The Secret of the Swordfish, Part 1: The Incredible Chase

Blake et Mortimer #1

by Edgar P. Jacobs, Jerome Saincantin (Translator)

1964 edition contains complete story initially serialized in Tintin magazine then published in 2 volumes in 1950 and 1953, later reprinted in 3 volumes with revised colors and lettering.

Genres: Bande Dessinée, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, France, Adventure, Science Fiction

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

(aka E.P. Jacobs)

Edgar Pierre Jacobs naît le 30 mars 1904 à Bruxelles. Il se passionne très tôt pour le dessin et la musique. Après avoir exercé quelques petits métiers, il travaille dans la publicité. Parallèlement, à partir de 1921, il devient figurant au Théâtre Royal de la monnaie à Bruxelles. Le 25 août 1922, le futur chanteur d'opéra signe son premier contrat d'artiste aux cotés de Mistinguett pour la Grande Revue du Casino de Paris. Le 29 août 1929, le baryton reçoit le premier grand prix de chant. Il sera engagé juste après, comme artiste lyrique, à l'opéra de Lille.
En 1940, il doit abandonner la scène, à cause de la seconde guerre mondiale, chose qu'il regrettera toute sa vie. Le "baryton du neuvième art" allait dès lors s'illustrer dans des travaux graphiques alimentaires (publicité, catalogues, presse) qui le mèneraient à d'autres "planches", celles de la Bande Dessinée, dérisoires à ses yeux, qui pourtant lui assureraient une gloire de diva.
En 1941, il entre au journal "Bravo". Après quelques illustrations pour divers contes, nouvelles et romans, il se voit confier, en 1942, la reprise de "Flash Gordon", cette saga américaine dessinée par Alex Raymond ne parvenant plus en Belgique. Il s'en acquitte avec bonheur mais la censure allemande interdit la série quelques semaines plus tard.
En 1943, Jacobs élabore une nouvelle bande dessinée de science-fiction intitulée "Le Rayon U". Jusqu'en juillet 1946, il collabore à "Bravo". Entre-temps, il fait la connaissance d'Hergé. Ce dernier lui confie, à partir de 1944, la mise en couleur et les décors de ses albums. Il entreprend des corrections, des remises au format et les coloriages de "Tintin au Congo", de "Tintin en Amérique", du "Sceptre d'Ottokar" et du "Lotus Bleu". Il travaille également sur le "Trésor de Rackham le Rouge", les "Sept Boules de Cristal" et le "Temple du Soleil". Cette collaboration liera les deux hommes d'une profonde (et rivale) amitié qui culmine au lendemain de la guerre lorsque Jacobs n'hésite pas à jouer du gourdin pour défendre Hergé contre les épurateurs d'une autre espèce de "collaboration".
En septembre 1946, Hergé invite son compère à participer au lancement du journal "Tintin". Le 26 septembre de cette année-là, dans un numéro 1 aujourd'hui recherché comme une pièce de trésor, paraît la première page du "Secret de l'Espadon". L'aventure de nos trois immortels héros : Blake (inspiré par son grand ami Jacques Laudy), Mortimer (inspiré par son autre grand ami Jacques Van Melkebeke) et Olrik (inspiré de Jacobs lui-même) commence. Ce dernier, colonel et gangster à monocle, est l'incombustible prince du mal que combattent deux chevaliers de l'ordre historique et scientifique : l'émérite capitaine d'aviation Francis Percy Blake, chef du "MI5", blond et flegmatique Gallois, et son "good old fellow", le professeur Philip Edgar Angus Mortimer, bouillant barbu rouquin (né aux Indes), spécialiste de physique nucléaire tout autant que de biologie moléculaire.
En 1947, Jacobs abandonne sa collaboration avec Hergé et se consacre dès lors de manière quasi-exclusive à sa propre série où il fait vivre de multiples et périlleuses aventures à ses very British Héros. Après avoir gagné, grâce à l'Espadon (un sous-marin volant révolutionnaire), la troisième guerre mondiale menée par le diabolique colonel pour le compte des Jaunes (Hiroshima, en 1946, n'est pas encore un remords ...), Blake et Mortimer ne perceront "Le Mystère de la Grande Pyramide" (début de la parution le 24 mars 1950) qu'après un nouvel affrontement, en Egypte, avec Olrik,... qui s'en sortira, forcément, mais si déglingué qu'il deviendra l'esclave téléguidé d'un savant fou dans "La Marque Jaune" (début de la parution le 6 août 1953), semant la terreur dans Londres, où veillent heureusement Blake et Mortimer. Ces derniers ne laisseront échapper leur ennemi préféré que pour mi

Reviews

[Paul Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you liked Tintin, you'll enjoy Mortimer and Blake!

With the imminent release of Steven Spielberg's latest animated movie, there are probably very few North Americans, young and old alike, who are unaware of TINTIN, the world famous creation of Belgian author Hergé, whose classic cartoon albums have sold 350 million copies in over 80 different languages. Most of us however (including myself, I don't mind admitting, until very recently by happy discovery) are unaware of a similar cartoon creation by Hergé's fellow author and contemporary, Edgar Jacobs. Jacob's characters, MORTIMER AND BLAKE, first appeared in the Belgian magazine TINTIN in 1946.

Just as Hergé's stories and Tintin's investigations were children of their times, Jacobs has not hesitated to place his stories firmly in the rapidly chilling climate of the post WWII Cold War in which the Russians and the yellow hordes of the Far East were now seen as megalomaniacal enemies to be feared and stopped at all costs. Jacobs' main characters were Professor Mortimer, a leading physicist of Scottish descent and the stereotypical British gentlemen; Captain Blake, a Welsh born officer in Her Majesty's armed forces, later head of MI5; and, finally, the villainous Captain Olrick, head of intelligence for the Oriental dictator and would-be ruler of the world, Basam Damdu.

LE SECRET DE L'ESPADON, TOME 1 (The Secret of the Swordfish, Vol 1), opens as Basam Damdu and Captain Olrick unleash a virulent attack on the world. One after another - Paris, London, Rome, Bombay - the world's greatest cities are reduced to smouldering rubble. Narrowly escaping the bombing of Scawfell, a military base in England, Blake and Mortimer flee in the "Golden Rocket" with top-secret plans to a powerful new weapon - Swordfish - probably the world's last and only chance to turn back certain defeat by the "Golden Empire". But Olrick is hard on their heels, engaging in a desperate chase to capture Mortimer and Blake and recover the secret plans. Not surprisingly, Volume 1 ends on a cliff-hanger with the yellow forces cornering Mortimer and Blake on the second story of their hotel and bursting into their room. Of course, we won't find out what happens next until Volume 2.

Exciting stuff indeed that will appeal to readers both young and young at heart. Despite the level of war-oriented violence, I found nothing sufficiently graphic that, in my opinion, would render this comic album inappropriate for virtually any age. Very enjoyable indeed. I look forward to Volume 2.

Paul Weiss

[Noel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Visually, it’s a lot like Tintin, drawn in the classic ligne claire style of Franco-Belgian comics, although more cinematic with lots of technological details. It’s kind of wordy and humorless, although I’m sure it gets better later on. It’s also old-school racist like Tintin. The heroes are pitted against the world-conquering “Yellow Empire.”

[Mission Blue]

وقتی دبستان بودم مشکل اساسیم توی تابستون ها این بود که حوصله ام سر می رفت. هر چه قدر هم که می رفتیم توی کوچه و بازی می کردیم، هر چه قدر هم که خاله بازی می کردیم و با ترس و لرز تمام مورتال کمبت رو جلو می بردیم باز هم حوصله ام سر می رفت.
یادمه بعد از ظهر یکی از روز های تابستونی بد جور کلافه شده بودم از این موضوع. تلویزیون رو روشن کردم و منتظر برنامه کودک شدم. یهو هوس فرنی کردم! به مادرم گفتم و با هم دیگه شروع کردیم به فرنی درست کردن. بعد از آماده شدنش قابلمه رو بردم و گذاشتم جلوی تلویزیون و خوشحال شدم از اینکه داره بلیک و مورتیمر پخش می شه. فرنی می خوردم و ماجراهاشون رو دنبال می کردم.
یکی دو هفته پیش در حالی که دوباره داشتم فرنی درست می کردم یاد بلیک و مورتیمر افتادم. سرچ کردم و دیدم که در اصل کمیک بوده. جلد اول ماجراهاشون رو دانلود کردم و بنا کردم به خوندن. راستش رو بخواید یه کم ناامید شدم. ترجمه ی انگلیسی رو دوست نداشتم. یه جوری بود. داستان رو هم نمی تونستم با علاقه دنبال کنم. انگار زمین تا آسمون با بلیک و مورتیمری که تو بچگیم می دیم تفاوت داشت. تا صفحه ی 40،45 خوندمش و از اون به بعد فقط عکس هاش نگاه کردم. شاید بهتر باشه بگردم و کارتونش رو دانلود کنم.

+ ایرانی ها هم توی این کمیک حضور داشتن به عنوان بدمن ماجرا!
++ امتیاز هم نمی دم بهش!می ذارم همون حالت نوستالژیش رو داشته باشه برام!
+++ نمی دونم چرا حس می کنم کارتونش بیشتر جنایی و کارآگاهی بود تا نظامی. شما یادتونه ماجرای کارتون رو؟

[Veronique · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

Since the latest Blake & Mortimer deals with the ‘Espadon’ (Le Dernier Espadon that Santa was so kind to give me), I thought it best to re-read the previous 3 volumes. These were the very first adventures of our intrepid duo, where Jacobs created his magic. This very first title starts in media res, the world under attack from the Emperor of Tibet. We’re literally thrown into this global invasion with Blake and Mortimer trying to escape from Olrik (their main nemesis throughout the series), Basam Damdu’s right-hand man. And this is pretty much what happens here - they keep escaping and Olrik keeps nipping at their heels. As a story on its own, this would be rather weak, but this is only the first part of a tale that spans 3 books. You have to read all of them to get the whole picture.

[Hossein · Rating 4 out of 5]

بلیک و مورتیمر کمیک مورد علاقه من بوده و هست.
امروز به طور کاملا ناگهانی یادشون افتادم. گفتم بیام یه ریویو بنویسم.
این کتاب اواین کتاب مجموعه است. متاسفانه ترتیب گودریدز تو سری های این مجموعه درست نیست.
اسم مجموعه اول
The secret of the swordfish
هست که سه جلده و این نسخه اصلی و به زبان فرانسه هست.
از یه جایی به بعد نویسنده اصلی کتاب که که ادگار ژاکوب بوده فوت میکنه و داستان ها رو کس دیگه ای ادامه میده.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s easy to see why an adventure comics creator in the late 40s would have been drawn to stirring stories of espionage, resistance and collaboration under an occupied power. It’s also easy to see why if said creator was Belgian, and a close mate of Herge, he’d be keen to fictionalise said occupation rather than touch any nerves.

The unfortunate upshot is that this gung-ho story of pluck and derring-do now reads as outrageously racist, since the evil world conquerors in question are the, ah, “Yellow Empire” (Capital: Lhasa!). It feels like Edgar P Jacobs is trying to recreate the vibe of pre-war pulp fiction, and from what little I know of it, he sadly succeeds. On the basic level of craft this cat-and-mouse game of stout-hearted Brits vs the Buddhist aggressor (whose smartest operative is a white guy, sigh) is a good romp and Jacobs’ dramatic splash pages are particularly gorgeous, but buyer very much beware.

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

If, like me, you were introduced to The Adventures of Tintin with one of the later adventures (for me it was the very excellent The Calculus Affair ) you probably experienced a bit of a shock when you eventually went back and read the early books. Tintin in America was the earliest available Tintin adventure when I was a kid, and I recall being disappointed. Instead of a nifty story of mystery, adventure, and/or espionage, the story was a series of loosely-connected slapstick bits. ( Tintin in the Land of the Soviets is even more of a jolt for the long-time Tintin fan.)

That's a bit how I felt upon reading The Secret of the Swordfish, the very first Blake and Mortimer adventure, yet the most recent of Cinebook's English translations. It's good to finally get to see how this series of adventures began, yet it's also disappointing.

To be fair, this is only part 1 of a 3-part story, but there's not a lot of content here. The one-sentence summary: The "Yellow Empire" stages a devastating sneak attack on the world's major powers and Blake and Mortimer escape to try to reach a 'secret base.'

And that's pretty much all that happens. The entire book is about Blake and Mortimer running from the bad guys. The main cast of characters are introduced here: Blake, Mortimer, Olrik, Nasir -- but we know very little about them except Olrik's a bad guy and the others are the good guys. By the end of the book we actually know more about Nasir than we do the title characters. That's probably not a good thing. Of course, seeing as how the story is nothing but a relentless chase from start to finish, there probably isn't much time for Blake and Mortimer to dwell on their personal lives.

I hate to slag on it, because it kicked off what quickly became an excellent series of adventures. (The follow-up story: The Mystery of the Great Pyramid , which was the first Blake and Mortimer I read, is already a significant improvement.) And later authors who rebooted the series in the 90s have done a fantastic job bringing modern sensibilities to this cold-war era comic (while keeping it firmly in the cold-war era where it belongs).

Here's hoping that parts 2 and 3 improve the tale.

If you're curious about Blake and Mortimer, and wish to start at the beginning, understand that the art and storytelling get a lot better after this. The Yellow "M" may be the best of the Jacobs era, and of the modern authors, The Voronov Plot is a favorite.

[Frank Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed emotions. The style is close to Herge's Tintin and I'm automatically inclined to like this, but my initial impression is tainted by the differences, things that I might not have cared about as a kidling. Overall though, I'd say I enjoyed part one of the adventure.

There's a lot more text in this, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing except that it is often just blocks of text explaining what is happening and the author never seems to let the pictures tell the story.

The plot itself is inconsistent at best and contradictory at worst. For example, The Yellow Empire plotters spend some effort before their attack stressing that they don't wish to destroy the cities they attack and then when they do attack they proceed to destroy each city that they attack.

There were some awkward language choices but I'm willing to put that down to translation difficulties and ignore those. Actually, I was impressed by the lack of racial slurs compared to a Tintin adventure.

The story starts to find a bit of its own humour by the end and I think my favourite panel is the very last one that leaves us with our cliffhanger.

[Paul-Hervé · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un peu comme Tintin, Blake et Mortimer me semble être une oeuvre incapable de dépasser sa période d'écriture, à savoir les années 50. Les personnages sont des stéréotypes conformes aux clichés de l'époque (les Britanniques, les Indiens, les Jaunes, etc. Un méchant jaune est nécessairement borné et extrémiste et ne dispose pas d'un grand sens de l'initiative et de la créativité. Un méchant Blanc est capable de plus de subtilité et de détachement quant aux règles.) Quant au scénario, il ne fait pas preuve d'une très grande richesse.

Comme Tintin, il me semble que Blake et Mortimer doivent être lus aujourd'hui comme des sources historiques illustrant les stéréotypes occidentaux d'un autre temps, et non comme des oeuvres encore bien vivantes aujourd'hui (à la différence je trouve de Corto Maltese par exemple).

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

In many ways this is a good first tome of a long-running series, with its beginning reminiscent of alternate history. But it does have some flaws, such as the blatant stereotypical depiction of Asians or the convenience of Tibet's invasion of every country on Earth or even Arabs being totally fine with serving Westerners.

But there is undeniably something there that captures the imagination, as more than the sum of its parts.

[Nickname · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mai visto un fumetto col ritmo così serrato. Grandioso.
Molto interessante anche l'approfondimento di una delle tavole iniziali.

[Eric Morneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un plaisir de le lire de nouveau!

[Antonio Pinto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bom

[Andrea Levay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pure action - therefore, not my favorite, but you need to read things sometimes for the sake of your partner

[Johan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lekker ouderwets actieverhaal. Het werd getekend en speelt zich af net na WO II.

[সৌরজিৎ বসাক · Rating 4 out of 5]

বাঙালি পাঠকদের একটা বড় অংশ কমিক্‌স-কে এখনও শিশুতোষ কন্টেন্ট হিসেবেই মনে করে। কিশোরপাঠ্য পত্রিকার পাতা থেকে উঠে আসা হাস্য-কৌতুকী স্ট্রিপ, কিংবা সাহিত্য নির্ভর চিত্রকাহিনির বাইরে বাংলা কমিক্‌স খুব কম-ই নিজের পা বাড়িয়েছে। ইদানীং তবুও বা কিছু ম্যাচিওর কাজ হচ্ছে। কিন্তু তাও, এত দশকের শিশুতোষ তকমা মুছতে এখনও ঢের সময় বাকি।
তারই মধ্যে বইমেলার অচেনা প্রান্তগুলোর টহলদারি জুটিয়ে দিল বাংলা অনুবাদে ব্লেক ও মর্টিমারের ধুন্ধুমার ওয়ার অ্যাকশন। ঠান্ডা লড়াইয়ের বাতাবরণে ব্রিটিশ সেনা বনাম পীত-সাম্রাজ্যের মধ্যেকার দ্বৈরথের চিত্রকাহিনি সত্যিই একরকমের স্বাদবদল।
তবে, সমস্তটা বড্ড বেশি text-heavy ব্যাপার, বাংলা সংস্করণের হিন্দি-শব্দ-মিশ্রিত অনুবাদও একেবারে সেরা কাজ নয়, এবং ছাপার মানও একটু তলানির দিকে। সেইজন্য একটি তারাকে শহিদ হতেই হল।

(পুনশ্চ : মহা-মহা বিপদ কাটিয়েও মূল নায়কদের বারবার বেঁচে যাওয়ার অবশ্যম্ভাবী প্লট-আর্মার এড়াতে পারেনি এই কাহিনি।)

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now this is something I did not expect to find on Kindle Unlimited! The adventures of Blake and Mortimer is a Belgian bande dessinee series by Edgar P Jacobs, a longtime and unbilled collaborator with Herge on the adventures of Tintin. This is one of the foundations of the ligne claire tradition. Although I have never owned any of the books in this series, I have often read them as a child at the homes of family and friends.

This particular edition is in English, and the order of publication is entirely different from the original order of publication in French, which I will stick to. This volume is the first of a triple-header (rather brave for a brand new series!) originally serialised in Tintin magazine in the mid to late 40s and collected in volumes in 1950 and 1953.

The story is very much of its age, with the bad guys being a mashup of imperial Japan and communist China, a “yellow peril”, being a fictional Empire of Tibet, influenced by a mid-European dastardly mastermind. We have hissable Iranians and brave Baluchistan partisans as well, showing clear preference for Hindus over Moslems. Such prejudices are par for the course in the context of the times, but it is noticeable that all peoples are shown sympathetically and it is only individuals who are clearly evil.

The bad guys are intent on world conquest, and our heroes are there to stop them through breathless escapes and fistfights. Cue a new world war with secret super-weapons and lots of spiffing boy’s own adventures without a single female in sight. There are some neat predictions here: the enemy attacks with remote controlled drones or ballistic missiles. Submarines carry helicopters and have subterranean bases that the James Bond films ripped off. Bombers and fighters are enabled for stratospheric flight. The super-weapon is a submersible aircraft that’s better than anything else in some unspecified way. But beyond that, this is just Biggles Belgian style rather than full sci-fi. The war is brought to an end, like the second world war in the Pacific, with a nuclear strike, obliterating the enemy capital. Rather simplistic, if tense and very well plotted, military adventure.

The art is nice and clear, if a bit stiff. The storytelling is very dependant on narrative describing what’s going on in the panels, and the dialogue is incredibly wordy. But it all rattles on quite entertainingly. This triple-header is a seminal and very influential work, but it has been bettered since, many times over.

A nice, nostalgic read.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had wondered why the English translation of the original Blake and Mortimer adventure had been left so late, given that a lot of the earlier translated stories refer to events in the three volume The Secret of the Swordfish. Now that I've read this first installment, I understand why: it's very much a product of it's time. There's a lot of gung-ho, jingoistic rhetoric, with Blake and Mortimer out to give treacherous Johnny Foreigner types the damn good thrashing they deserve! This is particularly noticeable in the first half of the book, where the caricature representation of the people of the "Yellow Empire" seems offensive to the modern sensibility. Had this story been my first taste of the Daring Duo's adventures, I'm not sure that I'd have come back for more.

Getting past that, Blake and Mortimer have their first encounter with Ahmed Nasir, who will be their companion on several later adventures, and he is presented in a heroic and independent light in this introduction to his character.

The adventure itself involves a 'Yellow Peril' type plot, with a surprise atomic attack on principal Western cities being the result of complacent post-War government's refusal to head the warnings given by Blake and Mortimer of the mounting threat in the East. Some of these devastated cities are visited in subsequent adventures, although they seem to have readily shrugged off the atomic holocaust unleashed by Basam Damdu.

As the subtitle, The Incredible Chase, suggests, most of the story is spent by Blake and Mortimer fleeing from Olrik in order to reach their secret base where the mysterious Swordfish Project promises to provide the means of turning the tide against the invading enemy. It's straight-forward action adventure stuff in the mold of the "Gott in Himmel!" style war comics that were popular up to the mid-1970s. I was able to enjoy it by suspending part of my critical faculty. If this is your first exposure to Blake and Mortimer, persevere: they get better.

[Edward · Rating 2 out of 5]

You can tell it was written to be serialised: there is virtually no plot and every few pages the heroes seem to have been captured, escaped, and had a thrilling vehicle chase. Monotonous to say the least, not at all indicative of the brilliance The Yellow M (I must confess I prefer the albums written by other authors though).

[SpaceBear · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blake and Mortimer; a British adventure team written by a Belgian. The portrayals of the "Yellow Empire" do not date well... And the portrayals of the middle eastern characters are not especially culturally accurate. However, the plot is one that moves along fast, the art is great, and some of the full page pictorials are absolutely amazing.

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horribly dated, and slathered in racism, but it's full of high action, derring-do and a great sense of adventure. Our two heroes have one hair-raising near miss after the other, which puts things into disbelief territory but there's no denying the ever-present fun factor.

Well-drawn and well-written, but very much a product of its times.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dans ce qui n'est qu'une ouverture, le Tibet envahit le monde, on découvre des héros plus grands que nature et indubibitablement théatraux, et une mise en scène qui fait regretter que E P Jacobs ne soit soit pas lancé dans le cinéma. Des qualités qu'on retrouvera d'ailleurs dans tous les tomes.

[Sche · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une aventure intéressante malgré les stéréotypes et le clichés

[Nick Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

An old school Franco-Belgian classic whose approach to comics has not aged well over time. Way too much exposition and too many captions that describe what is already illustrated.

[Mikael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Timeless art but the writing not so. Did Tibet just start world war 3?

[Carlex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trois étoiles et demie.

Une lecture délicieuse, j'adore ce dessin classique. Concernant l'histoire, il faut lire les deux tomes suivants...

[The_Mad_Swede · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having recently discovered Blake and Mortimer by reading, and enjoying, the two Swedish albums Affären Francis Blake (original French title: L'Affaire Francis Blake) and Det mystiska mötet (original French title: L'Étrange Rendez-vous) by the creative team of Jean Van Hamme and Ted Benoit, I had become curious about Edgar P. Jacobs original material. So, when I saw that my local library had the first three albums, comprising the very first story arc of the series, in English translation, I took the plunge.

And the result? Well ... it is a bit of a mixed response. The story concept is very interesting, and I enjoy Jacobs style (which clearly reveals his work as an assistant to Hergé on a number of Tintin albums, and which Benoit has very clearly drawn upon in the two albums mentioned above); however, the album shows very clearly that Jacobs was new to working on his own in the medium. There are several speech balloons throughout which are much too big and much too crowded, which in effect kills the pace and affects the reading of it. Do not get me wrong, there are plenty of text heavy comics out there, which actually manages extremely well, but the heavy-handedness of these balloons affects the flow and perception of time in the visual storytelling. This is also not helped by the fact that there are several instances in which Jacobs has managed to position speech balloons out of adequate sequence, which in turn messes up the reading of dialogue (and far too often causes a need for re-reading, just to follow what is actually the intended sequence).

So, not the most brilliant beginning, but nonetheless interesting.

[nAeEMak نعیمک]

بلیک و مورتیمر برخلاف سلف‌های مشهورتر بلژیکی-فرانسوی طراحی بانمک و غراق‌آمیز ندارد و شاید همین هم برگ برندۀ آن باشد. قصه خیلی جدی است و پر از ارجاعات مختلف به جنگ سرد و کشورهای مختلف دارد. حتی لوکیشن‌های واقعی هم در کتاب وجود دارد اتفاقاً بخشی از همین کتاب در ایران می‌گذرد. قصه خیلی هیجان‌انگیز است و به اندازۀ سه جلد کشش دارد. برخلاف کمیک‌های دیگر قصه در چند روز یا چند ساعت اتفاق نمی‌افتد و زمان نقش مهمی در ماجرا داشت. البته که اتفاقات شانسی که قهرمانان را هم نجات بدهم در قصه زیاد است. یک‌هو وسط بیابان نجات پیدا می‌کنند.
به جز بالن‌های دیالوگ، با مستطیل‌هایی هم طرف هستیم که انگار راوی ماجرا را تعریف می‌کند و این بخش خوشایند نبود چون تصویر به اندازۀ کافی گویا است. برخی صفحه‌ها تک فریم هستند و یک‌هو دیدن چنین فریمی خیلی جالب است. اینکه قصه شبیه آدم‌های واقعی است ماجرا را جذاب‌تر می‌کند و البته اینکه در انگلستان می‌گذرد و آن‌ها قهرمان هستند تکراری است و شاید به چشم امروزی مسخره. قصه سه جلد ادامه پیدا می‌کند و شبیه فیلم‌های بیگ‌پروداکشن است. دریا، صحرا، شهر، آسمان و همه‌جا قصه وجود دارد. شخصیت‌ها انگار ویژگی خاصی ندارند و شاید ویژگی‌های خفن‌تر آن‌ها را بعداً کشف کنیم و البته نباید از شخصیت منفی هم گذشت که واقعاً هوشمند و جذاب است.

[Teddy Delrot · Rating 2 out of 5]

J'ai enfin lu la toute première aventure de ce duo ! Mais je n'ai pas été transcendé par cette longue course poursuite qui résume ce tome 1. Ça avait pourtant très bien commencé avec cette attaque tibétaine suivie en live radio dont le suspense fonctionne encore merveilleusement bien !

Une fois n'est pas coutume avec Jacobs, on a le droit à une flopée de redondances texte/imagne où le texte vient entravé le plaisir visuel qu'offrent les cases (très lisibles d'ailleurs) de cette bd. Le dessin de Jacobs est très plaisant et j'aime cet entremêlement tantôt plus réalistes et tantôt plus cartoonesques.

On sent néanmoins la touche Hergé qui est plaisante dans le dessin mais beaucoup moins dans le dialogue, qui n'est pas naturel du tout !

Tout ça mis à part, il est vraiment intéressant de lire cette bd qui offre du grand spectacle ! Il y a là la recette pour faire un bon James Bond rétro. Étant enfant, je pense que j'aurais été captivé d'avantage. De plus, les deux autres tomes sont mieux ficelés et l'aventure dans son ensemble est pas mal du tout.

Bonne lecture !

[Bornik C · Rating 3 out of 5]

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