Blake and Mortimer

Blake and Mortimer is a comic series by writer Edgar P. Jacobs . The original French name of this strip Blake et Mortimer. The strip first appeared in the Belgian comics magazine Tintin in 1946. In the Netherlands, the stories appeared in 1946 in Tintin's Weekly from 1964 and in Pep / Sjors .

While the strip is named after the two main characters, professor Philip Mortimer is the main protagonist. It was Mortimer who often end up in difficult situations, and he gets help from his friend Captain Francis Blake. Their eternal enemy, appearing in almost all the stories is Colonel Olrik. In addition, there some other fixed characters with such Olriks Sharkey accomplice and agent Pradier.

Contents

 * 1 Background
 * 2 Story Timeline
 * 3 Published Titles
 * 3.1 By Edgar P. Jacobs
 * 3.2 Other authors
 * 4 Important additional characters
 * 5 Adaptations
 * 5.1 Television series
 * 5.2 Film
 * 5.3 Inspired by Blake and Mortimer
 * 6 External links

Background [ edit ]
Edgar P. Jacobs situated his tales generally lived during the time when he himself. The first stories are so down in the 40s while his last story (The 3 formulas of Professor Sato) set in the 70s of the 20th century.

The careful way of documenting and very detailed drawing style there are only a handful of stories Jacobs himself appeared. Jacobs also had great attention to the coloring. This colorization largely determines the fantastic atmosphere in the stories, especially the yellow sign and SOS Meteors. The coloring comes into its own with the publication of the stories in the magazine Pep (Pyramid / Mark / sos / Atlantis and Necklace).

The stories that were created after the death of Jacobs, play out late 50s and early 60s they contain more thriller elements and less science fiction . Moreover, sometimes lurks a nod in: The Voronov plot outlines (to reality) is one of the most influential meetings of the 20th century.

In 1943/44 the story appeared , the "U" beam in the Flemish youth magazine Bravo . Jacobs had at the request of the editor the Flash Gordon-story finished at that time ran in the magazine. The war plates from America were not coming through and there had to be an end to the story. It was well received and Jacobs was allowed to make his own strip. That was the "U" Ray, (with lots of Flash Gordon-like elements) and contained an early version of the protagonists of the Blake and Mortimer series. This story is in 1973/74 completely redesigned and adapted to the demands of a comic book (44 sheets of 4 strips).

[Story Timeline edit ]

 * 1944: 23. Plutarch's Staff
 * 1946 01. Secret of the Swordfish: 1 - The relentless pursuit
 * 1946 02. Secret of the Swordfish 2 - The escape of Mortimer
 * 1946 03. Secret of the Swordfish 3 - SX1 counterattacked
 * 1950: 04 of the Great Pyramid Secret: 1 - script Manethon
 * 1950: 05. of the Great Pyramid Secret: 2 - The chamber of Horus
 * 1952-12: 06. Yellow Sign
 * 1953-06: 22. Septimus Gulf
 * 1954-06: 13. Francis Blake Case
 * 1954-10: 15. Message from the Past
 * 1954-11: 21. The Oath of the Five Lords
 * 1955-09: 19. The Curse of the Thirty Zilverlingen 1 - Script Nicodemus
 * 1955-09: 20. The Curse of the Thirty Zilverlingen 2 - Gate of Orpheus
 * 1956 07. The Mystery of Atlantis
 * 1957: 14. Voronov-complot
 * 1958-02: 16. The Sarcophagi of the 6th Continent: 1 - The universal threat
 * 1958-02: 17. The Sarcophagi of the 6th Continent: 2 - The duel of the minds
 * 1958-07: 18. Sanctuary Gondwana
 * 1959-04: 08. SOS Meteors
 * 1960-09: 09. Decoy
 * 1963 10. The Necklace of the Queen
 * 1971: 11. 3 Formulas of Professor Sato: 1 - Mortimer in Tokyo
 * 1971: 12. 3 Formulas of Professor Sato: 2 - Mortimer Mortimer counter

[Edgar P. Jacobs edit ]
In the French language, the two swordfish and the two pyramid-stories already in the 60 appeared in a single band, while maintaining one of the two original for plates. This never appeared in Dutch. In the nineties, this is repeated with the new coloring and with new covers. For Swordfish omnibus is the cover of a Tintin magazine used in the fifties (the missile) and signed for the Pyramid is a new front (Mortimer racing through the dark Egyptology Museum)
 * 1) Secret of the Swordfish: 1 - The relentless pursuit (1950)
 * 2) Secret of the Swordfish 2 - The escape of Mortimer (1953)
 * 3) Secret of the Swordfish 3 - SX1 counterattacked
 * 4) The Secret of the Great Pyramid: 1 - script Manethon (1954)
 * 5) The Secret of the Great Pyramid: 2 - The chamber of Horus (1955)
 * 6) The Yellow Sign (1956)
 * 7) The Mystery of Atlantis (1957)
 * 8) SOS Meteors (1959)
 * 9) Decoy (1962)
 * 10) Queen's Necklace (1967)
 * 11) 3 Formulas of Professor Sato: 1 - Mortimer in Tokyo (1977)
 * 12) 3 Formulas of Professor Sato: 2 - contra Mortimer Mortimer (1990) (drawings completed by Bob De Moor )

The first 2-part "Secret of the Swordfish" was republished in three parts between 1984 and 1986. All 21 sides that Jacobs drew Tintin have been added in the appropriate places.

By other authors [ edit ]
From the 90s, the series is continued by other authors. The time period in which Blake and Mortimer life remains the 50s However, the characters in these new stories are developed. Thus, in the sarcophagus of the 6th continent told how the pair met. Especially the youth of Philip Mortimer is widely highlighted. Also some new characters appear on screen. The French edition is the front of the Voronov-complot after the first edition replaced by another. Here the style of Jacobs and tradition into account to show the main characters as little as possible on the cover.
 * 1) Francis Blake Affair (1996) ( Jean Van Hamme and Ted Benoit )
 * 2) The Voronov-complot (2000) ( Yves Sente and André Juillard )
 * 3) Message from the Past (2001) (Jean Van Hamme and Ted Benoit)
 * 4) The Sarcophagi of the 6th Continent: 1 - The universal threat (2003) (Yves Sente and André Juillard)
 * 5) The Sarcophagi of the 6th Continent: 2 - The duel of the Spirits (2004) (Yves Sente and André Juillard)
 * 6) The Shrine of Gondwana (2008) (Yves Sente and André Juillard)
 * 7) The Curse of the Thirty Zilverlingen 1 - Script Nicodemus (2009) (Jean Van Hamme, René Sterne and Chantal Spiegeleer )
 * 8) The Curse of the Thirty Zilverlingen 2 - Gate of Orpheus (8 December 2010) (Jean Van Hamme, Aubin Frechon ) [1] [2]
 * 9) The Oath of the Five Lords (14 November 2012) (Yves Sente and André Juillard)
 * 10) The Septimus Gulf (4 December 2013) ( Jean Dufaux , Antoine Aubin and Etienne Schréder )
 * 11) Plutarch's Staff (December 3, 2014) (Yves Sente, André Juillard and Etienne Schréder)

In 2005 Shade is about the British Empire published by Pierre Veys and Nicolas Barral. This comic about Philip and Francis is a parody of Blake and Mortimer which many familiar elements from the series return. In 2011, a second part came out. A third part is not excluded. [3]

On 15 November 2006, died suddenly artist René Sterne, who worked with Jean van Hamme at the Blake and Mortimer album "La Malédiction des Trente Deniers" ("The Curse of the Thirty Zilverlingen"), which in late 2006 had to be released. His partner, Chantal De Spiegeleer, the story has endorsed.

Jean Van Hamme mentioned in an interview on ActuaDB [4], the first in 2012, Yves Sente and André Juillard with a new album (no. 21) were true. He himself stated in 2013 with a new album (no. 22) to come out, in collaboration with Aubin Frechon. Jean Van Hamme himself said for years that he only 3 stories for Blake and Mortimer would write, but suggested that he would write a fourth. His wife asked him for years to stop writing, but she wanted to see one Blake and Mortimer. The story would be about politics. Eventually part 22, The Septimus Gulf, not written by Jean Van Hamme on Jean Dufaux .

André Juillard did to fans via MarqueJaune.com [5] calling for graphic material from Reading in Berkshire, England, Thames Valley, especially from the docks in 1919 to send him. This was the first indication that Oath of the Five Lords (Blake and Mortimer no. 21) takes place there.

Important additional characters [ edit ]
Olrik: the "archenemy" of Blake and Mortimer. Although he is an unimproved villain, he manages never to defeat his enemies. At the end of the strips, it is also usually a victim. At the end of the story, The Secret of the pyramid he was insane as punishment for his evil deeds. In the following story, Yellow Sign is Dr. Septimus abuse of here. Olriks appearance is based on that of Edgar P. Jacobs himself. In some stories (like the enigma of Atlantis and the three formulas of professor Sato) will certainly give the impression that Olrik is killed, but in another story he still shows again just escaped; How is never clear.

Nasir: The faithful Sikh -bediende Mortimer. In subsequent adventures he is less common. In The Sarcophagi of the sixth continent, he returned as an employee of the Indian secret service.

Sharkey: fixed accomplice Olrik.

Kendall: police inspector Blake and Mortimer assists during their adventures.

Doctor Septimus: the villain in the story Yellow Sign, where he Olrik used to design the perfect robot citizen of the future.

Professor Miloch: scholar who is as talented as ethics charge. In SOS Meteors he is the mastermind behind the terror again. He knows narrowly escaping the nuclear explosions, though he is fatally compromised by radiation. In his last months, he makes an unsettled time machine which he Mortimer in Decoy send as revenge over the centuries.

Natasia Wardynska: young Russian spy for the British Secret Service. In the Voronov-complot they are unmasked, but they traded off by the British with Olrik. Later, she goes into the adventure in The Shrine of Gondwana .

Sarah Summertown: a handsome bespectacled writer and a childhood love of Philip Mortimer. The pair has several months, a relationship when Philip was nineteen. In the sanctuary of Gondwana meet the two met again after a long time.

Commissioner Pradier: head of the Paris branch of the DST, Blake and Mortimer assist in solving the crimes in and around Paris.

[Television edit ]
In 1997, all hitherto published stories made into a television series of 13 episodes, each lasting about 50 minutes. Of these 13 episodes there were 4 especially for this series written by screenwriter Eric Rondeaux.

[Movie Edit ]
All twenty years one tries in Europe the popular story "The Yellow Sign" to film a live-action movie titled "The Yellow M". It would / will Gong Li play the role of the poor professor. [6] Although the strip is predominantly populated by male figures, a draftsman at the time, Jacobs gave himself to a female villain in the movie to want. Further, it would / will James Caviezel as Olrik make its appearance. In the past, there was also talk ofRufus Sewell as Blake. [7]

Inspired by Blake and Mortimer [ edit ]
Some recognizable things from the comics Blake and Mortimer later be used for other things:
 * The Belgian DJ Dr. Lektroluv used Miloch professor as his portrait drawing on album covers.
 * The comic series The Adventures of Philip and Francis is a parody on the comic series Blake and Mortimer. In terms of design and storyline, there are strong similarities with the original comic series, but the stories lighter, funnier and come little edges of the characters discussed. Besides the main characters Blake and Mortimer are also parodies other characters such as Olrik and is also in this series, the eternal struggle between good and evil further put.
 * The Dutch dance act Atlantic Ocean used "The enigma of Atlantis" as inspiration for the single Trance Atlantis (1999). On the album cover and in the video you can see the spaceships from this album.