubliées (in
French)
External links[edit]
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