Blake and Mortimer

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.

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 late 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.

Like many Franco-Belgian comics, Blake and Mortimer initially had limited publication in English.

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]

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 has been publishing English language translations of Blake and Mortimer since 2007. The following volumes have been released to date:[7]

1. The Yellow 'M' (published January 2007) ISBN 978-1-905460-21-2
2. The Mystery of the Great Pyramid Part 1: The Papyrus of Manethon (published November 2007) ISBN 978-1-905460-37-3
3. The Mystery of the Great Pyramid Part 2: The Chamber of Horus (published January 2008) ISBN 978-1-905460-38-0
4. The Francis Blake Affair (published September 2008) ISBN 978-1-905460-63-2
5. The Strange Encounter (published January 2009) ISBN 978-1-905460-75-5
6. S.O.S. Meteors (published September 2009) ISBN 978-1-905460-97-7
7. The Affair of the Necklace (published January 2010) ISBN 978-1-84918-037-5
8. The Voronov Plot (published October 2010) ISBN 978-1-84918-048-1
9. The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, part 1 (published January 2011) ISBN 1-84918-067-9
10. The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, part 2 (published April 2011) ISBN 978-1-84918-077-1
11. The Gondwana Shrine (published September 2011) ISBN 978-1-84918-094-8
12. Atlantis Mystery (published January 2012) ISBN 978-1-84918-107-5
13. The Curse of the 30 Pieces of Silver, part 1 (published April 2012) ISBN 978-1-84918-125-9
14. The Curse of the 30 Pieces of Silver, part 2 (published August 2012) ISBN 978-1-84918-130-3
15. The Secret of the Swordfish, part 1 (published February 2013) ISBN 9781849181488
16. The Secret of the Swordfish, part 2 (published June 2013) ISBN 9781849181617
17. The Secret of the Swordfish, part 3 (published October 2013) ISBN 9781849181747
18. The Oath of the Five Lords (published March 2014) ISBN 9781849181914
19. The Time Trap (published September 2014) ISBN 9781849182140
20. The Septimus Wave (published February 2015) ISBN 9781849182423
21. Plutarch's Staff (published September 2015) ISBN 9781849182645
22. Professor Sato's Three Formulas, Volume 1: Mortimer in Tokyo (published February 2016) ISBN 9781849182928
23. Professor Sató's Three Formulae, Volume 2: Mortimer vs. Mortimer (published May 2016) ISBN 9781849183031
24. The Testament of William S. (published April 2017) ISBN 9781849183390
25. The Valley of Immortals, part 1: Threat Over Hong Kong (published April 2019) ISBN 9781849184281
26. The Valley of Immortals, part 2: The Thousand Arms of the Mekong (published March 2020) ISBN 9781849184373
27. The Call of the Moloch (published March 2021) ISBN 9781849185974
28. The Last Swordfish (published May 2022) ISBN 9781800440494
29. Eight Hours in Berlin (published Dec 2022) ISBN 9781800440852
30. Before Blake & Mortimer: The U Ray (published Sept 2023) ISBN 9781800441057
31. Before Blake & Mortimer: The Fiery Arrow (forthcoming Feb 2024) ISBN 9781800440951

Further volumes to be translated:

• The Last Pharaoh (TBC)
• Cornish Adventures (TBC)
• The Art of War (TBC)
• Ghosts of Doggerland (TBC)

The album The Time Trap was adapted into a radio play in 1962.[8]

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.

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.

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 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.

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.