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Blake et Mortimer #6
Blake & Mortimer - Volume 1 - The Yellow M
Cette nuit-là, dans la capitale britannique endormie et noyée sous une pluie obstinée, tout semble calme du côté de la légendaire Tour de Londres. Soudain, une panne de courant. Des cris d'alerte qui viennent déchirer la nuit. Horreur et stupéfaction : la couronne impériale vient d'être volée. Seul indice, une mystérieuse lettre "M" de couleur jaune tracée à la hâte sur une porte...
Ainsi commence l'une des plus fameuses histoires de la bande dessinée belge d'après-guerre. Le professeur Philip Mortimer et son vieux compagnon, le capitaine Francis Blake, affrontent le machiavélique Docteur Septimus, cerveau génial mais visionnaire incompris. Et ils retrouvent sur leur chemin leur vieil ennemi Olrik, transformé en cobaye humain.
Parfaite maîtrise de la narration, dessin d'une grande lisibilité, habile mélange de fantastique, de suspense et d'aventure : les personnages créés par Edgar P.Jacobs pour l'hebdomadaire Tintin auront durablement marqué plusieurs générations de lecteurs. Un grand classique toujours aussi envoûtant. --Gilbert Jacques
72 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1956
45 people are currently reading
519 people want to read
About the author
Edgar P. Jacobs
144 books70 followers(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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
July 11, 2015
The Yellow “M” is the sixth book in Blake and Mortimer series from Edgar P. Jacobs and is a classic mystery-adventure and action graphic novel with ‘Captain Francis Blake’, the dashing head of MI5 and his friend ‘Professor Philip Mortimer’, a nuclear physicist as the lead protagonists.
Jacobs drawings are clean and stylish and the cartoon panels have a strong visual resemblance to ‘Tintin’. This is easily explained by the fact that Jacobs has collaborated with the master Hergé himself, in the recasting of some of the Tintin titles like ‘Tintin in the Congo’, ‘Tintin in America’ and ‘The Blue Lotus’ and has contributed directly both with the sketches and storyline for two Tintin double-albums. The first book in the Blake and Mortimer series ‘The secret of the Swordfish’ was published in the launch issue of the Tintin magazine. Unlike the Tintin books the Blake & Mortimer series don’t depend on humor to connect with the reader instead it uses action packed storytelling drenched in good amounts of mystery and adventure. The mood is more serious and has a touch of danger lingering in the atmosphere.
When the city of London is terrorized by a mysterious super villain - who perplexes even the very best of Scotland Yard - it is up to Blake and Mortimer to stands against the threat and diffuse the mystery. The Yellow “M” has a strong storyline with enough plot twists, strong characters and a good dose of edge-of-the-seats moments to make it a fast read.
As a pure adventure and action story these titles from Jacobs are fun to read. Nice action along with masterly crafted cartoon panels makes this a good series to pursue for anyone interested in adventure graphic novels.
Jacobs drawings are clean and stylish and the cartoon panels have a strong visual resemblance to ‘Tintin’. This is easily explained by the fact that Jacobs has collaborated with the master Hergé himself, in the recasting of some of the Tintin titles like ‘Tintin in the Congo’, ‘Tintin in America’ and ‘The Blue Lotus’ and has contributed directly both with the sketches and storyline for two Tintin double-albums. The first book in the Blake and Mortimer series ‘The secret of the Swordfish’ was published in the launch issue of the Tintin magazine. Unlike the Tintin books the Blake & Mortimer series don’t depend on humor to connect with the reader instead it uses action packed storytelling drenched in good amounts of mystery and adventure. The mood is more serious and has a touch of danger lingering in the atmosphere.
When the city of London is terrorized by a mysterious super villain - who perplexes even the very best of Scotland Yard - it is up to Blake and Mortimer to stands against the threat and diffuse the mystery. The Yellow “M” has a strong storyline with enough plot twists, strong characters and a good dose of edge-of-the-seats moments to make it a fast read.
As a pure adventure and action story these titles from Jacobs are fun to read. Nice action along with masterly crafted cartoon panels makes this a good series to pursue for anyone interested in adventure graphic novels.
February 11, 2023
Edgar P Jacobs is the logical next step in comic adventures after finishing with the adventures of Tintin, by Herge.
Jacobs and Herge were good friends and collaborators in the original series and at the Belgian children magazine were the Blake and Mortimer adventures were first serialized. For me the new series marks the normal growth from children to pre-teens [10 to 12 years old boys] : a more mature project, with grown up heroes and a focus on real world politics, science and history. A touch of science-fiction is also welcome, but the core values of Tintin are preserved in the ‘ligne claire’ style of drawings, in the touches of humour that relieve the operatic style of plots [Jacobs was a successful baritone before turning to drawing comics] and in the international, cosmopolitan scope of the mysteries.
‘The Yellow M’ is the first album to be translated in English, but it is not the start of the series in the original Belgian run. Of course, each album can be read independently, but this one does throw the reader into the thick of the action from the first page, taking for granted that we are familiar with the three main actors:
Francis Percy Blake is the chief of the British Secret Service MI5, the epitome of the stiff upper lip, blonde and mustachioed officer that is relentless in the pursuit of bad guys. His best friend is the red-bearded nuclear scientist of Scottish ancestry Philip Edgar Angus Mortimer, a more genial personage who likes his pipe and his dram of whisky but who is also more intrepid and even accident prone.
Hidden from sight, but a perennial presence in the series [I’ve actually read so far nine of the albums] is their adversary, a comically devious Colonel Olrik, who is always hatching some evil plan to take over the world, either with help from dictators, from criminal organizations or from crazy inventors.
>>><<<>>><<<
The Yellow M is a masked burglar who is currently terrorizing London with his exploits. His latest caper is stealing the Crown jewels from the heavily guarded Tower of London, and then boasting to the papers that more is in store.
Blake and Mortimer are charged with catching the villain, in collaboration with the Scotland Yard, the newspaper editors and some scientists. Soon enough, they realize that the mysterious thief who leaves the letter ‘M’ written in chalk at the scenes of his crimes is targetting the two friends directly in their home.
After several chases and gunfights in the docks and in the underground tunnels of London, an even more dangerous plot is revealed , involving a new machine invented by a wild eyed researcher
Knowing that the series will run to more than twenty albums, we kind of expect the main actors to survive this initial debacle.
I had a lot of fun with the presentation, not really surprisingly after reading all the Tintin albums. I may be a little older than its target audience, but Blake and Mortimer really put me in touch with my pre-teen self, the one who read all the Jules Verne books several times over before I was fourteen and then graduated to crime fiction and hard SF.
I like that the characters don’t take themselves too seriously, and I like the over-the-top scientific inventions, even the caricature of an evil mastermind as the adversary.
Most of all I love the graphic design, the clean line of the drawings, the stark colours and the large cast of characters. Sometimes, also the scientific speculations.
I do realize that the series is rather heavily scripted, or ‘wordy’, with a lot of explanations that are not always necessary, but this does add to its particular flavour of 1950’s spy thriller with SF elements. What is a little more difficult is to binge read through the albums, heavy on the eyes and heavy on the recycling of plot twists.
I hope to go through all the albums before the end of this year, although I can already tell that the original Jacobs stories are better [for me] than the ones penned after his death. I wish the editors at Cinebook would have respected the original Belgian chronology.
I will not write individual reviews, mostly because I want to spend more time reading than writing, but also because the artwork and the characters remain the same, and it would mean repeating what I said here with some little variations in plot.
>>><<<>>><<<
So far, I have finished:
- “The Yellow M “ : a cat burglar steals the Crown Jewels and threatens the leaders of the city with a hypnosis machine
- “The Mystery of the Great Pyramid” : a secret chamber is discovered in the Valley of Kings, and an old adversary once again taunts Blake and Mortimer to stop him before he conquers the world
- “The Francis Blake Affair” : a new album from the well known writer Jean van Hamme [XIII, Largo Winch] in which Captain Blake is accused of treason
- “Strange Encounter” : Blake and Mortimer visit America and the Roswell secret laboratory, coming acros aliens [now, why am I not surprised?]
- “S.O.S. Meteors” : a mad scientist is creating wild storms all across Europe from somewhere inside France. Blake and Mortimer investigate.
- “The Affair of the Necklace” : another daring thief has stolen a precious diamonds necklace that belonged to Marie Antoinette. Could he be our old friend Colonel Olrik in disguise? We use this opportunity to visit Paris and its environs.
- “The Voronov Plot” : another recent album, from Yves Sente and Andre Juillard. It keeps the original style, but the story itself is a bit thin, for Cold War nostalgics about the race to be the first in space and a dastardly plot by Stalinist officers of the KGB.
[more to come]
June 19, 2018
این سومین کتاب از مجموعه بلیک و مورتیمر هست که شاید معروفترینش هم باشه و تک جلدی هم هست.
از جمله معدود نسخه هایی هست که در ایران ترجمه شده و کارتونش رو بارها و بارها از تلویزیون دیدیم.
از جمله معدود نسخه هایی هست که در ایران ترجمه شده و کارتونش رو بارها و بارها از تلویزیون دیدیم.
December 8, 2020
4.5*
Couldn’t resist re-reading this classic. A second follow up to the story was just published and I wanted to remind myself of the original.
The Yellow Mark is probably one of the most iconic comics, combining a realistic 1950s detective mystery with science fiction. In it, a masked figure is terrorising London by committing daring robberies, leaving only his signature, a yellow M. That is until the villain starts kidnapping famous people... Philip Mortimer, a Scottish nuclear physicist, and his friend Captain Francis Blake of MI5, are called to the scene to help Scotland Yard.
E.P. Jacobs, Belgian writer and artist, was fascinated by the English culture and used this to great effect for his Blake et Mortimer series, one of the very first ones published in Tintin’s magazine in 1953. He had worked with Hergé for many years before that. His style has signs of this and works in perfect tandem with the plot, keeping this realistic touch, while the supernatural elements feel like valid scientific extrapolations, a little bit like Jules Verne but pushing further.
I remember when I first read this adventure in my childhood, growing up in Belgium. Little did I know then that I would end up moving to London and make my life there. Small world :0)
PS: Cineworld has translated a whole load of Franco-belgian comics, including this series (https://www.cinebook.co.uk/blake-mort...), in case you prefer to read this in English.
Couldn’t resist re-reading this classic. A second follow up to the story was just published and I wanted to remind myself of the original.
The Yellow Mark is probably one of the most iconic comics, combining a realistic 1950s detective mystery with science fiction. In it, a masked figure is terrorising London by committing daring robberies, leaving only his signature, a yellow M. That is until the villain starts kidnapping famous people... Philip Mortimer, a Scottish nuclear physicist, and his friend Captain Francis Blake of MI5, are called to the scene to help Scotland Yard.
E.P. Jacobs, Belgian writer and artist, was fascinated by the English culture and used this to great effect for his Blake et Mortimer series, one of the very first ones published in Tintin’s magazine in 1953. He had worked with Hergé for many years before that. His style has signs of this and works in perfect tandem with the plot, keeping this realistic touch, while the supernatural elements feel like valid scientific extrapolations, a little bit like Jules Verne but pushing further.
I remember when I first read this adventure in my childhood, growing up in Belgium. Little did I know then that I would end up moving to London and make my life there. Small world :0)
PS: Cineworld has translated a whole load of Franco-belgian comics, including this series (https://www.cinebook.co.uk/blake-mort...), in case you prefer to read this in English.
May 23, 2022
This presents an interesting mystery with equal time given to action and to detective work. Blake and Mortimer don't work together as much as I was expecting. The two heroes spend a lot of time working on their own to take advantage of their skills. Blake focuses on using his social connections and putting his military background to use in action scenes. Mortimer focuses on using his knowledge and research skills to find and develop clues.
July 4, 2021
My main motivation for reading Blake and Mortimer is probably shared by most readers who come to Edgar Jacobs's work - a love for Tintin. Unfortunately, while Jacobs's time working for Herge clearly left him with a solid grasp of ligne claire art, he did not learn anything from the master about even the most basic aspects of comics and visual storytelling.
The thing that overwhelmingly sticks out in this book is the amount of text. Endless walls of text fill pages from corner to corner, choking out the art trying desperately to peek out from underneath. It's as if somebody wrote a script for a comic book, and then while drawing it decided, for some unfathomable reason, to insert the entire script word-for-word into the drawn panels.
Every single action happening on the pages is written out in textboxes in graphic detail, even when the thing described is clearly visible in the panel. This is so far opposed to even a beginner's understanding of how comics should work, that I can only surmise that Jacobs either (1) was making an avant-garde anti-comics statement against the medium, or (2) had identified his audience as being caretakers for blind people.
It's a pity, because his draughtsmanship is unquestionably worthy of somebody from Herge's studio. While it's not pushing ligne claire forward like the more stylized work of Yves Chaland on Freddie Lombard, it's still a solid and atmospheric execution of the classic style, sure to trigger the admiration of any Herge fan. It might have been enough to forgive the other shortcomings of the book (such as the total lack of humour, visual gags or space), but nothing can overcome the fact that this is comics working really, really hard to not be comics.
As an illustrator working from a good script, Jacobs might have been able to create great works of bande-dessinee, but instead he has created something that I cannot recommend to anybody except the most dedicated fans of ligne claire, or those who like me have burned every last page of Tintin into memory and just need another fix, no matter how unsatisfactory.
The thing that overwhelmingly sticks out in this book is the amount of text. Endless walls of text fill pages from corner to corner, choking out the art trying desperately to peek out from underneath. It's as if somebody wrote a script for a comic book, and then while drawing it decided, for some unfathomable reason, to insert the entire script word-for-word into the drawn panels.
Every single action happening on the pages is written out in textboxes in graphic detail, even when the thing described is clearly visible in the panel. This is so far opposed to even a beginner's understanding of how comics should work, that I can only surmise that Jacobs either (1) was making an avant-garde anti-comics statement against the medium, or (2) had identified his audience as being caretakers for blind people.
It's a pity, because his draughtsmanship is unquestionably worthy of somebody from Herge's studio. While it's not pushing ligne claire forward like the more stylized work of Yves Chaland on Freddie Lombard, it's still a solid and atmospheric execution of the classic style, sure to trigger the admiration of any Herge fan. It might have been enough to forgive the other shortcomings of the book (such as the total lack of humour, visual gags or space), but nothing can overcome the fact that this is comics working really, really hard to not be comics.
As an illustrator working from a good script, Jacobs might have been able to create great works of bande-dessinee, but instead he has created something that I cannot recommend to anybody except the most dedicated fans of ligne claire, or those who like me have burned every last page of Tintin into memory and just need another fix, no matter how unsatisfactory.
March 7, 2019
In order to understand the continuation story "the Septimus - wave" which was released in 2013 one has to read the original story as written by Edgar P. Jacobs called the "Yellow sign" from 1956 in which a series of sheer impossible crimes seem to plague the United Kingdom and a group of people that were great friends and somebody seems bound to take revenge on them as one by one get taken by this unknown superhuman creature. Colonel Blake is one of the friends and so it is inescapable that his friend Mortimer is involved. Of course the always inescapable character of Olrik shows his face as expected.
It is a great story that is interesting and fun, and its has been of great interest to various movie companies to film this particular story and it might actually be a great movie when they stick to the time era it is set in 1952.
As Always an original Blake & Mortimer story is something great and a mad professor thrown into the mix is a tasty as it gets.
It is a great story that is interesting and fun, and its has been of great interest to various movie companies to film this particular story and it might actually be a great movie when they stick to the time era it is set in 1952.
As Always an original Blake & Mortimer story is something great and a mad professor thrown into the mix is a tasty as it gets.
June 10, 2025
An excellent old wold charm detective graphic novel set in London. The characters are a welcome change - refreshingly away from all of mobile phones, internet and if I may AI.
Blake and Mortimer go the extra mile to uncover a science created monster who has understood mysteries of the brain and its fascinating workings.
Blake and Mortimer go the extra mile to uncover a science created monster who has understood mysteries of the brain and its fascinating workings.
July 15, 2017
Edgar P. Jacobs was a contemporary and colleague of his fellow countryman, Hergé, assisting the latter with some of his Tintin stories. Comparison is therefore inevitable, and it is to Jacobs' credit.
Jacobs' artwork has the same clean lines as Hergé's, but his figures are drawn more realistically, without the elements of caricature found in the adventures of Tintin. Having only read The Yellow 'M' at the time of writing this review, I found the narrative style somewhat denser; there is none of the slapstick found in Tintin, little in the way of humour, actually, with the action being played seriously. There are no talking animals, apoplectic sea-captains, bungling detectives or comically absent-minded professors. The writing is seemingly aimed at an older, if still juvenile, audience than Hergé went for with Tintin. Accordingly, and with an extra 9-10 pages in which to expand the story, I found this first foray with Blake and Mortimer much more satisfying than most of the Tintin albums.
Written in the 1950s, there are a number of stock tropes which, depending upon the reader's viewpoint, will be found either stylistically comforting or clichéd (I obviously incline to the former). Blake is cast in the same mold as Dennis Nayland Smith from the Fu Manchu stories: a capable and influential establishment figure with a military background. Mortimer is the epitome of British scientific know-how, akin to Professor Quatermass. The villain(s) are a blend of Fu Manchu, Fantômas, Rastapopoulos, et al.
The story involves an evil mastermind terrorising the country, stealing (part of) the crown jewels, bent on a mysterious vengeance plot, manifesting seemingly superhuman powers and generally outwitting Scotland Yard at every turn. The action is well-paced, if somewhat formulaic: comfort-food for the brain.
The English translations of the Blake and Mortimer stories have been published out of the order in which they were written. Consequently, a few characters appear with little or no introduction, as we are expected to have met them previously. Also, some minor plot elements refer back to the earlier stories. None of which seriously detracted from my enjoyment of the story, if anything whetting my appetite for more.
Jacobs' artwork has the same clean lines as Hergé's, but his figures are drawn more realistically, without the elements of caricature found in the adventures of Tintin. Having only read The Yellow 'M' at the time of writing this review, I found the narrative style somewhat denser; there is none of the slapstick found in Tintin, little in the way of humour, actually, with the action being played seriously. There are no talking animals, apoplectic sea-captains, bungling detectives or comically absent-minded professors. The writing is seemingly aimed at an older, if still juvenile, audience than Hergé went for with Tintin. Accordingly, and with an extra 9-10 pages in which to expand the story, I found this first foray with Blake and Mortimer much more satisfying than most of the Tintin albums.
Written in the 1950s, there are a number of stock tropes which, depending upon the reader's viewpoint, will be found either stylistically comforting or clichéd (I obviously incline to the former). Blake is cast in the same mold as Dennis Nayland Smith from the Fu Manchu stories: a capable and influential establishment figure with a military background. Mortimer is the epitome of British scientific know-how, akin to Professor Quatermass. The villain(s) are a blend of Fu Manchu, Fantômas, Rastapopoulos, et al.
The story involves an evil mastermind terrorising the country, stealing (part of) the crown jewels, bent on a mysterious vengeance plot, manifesting seemingly superhuman powers and generally outwitting Scotland Yard at every turn. The action is well-paced, if somewhat formulaic: comfort-food for the brain.
The English translations of the Blake and Mortimer stories have been published out of the order in which they were written. Consequently, a few characters appear with little or no introduction, as we are expected to have met them previously. Also, some minor plot elements refer back to the earlier stories. None of which seriously detracted from my enjoyment of the story, if anything whetting my appetite for more.
October 26, 2024
LA MARQUE JAUNE Edgar P. Jacobsa sam pročitao u sklopu industrijske špijunaže jer francuski reditelj nastanjen u Holivudu Cedric Nicolas-Toryan priprema ekranizaciju čiji scenario potpisuju ni manje ni više nego Jan Kounen (i Jay Ferguson).
U Netflix projektima KATE i FURIES Nicolas-Troyan je pokazao da ima izrazit dar za stripovsku stilizaciju i da stripovski "razmišlja", otud mi je njegova čista strip ekranizija i to još po Kounenovom scenariju u startu veoma intrigantna.
Naročito jer su mi Blake i Mortimer poznati pre svega izdaleka, kao neki iz Tintinove izdavačke kuće, čije sam avanture vrlo malo čitao vrlo davno.
LA MARQUE JAUNE je strip koji je veoma opterećen ekspozicijom, dijalogom i mnogim - što se mene tiče - antistripovskim zahtevima. Crtež je rudimentaran i bez one maštovitosti po kojoj znamo Tintina. Međutim, premisa je tu i može od ovoga da se napravi jako maštovit i dinamičan retro SF špijunac, sa stripovskom stilizacijom naravno. Strip u tom procesu teško da može biti pokvaren - naprotiv, deluje mi da bi se mogao umnogome unaprediti ovaj materijal.
Kounenovo bavljenje tom psihodeličnom premisom mi je naročito zanimljivo ako znamo njegovu okrenutost šamanizmu i raznim vidovima parapsihologije, a Cedric Nicolas-Troyan ovde ima prostora za svoje hiperkinetičke zahvate.
Film nastaje u evropskoj produkciji ali se svakako zbog samog britanskog miljea itd. naprosto nameće engleski jezik kao jezik filma, i očekujem zanimljivu podelu. Nadam se samo da autori neće biti previše i destruktivno opterećni mogućnošžu da iz svega izraste franšiza.
U Netflix projektima KATE i FURIES Nicolas-Troyan je pokazao da ima izrazit dar za stripovsku stilizaciju i da stripovski "razmišlja", otud mi je njegova čista strip ekranizija i to još po Kounenovom scenariju u startu veoma intrigantna.
Naročito jer su mi Blake i Mortimer poznati pre svega izdaleka, kao neki iz Tintinove izdavačke kuće, čije sam avanture vrlo malo čitao vrlo davno.
LA MARQUE JAUNE je strip koji je veoma opterećen ekspozicijom, dijalogom i mnogim - što se mene tiče - antistripovskim zahtevima. Crtež je rudimentaran i bez one maštovitosti po kojoj znamo Tintina. Međutim, premisa je tu i može od ovoga da se napravi jako maštovit i dinamičan retro SF špijunac, sa stripovskom stilizacijom naravno. Strip u tom procesu teško da može biti pokvaren - naprotiv, deluje mi da bi se mogao umnogome unaprediti ovaj materijal.
Kounenovo bavljenje tom psihodeličnom premisom mi je naročito zanimljivo ako znamo njegovu okrenutost šamanizmu i raznim vidovima parapsihologije, a Cedric Nicolas-Troyan ovde ima prostora za svoje hiperkinetičke zahvate.
Film nastaje u evropskoj produkciji ali se svakako zbog samog britanskog miljea itd. naprosto nameće engleski jezik kao jezik filma, i očekujem zanimljivu podelu. Nadam se samo da autori neće biti previše i destruktivno opterećni mogućnošžu da iz svega izraste franšiza.
January 15, 2023
You can see why Tintin is the more beloved creation, as Hergé succeeded in creating pacy thrillers with humour and an exceptional ability to capture personalities with minimal dialogue and art. Jacobs is verbose and prone to slightly lazy caricature which hampers the drama a bit, but his art is gorgeous as is his willingness to play around with the frames on a page. And some of his images are far more striking and strange than his ex-employer, such as our villain’s hypnosis method. This is a sort of hybrid of the late period technological Hitchcockian maguffins of the Calculus Affair and the earlier Hitchcock of the Black Island (much of which was drawn by Jacobs), and feels essentially like the best sort of British b-pictures made during the thirties to early sixties. He also shares Hergé’s somewhat reluctance to feature any women of note, and the jury is still out on Nasir who at least is never a figure of fun even if he’s essentially the noble savage butler from stuff like Mandrake the Magician and has little to no agency of his own
November 24, 2016
Das cachimbadas dentro de portas à ciência tremenda com que se auto-fundamenta a linha narrativa: um clássico =)
May 22, 2023
A 3.5
This is not the first volume in the original Beligian adventures of Blake et Mortimer series; nor do I see any logic to raise it to a upper order. Anyway, it was not any hiccup in advancing the comic book (or should we properly label it as a graphic novel?). But it strains advancing it because of its sheer lack of comic relief. Right from the beginning everyone's frowning and scrowling. At one panel I saw Philip Mortimer sharing a smile with Mrs. Benson. Tension-tension-tension-dénouement-ending. On top of it, why didn't Jacobs choose a character of Belgian origin like his colleague Hergé moulded Tintin?
There's a scientific misinterpretation here. Septimus states how he makes Olrik invulnerable:
Yeah, we are all living inside and outside our body an electromagnetic world. But that doesn't make all living creature to stun preys or our political adversaries in the same manner. These are electrogenic cells carrying ions in electric eels that produce electric current, that too not like as it flows through electric wires, rather through a method called active transport. And it's obviously not 'cellular energy', that's produced via Adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
Anyway, I like the details of media houses and Scotland Yard in 1950s England. I look forward to reading at least one more Blake et Mortimer adventure to understand how Edgar Pierre Jacobs could risk keeping a common enemy like Olrik.
The last remark from Captain Blake on an adversary who had all the time kept them on their toes defines how a constructive criticism we should make:
This is not the first volume in the original Beligian adventures of Blake et Mortimer series; nor do I see any logic to raise it to a upper order. Anyway, it was not any hiccup in advancing the comic book (or should we properly label it as a graphic novel?). But it strains advancing it because of its sheer lack of comic relief. Right from the beginning everyone's frowning and scrowling. At one panel I saw Philip Mortimer sharing a smile with Mrs. Benson. Tension-tension-tension-dénouement-ending. On top of it, why didn't Jacobs choose a character of Belgian origin like his colleague Hergé moulded Tintin?
There's a scientific misinterpretation here. Septimus states how he makes Olrik invulnerable:
...living creatures possess more or less powerful electromagnetic force. Witness the electric eel and electric ray. These fish are capable of releasing a powerful electric discharge in the event of danger. I have succeeded in amplifying the potential cellular energy of Guinea Pig to the point of providing him with a sort of electromagnetic breastplate...
Yeah, we are all living inside and outside our body an electromagnetic world. But that doesn't make all living creature to stun preys or our political adversaries in the same manner. These are electrogenic cells carrying ions in electric eels that produce electric current, that too not like as it flows through electric wires, rather through a method called active transport. And it's obviously not 'cellular energy', that's produced via Adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
Anyway, I like the details of media houses and Scotland Yard in 1950s England. I look forward to reading at least one more Blake et Mortimer adventure to understand how Edgar Pierre Jacobs could risk keeping a common enemy like Olrik.
The last remark from Captain Blake on an adversary who had all the time kept them on their toes defines how a constructive criticism we should make:
Well, gentlemen, our adventures finish here, except for our old enemy Olrik, whom we will finish by catching one of these days. As for doctor Septimus, his exceptional gifts no doubt intended him to occupy a position of prime importance in the scientific world of this age. Unfortunately, spite, a desire vengeance, and an inordinate pride caused him to deviate from his original goal and finally led to his downfall. May his tragic ends serve as a warning to all who are tempted, in serving their own criminal purposes, to forget that true science is for the service of humanity, that it's aim is to work for the advancement of progress and not for the vanity, ambition or tyranny of a single individual. And, finally, that more important than science is man himself. That said, gentlemen, it is now midnight. a Merry Christmas to all!!!
December 12, 2023
Ah! La Marque jaune! Un mélange entre intrigue policière et délire fantastique, cette bande dessinée se démarque (sans jeu de mots) des autres albums de Jacobs. En effet, il n'y manque pas d'action, autant dans les affrontements avec Guinea Pig, que dans la recherche essoufflante de l'homme qui se cache derrière. Et que dire de l'aspect scientifique de l'onde Méga. Il y a une raison pourquoi certains albums post-Jacobs sont dérivés de ce chef-d’œuvre (L'Onde Septimus, Le Cri du Moloch). Bref, un incontournable de la bédé franco-belge.
September 10, 2023
On first glance this comes across as a moodier Tintin, but there's a lot of difference. Jacob's art is very much it's own beast, he even breaks out some rendering every so often. The writing is similar to Tintin, in that events happen one after another with very little downtime. The major problem with this comic, and what dates it pretty heavily, is the amount of text crammed into a lot of these panels. It becomes a comic you need to trudge through on a few pages, but otherwise it's pretty thrilling.
November 19, 2017
Het is een goede Blake & Mortimer strip in die typische strakke tekenstijl van Jacobs. Het minpunt is dat het verhaal te lang is voor 1 strip en dat er veel met tekst moet uitgelegd worden. Het gevolg: een overdaad aan tekstballonnetjes en tekstkaders.
January 28, 2023
A fun read
September 13, 2018
Een klassieker, maar om nu te zeggen dat dit 'de beste Belgische strip ooit' is...
De situering van het verhaal in Londen is erg sfeervol. Het opgebouwde mysterie heeft soms iets Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde-achtig.
De tekeningen zijn top, beredeneerd en vloeien goed in elkaar over. De tekst vertraagt het verhaal echter, soms ergerlijk. Al te vaak wordt er in de tekst verteld wat er te zien is in de plaatjes. De plot wordt vaak ook te kunstmatig uitgewerkt door te grote tekstballonnen.
De situering van het verhaal in Londen is erg sfeervol. Het opgebouwde mysterie heeft soms iets Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde-achtig.
De tekeningen zijn top, beredeneerd en vloeien goed in elkaar over. De tekst vertraagt het verhaal echter, soms ergerlijk. Al te vaak wordt er in de tekst verteld wat er te zien is in de plaatjes. De plot wordt vaak ook te kunstmatig uitgewerkt door te grote tekstballonnen.
January 31, 2020
After Tintin and Asterix, I have come to learn about this amazing comic series. Rich storyline and mind blowing artwork certainly put this series to a newer height.
September 7, 2015
Malgré son âge certain, cette histoire garde tout son charme et son dynamisme.
July 14, 2020
I’m so glad I found this series by long time Hergé collaborator Edgar Jacobs. This series has a lot of the adventure elements of Tintin but with more of a James Bond/Dick Tracy vibe.
This story is about a strange, super-powered burglar who is terrorizing post-WWII London and transitions from stealing national treasures to kidnapping leaders of various national institutions. Blake is an MI5 operative who is put in league with Scotland Yard and brings in his Scottish physicist friend Mortimer to investigate. As they race against the clock, they end up studying a history of scientific squabbling and chasing the villain across the docks, wharfs, and sewers of the city in hopes of saving the victims and unearthing a history of that may include some of their own past as well.
This one has definitely sold me on this duo. There are entirely too many narration text boxes. The story is long and convoluted and without some of the summary there might not have been enough space to visually show all the transitions. Even so, a lot of the overlaid text is unnecessary and a bit redundant of the images and dialogue. It fails the “don’t tell us, show us” test sometimes and tends to slow down the action with over-explanation in highly tense moments. In this way it reflects traditional action strips more than it does Tintin. But if you like Tintin, this will definitely be worth your time. It is different enough to be unique but also checks all the same adventure and espionage boxes. You won’t be disappointed.
This story is about a strange, super-powered burglar who is terrorizing post-WWII London and transitions from stealing national treasures to kidnapping leaders of various national institutions. Blake is an MI5 operative who is put in league with Scotland Yard and brings in his Scottish physicist friend Mortimer to investigate. As they race against the clock, they end up studying a history of scientific squabbling and chasing the villain across the docks, wharfs, and sewers of the city in hopes of saving the victims and unearthing a history of that may include some of their own past as well.
This one has definitely sold me on this duo. There are entirely too many narration text boxes. The story is long and convoluted and without some of the summary there might not have been enough space to visually show all the transitions. Even so, a lot of the overlaid text is unnecessary and a bit redundant of the images and dialogue. It fails the “don’t tell us, show us” test sometimes and tends to slow down the action with over-explanation in highly tense moments. In this way it reflects traditional action strips more than it does Tintin. But if you like Tintin, this will definitely be worth your time. It is different enough to be unique but also checks all the same adventure and espionage boxes. You won’t be disappointed.
September 25, 2024
Lo siento, pero no. Se me ha caído un mito, me esperaba una obra maestra del cómic europeo clásico y en su lugar he encontrado una historia ridícula con un final pésimo apoyado en una patraña científica que parece un chiste. Después de leer unas cuantas aventuras de Blake y Mortimer escritas por distintos autores a lo largo de las décadas, he de decir que esta Marca Amarilla no ocupa un puesto ni entre las 10 primeras recomendaciones que yo haría. Las obras de esta pareja de héroes que tratan sobre el espionaje, la arquelogía o los conflictos bélicos le dan mil vueltas a este número mitificado injustamente.
ENGLISH
I'm sorry, but no. A myth has fallen apart, I was expecting a masterpiece of classic European comics and instead I have found a ridiculous story with a terrible ending supported by a scientific hoax that seems like a joke. After reading a few Blake and Mortimer adventures written by different authors over the decades, I have to say that this Yellow Mark is not even in the top 10 recommendations that I would make. The works of this pair of heroes that deal with espionage, archeology or war conflicts are much better than this unfairly mythologized number.
ENGLISH
I'm sorry, but no. A myth has fallen apart, I was expecting a masterpiece of classic European comics and instead I have found a ridiculous story with a terrible ending supported by a scientific hoax that seems like a joke. After reading a few Blake and Mortimer adventures written by different authors over the decades, I have to say that this Yellow Mark is not even in the top 10 recommendations that I would make. The works of this pair of heroes that deal with espionage, archeology or war conflicts are much better than this unfairly mythologized number.
February 21, 2025
I quite enjoyed a later book in this sequence, so I decided to read the whole sequence. This is promoted as the first volume in the sequence, but it feels as if it isn't because it relies upon some prior knowledge (such as who Olrik is). I could live with that anomaly because I am sure that the story will catch up with itself.
The plot concerns the Mega Wave (which is the Yellow M) and how Professor Septimus uses it to further his ends. The wave allows the wielder to exercise mind control over the subject. Professor Septimus is the wielder and the main instrument of his will is Olrik. There are a variety of crimes, such as stealing the Crown Jewels, which lead us to the final confrontation. However, things go wrong, Septimus is annihilated and Olrik is freed from the mind control and escapes. Possible to pop up in a future instalment.
I quite enjoyed this book. It is easy to read, the plotlines are transparent, and it doesn't take a great deal of effort to go through it. This is just the antidote to really heavy and difficult to read texts that I seem to be plagued with. I quite enjoyed it.
The plot concerns the Mega Wave (which is the Yellow M) and how Professor Septimus uses it to further his ends. The wave allows the wielder to exercise mind control over the subject. Professor Septimus is the wielder and the main instrument of his will is Olrik. There are a variety of crimes, such as stealing the Crown Jewels, which lead us to the final confrontation. However, things go wrong, Septimus is annihilated and Olrik is freed from the mind control and escapes. Possible to pop up in a future instalment.
I quite enjoyed this book. It is easy to read, the plotlines are transparent, and it doesn't take a great deal of effort to go through it. This is just the antidote to really heavy and difficult to read texts that I seem to be plagued with. I quite enjoyed it.
October 15, 2022
I'm dipping into this series as someone who grew up on Hergé's "Tintin" books. The homology between Edgar P. Jacobs' "Blake and Mortimer" comics and "Tintin" is very evident, but there is something a bit more mature and serious in the execution of "Blake and Mortimer" that does make it stand on its own.
Blake & Mortimer take on the mysterious Yellow "M", a figure that haunts London with their grandiose crimes. The narrative is fairly simple to follow with some interesting twits and some nice clean artwork. The panel layouts are all gorgeous with tons of vibrant flat colors used to great effect. The script is overly wordy at portions - it took me about as long to read this ~70 page book as it does many 200-300 page graphic novels, but I do think the pages were packing more panels than contemporary comics/bande dessinée.
The verbose nature of this story does make it drag a bit at times, but I'm still excited to continue reading more "Blake and Mortimer" stories. Very solid read and I enjoyed the artwork a lot.
Blake & Mortimer take on the mysterious Yellow "M", a figure that haunts London with their grandiose crimes. The narrative is fairly simple to follow with some interesting twits and some nice clean artwork. The panel layouts are all gorgeous with tons of vibrant flat colors used to great effect. The script is overly wordy at portions - it took me about as long to read this ~70 page book as it does many 200-300 page graphic novels, but I do think the pages were packing more panels than contemporary comics/bande dessinée.
The verbose nature of this story does make it drag a bit at times, but I'm still excited to continue reading more "Blake and Mortimer" stories. Very solid read and I enjoyed the artwork a lot.
April 2, 2023
i think a lot of the problems i had with this are down to the fact that it makes a bad choice for a first volume (which it is, in the english editions). it's kind of fine that you don't really get how the characters relate to one another at first but during the dénouement previous events in the series become really important, so it feels simultaneously like a huge spoiler and a hollow, uninformed reading experience.
jacobs has a gorgeous art style, of course very of a piece with hergé, but a tendency to make his panels a little wordy. the english editions are additionally quite poorly lettered, so these sections of the narrative are a bit of a struggle. but while jacobs is clearly riffing on a number of existing works (fritz lang's M is the most obvious, but there are shades of edgar wallace too i think) he keeps you invested with a tightly-plotted story and some really lovely draftsmanship. i will be reading more blake & mortimer, but definitely in release order from here on out.
jacobs has a gorgeous art style, of course very of a piece with hergé, but a tendency to make his panels a little wordy. the english editions are additionally quite poorly lettered, so these sections of the narrative are a bit of a struggle. but while jacobs is clearly riffing on a number of existing works (fritz lang's M is the most obvious, but there are shades of edgar wallace too i think) he keeps you invested with a tightly-plotted story and some really lovely draftsmanship. i will be reading more blake & mortimer, but definitely in release order from here on out.
June 10, 2020
Well this one was quite a surprise. Unlike its contemporary Tintin Blake and Mortimer adventures are more adult story and without that much humor and comedy. Art is excellent, so called "clear line" schools is truly great. So if you like Tintin, early Tanguy and Laverdure you will truly enjoy it.
Story wise this reads more like graphical novel than standard comic - there are blocks and blocks of text. But while sometimes actions of villains seem very much like parodies (you now that ominous cackle and monologue describing what their evil plan is) overall story is pretty good. You have thrills, chase, mystery and very interesting characters.
Recommended to all fans of thrillers and adventure stories.
Story wise this reads more like graphical novel than standard comic - there are blocks and blocks of text. But while sometimes actions of villains seem very much like parodies (you now that ominous cackle and monologue describing what their evil plan is) overall story is pretty good. You have thrills, chase, mystery and very interesting characters.
Recommended to all fans of thrillers and adventure stories.
June 24, 2020
A contemporary of Herge, Jacobs creates his own adventurers in the form of Professor Mortimer and Captain Blake. This adventure has the pair up against a mysterious kidnapper who taunts the police. It's fine. The art has the same cartoony quality of Tintin but the gigantic blocks of exposition in word balloons really grind the story to a halt in parts. Definitely a product of its time as there are basically only white men as characters. I don't recall even a single female character with a line of dialogue. That aspect doesn't age particularly well. Didn't wow me, or make me curious to explore the series further.
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September 3, 2024تا اینجا جذابترین کتاب مجموعه. پر از راز و رمزهای جذاب، و مهمترین پنلبندیها و تصاویر بسیار زیبا. لندنی گرفته و سیاه که وقایع را تلختر میکند. تدوین موازی بین اتفاقات و خبرهایی که پشتهم میآیند و لحظهای برای نفس کشیدن نمیگذارند. متاسفانه از اول داستان پایانش را به درستی حدس زدم و مشخص بود چون به رسم آن روزگار کلیدهایی به تو میداد که بگویی: «احتمالاً چنین است و چنان!» مثل دیگر کتابهای مجموعه ناگهان در پایان تمام شد و در چند صفحه همهچیز هویدا شد. ولی در نهایت تجربۀ دلپذیری بود و با اینکه برعکس دیگر کتابها در لندن میگذشت و جای دیگری نبودند خیلی خوش گذشت و این تعقیبوگریز و معماها به دل مینشست.
September 2, 2017
Picked this up because the cover art reminds me of Tintin.
ETA: Finished. The art style is very similar to Tintin but the story has none of the humour that made Tintin so appealing. The mystery is typical 40s/50s mad scientist gubbins which could do easily have appeared in Saturday Morning Serials of the time. Some of the panels are very wordy for a graphic novel, and I think some of the translation was a tad too literal. And I was concerned at the number of London Bobbies toting guns.
Fun and I'd definitely read more.
ETA: Finished. The art style is very similar to Tintin but the story has none of the humour that made Tintin so appealing. The mystery is typical 40s/50s mad scientist gubbins which could do easily have appeared in Saturday Morning Serials of the time. Some of the panels are very wordy for a graphic novel, and I think some of the translation was a tad too literal. And I was concerned at the number of London Bobbies toting guns.
Fun and I'd definitely read more.
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