Blake and Mortimer

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Blake and Mortimer, The Yellow "M"
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Blake and Mortimer,
The Yellow "M"

Blake and Mortimer is a comic book/graphic novel series that was created by the Belgian writer and artist Edgar P. Jacobs (1904-1987). It first appeared serialised in the Belgian comics magazine Tintin from 1946 on and was subsequently published in softcover and hardcover albums by Les Editions du Lombard.

During the first years of Tintin magazine (also Le journal de Tintin) the series "The secret of the Swordfish" (Le secret de l'Espadon) by Jacobs was paradoxically more popular than The Adventures of Tintin, appearing also in a serial form in the same magazine. This was due to the fact that the "Swordfish" series started with the first issue of Tintin magazine, while the adventures of Tintin in the first issue confusingly took up The Seven Crystal Balls, a story in progress abandoned two years earlier during the war, when it had been serialised in a newspaper.

After Jacobs’ death, Bob de Moor completed Jacobs’ unfinished last story; the series was subsequently continued by two Jacobs Studios writing and drawing teams, Van Hamme/Benoit and Sente/Juillard.

Blake and Mortimer was adapted into an animated television series; see Blake and Mortimer (TV series).

Contents

[edit] Main characters

The three main characters were already present in slightly different form in the unrelated, Flash Gordon-alike first full length comic strip by Jacobs, Le Rayon U (The 'U'-Ray, 1943), where they appeared as Professor Marduk, Lord Calder, and Captain Dagon, respectively. (The story furnished many elements for L'Énigme de l'Atlantide as well.)

Philip Mortimer was originally drawn from life. The model was a friend and sometimes collaborator of Jacobs, Jacques Van Melkebeke. There was one imaginative addition by Jacobs since Van Melkebeke had no beard. Francis Blake was modeled by another friend and sometimes collaborator of Jacobs, Jacques Laudy, with added mustache. Olrik was a self-portrait of Jacobs.

[edit] Story characteristics

Although the series is (no doubt for reasons of euphony) called Blake and Mortimer, it is Professor Mortimer who is the main protagonist. Especially 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. If there are to be humorous passages in a story, they will happen to Mortimer. On the bad side, Colonel Olrik combines both good guys' characteristics into one.

Blake and Mortimer are sometimes shown to live in the same house, sharing an apartment as unmarried gentlemen were wont to do (Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson did the same). The post-Jacobs title Les Sarcophages du Sixième Continent finally tells us how the two met and became friends: in colonial India, where Mortimer grew up. Here they met as young adults.

Jacobs always drew his stories as being contemporary, and so the first few titles have a 1950s look and feel while the last installment looks decidedly 1970s. The sole exception to this rule is, again, Le Piège diabolique, which starts in the present but whose action, due to a malfunctioning time machine, largely takes place in the 51st century preceded by a short venture in medieval times and a stopover in the Jurassic period. As with early Tintin titles, the first two titles are relatively crude and simplistic in their worldview, but this is all resolved by the third title, La Marque jaune.

The layout in most of the stories included some similarities: when the story begins certain important but unseen events have already taken place: at the beginning of La Marque jaune, 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 ended with the characters reflecting on what they have learned from their experiences: after his travels through time in Le Piège diabolique, Mortimer concludes that rather than dwell on the "good old days" or look forward to a "bright future", one should be content with the present.

The post-Jacobs volumes until now have all placed their adventures in the late Fifties-early Sixties period and so have a nostalgic retro feel. All stories are based around mild action and thriller plots with bits of (progressively less fantastic) science fiction thrown in.

[edit] Volumes published in the Blake and Mortimer series

Writers’ credits:
1-11: story and images by Edgar P. Jacobs
12: story by Edgar P. Jacobs, images by Bob de Moor
13, 15: story by Jean Van Hamme, images by Ted Benoit
14, 16-17: story by Yves Sente, images by André Juillard
18: story by Jean Van Hamme, images by René Sterne

  1. 1950 - Le Secret de l'Espadon, Tome 1 (The Secret of The Swordfish, Volume 1: Ruthless Pursuit) ISBN 2-87097-002-1
  2. 1953 - Le Secret de l'Espadon, Tome 2 (The Secret of The Swordfish, Volume 2: Mortimer's Escape) ISBN 2-87097-004-8
  3. 1953 - Le Secret de l'Espadon, Tome 3 (The Secret of The Swordfish, Volume 3: SX1 Counterattacks) ISBN 2-87097-005-6
  4. 1954 - Le Mystère de la Grande Pyramide, Tome 1 (The Mystery of the Great Pyramid, Volume 1: Manetho's Papyrus) ISBN 2-87097-008-0
  5. 1955 - Le Mystère de la Grande Pyramide, Tome 2 (The Mystery of the Great Pyramid, Volume 2: The Chamber of Horus) ISBN 2-87097-009-9
  6. 1956 - La Marque Jaune (The Yellow "M") ISBN 2-87097-010-2
  7. 1957 - L'Énigme de l'Atlantide (Atlantis Mystery) ISBN 2-87097-013-7
  8. 1959 - S.O.S. Météores: Mortimer à Paris (S.O.S. Meteors: Mortimer in Paris) ISBN 2-87097-015-3
  9. 1962 - Le Piège diabolique (The Time Trap) ISBN 2-87097-020-X
  10. 1967 - L'Affaire du Collier (The Case of the Necklace) ISBN 2-87097-025-0
  11. 1971 - Les trois Formules du Professeur Sato, Tome 1: Mortimer à Tokyo (The Three Formulas of Prof. Sato, Volume 1: Mortimer in Tokyo) ISBN 2-87097-016-1
  12. 1990 - Les trois Formules du Professeur Sato, Tome 2: Mortimer contre Mortimer (The Three Formulas of Prof. Sato, Volume 2: Mortimer vs. Mortimer) ISBN 2-87097-017-X
  13. 1996 - L'Affaire Francis Blake (The Francis Blake Affair) ISBN 2-87097-051-X
  14. 2000 - La Machination Voronov (The Voronov Plot) ISBN 2-87097-057-9
  15. 2001 - L'Étrange Rendez-Vous (The Strange Encounter) ISBN 2-87097-059-5
  16. 2003 - Les Sarcophages du Sixième Continent, Tome 1: La Menace universelle (The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, Volume 1: The Universal Threat) ISBN 2-87097-066-8
  17. 2004 - Les Sarcophages du Sixième Continent, Tome 2: Le Duel des Esprits (The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, Volume 2: Battle of the Minds) ISBN 2-87097-068-4
  18. 200? - La malédiction des trente deniers (The Curse of the Thirty Denarii) Not yet released, see http://www.actuabd.com/article.php3?id_article=2887&var_recherche=stern

However, on November 15th, 2006, Rene Sterne, who was drawing this album, died suddenly. No word yet on what will happen to the series. See: http://www.actuabd.com/article.php3?id_article=4399

ISBNs given are of the latest French language editions as issued by Les Éditions Blake et Mortimer in Brussels. Le Rayon «U», in many ways a precursor of the series, has been re-issued as "Volume 0" (ISBN 2-87097-023-4). 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).

[edit] Volumes published in English

The Yellow M
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The Yellow M

Like many Franco-Belgian comics, 'Blake and Mortimer' has had limited publication into English. In the 1990s, Catalan Communications, under its 'Comcat' line of books, planned to publish the books in inexpensive trade paperback copies. They released:

  1. The Time Trap (based on Le Piège diabolique)
  2. Atlantis Mystery (based on L'Énigme de l'Atlantide)

They also planned to release Secret of the Great Pyramid in 2 volumes, and then the The Yellow 'M'.

Les Editions Blake and Mortimer also published The Yellow 'M' in English.

It has been announced that Cinebook Ltd will publish The Yellow M in January 2007, in paperback, as the first in a set of English language volumes.

[edit] Parody

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 certainly not part of the canon. Jokes included:

2005 - Menaces sur l'Empire ISBN 2-205-05457-0, by Pierre Veys (writer) and Nicolas Barral (artist)

This, however, is not the only Blake and Mortimer parody.

[edit] Television Series

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.

[edit] Film Adaptations

Several attempts have been made to make fim's of The Yellow M, though none have been successfull.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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