Blake and Mortimer


The Adventures of Blake & Mortimer is a Belgian comics series created by writer and comics artist Edgar P. Jacobs. It was one of the first book series to appear in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Tintin in 1946, and was subsequently published in book form by Belgian comic book publisher Le Lombard.
The main protagonists of the adventures are Captain Francis Blake, of MI5, and his friend Professor Philip Mortimer, a leading British scientist. The books' recurring antagonist is the sworn enemy of the heroes, Colonel Olrik, who appears very frequently throughout the series, in almost every book. Their confrontations take them into the realms of detective investigation and science fiction, dealing with themes of time travel, historical events, and espionage.
Since Jacobs' death, many new titles of the series have been published by other authors, mainly two separate teams of artists and writers, with the amount of these new editions significantly dwarfing Jacobs' contributions. A television series based upon the series was produced in 1997, entitled Blake and Mortimer.
The books by Jacobs himself are generally set in the period of their writing, but those authored by others after his death are set mostly in the 1950s and 1960s.

Main characters

The presence of the basis of the series' three main characters is apparent in Jacobs' unrelated, first full-length graphic novel, The U-Ray, which predates the inception of this series. Here, their origins are left unspecified, and they are portrayed only as two proud Britons serving HM's Government.
They debut in the first books of the series' Francophone releases, the three-part story The Secret of the Swordfish, although the English language version of the series lists these titles as being books 15 to 17. They instead suggest, by designating this book as the first in the series, that they first appear in The Yellow 'M, although captions within the book contradict this.
The later, post-Jacobs title The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent provides insight into their early lives, and shows them making acquaintance – then beginning their friendship – during the time of the British Raj.
Overviews of the main characters are as follows:
  • Professor Philip Angus Mortimer – a seemingly archetypical British gentlemanly scholar, he is a leading physicist of Scottish descent, having grown up in colonial India and moved to England to attend university. His character is based upon a friend and occasional collaborator of Jacobs, Jacques Van Melkebeke, with the addition of a beard.
  • Captain Francis Percy Blake – a Welsh-born officer in His Majesty's armed forces, he studied at Oxford University and later became head of the British Security Service MI5, and is currently still very active in the field. He is a master of disguise, even managing to fool Mortimer on occasion. Blake is modelled on another friend and occasional collaborator of Jacobs, Jacques Laudy, with the addition of a mustache.
  • Colonel Olrik – the long-time, recurring villain from the first instalment onwards. Of the original series, only The Time Trap did not feature him in any capacity, and among the successive series, he has appeared in some capacity in every volume except The Oath of the Five Lords. Olrik's first appearance is in The Secret of the Swordfish, as the head of intelligence for Oriental dictator Basam Damdu. His roles have since ranged from mercenary, spy, smuggler and general criminal adventurer. He is characterised as a Westerner, but details such as his real name, birthplace and exact nationality are left unknown: in Plutarch's Staff, a post-Jacobs prequel to Secret of the Swordfish, Olrik is portrayed as a specialist in Slavic languages, and it is explained that he once fled Hungary, suggesting this as his country of origin. Olrik's appearance resembles that of Jacobs.
  • Lieutenant Ahmed Nasir – the faithful friend and ally of the two heroes, and has Indian ancestry. His first appearance is in part one of The Secret of the Swordfish, where he prevents the two heroes from being captured by Olrik in Iran. He is a sergeant of the 5th Battalion of the "Makran Levy Corps", who previously served under Blake. Following his intervention, Nasir subsequently helps the two heroes in Egypt, then in London, ultimately becoming the butler of Professor Philip Mortimer. Nasir only appears in Jacobs' first books: The Secret of the Swordfish, The Mystery of the Great Pyramid, and The Yellow 'M. His disappearance remains unexplained in later publications, however he eventually reappears many years later in The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, created by Yves Sente and André Juillard. It is explained that following his resignation from the military, and his retirement from butler duties, he returned to India, where he joined their intelligence service.
  • Jack – one of Olrik's most faithful henchmen, he wears thick, round glasses. He invariably takes the role of servant or housekeeper; however, he has partaken in numerous criminal acts under Olrik's orders, and attempted to assassinate Captain Blake at Athens airport in The Mystery of the Great Pyramid.
  • Sharkey – a strong, albeit foolish, American henchman, another of Olrik's closest. He worked for Dr Grossgrabenstein as the above-ground regulator of his excavation site, but was simultaneously working with Olrik to eliminate Mortimer and prevent Blake from reaching Egypt in The Mystery of the Great Pyramid.
  • Professor Jonathan Septimus – An eccentric physician and parapsychologist, he used to live in British-occupied Sudan where he discovered Olrik in a trance after the events of The Mystery of the Great Pyramid, proceeding to use him as a test subject for experiments into telepathy and telekinesis. His actions ultimately turned Olrik into the 'Yellow M'.
  • Basam Damdu – Olrik's commander-in-chief and the absolute dictator of the Yellow Empire. A megalomaniac based on Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, he is obsessed with ruling the world and is willing to destroy it rather than lose control of it.
Descriptions of more minor characters from the series are below:
  • Glenn Kendall – the Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard. He assisted Blake and Mortimer in capturing the Yellow 'M' during The Yellow 'M, however was one of the most prominent antagonists in The Francis Blake Affair, where he endeavoured to arrest Blake on the grounds of high treason.
  • Ahmed Rassim Bey – a prominent historian, curator of the Egyptian Museum. He invited Mortimer to Cairo to assist him in deciphering his mysterious discoveries concerning the Great Pyramid, however was betrayed by his assistant, Abdul, who informed Olrik of his discoveries. When Abdul's treachery was discovered, however, he assisted Mortimer in arresting the guilty parties. He is also friends with Doctor Grossgrabenstein.
  • Abdul Ben Zaim – assistant to Ahmed Rassim Bey, he also worked at the Egyptian Museum, however was secretly Olrik's accomplice, stealing secret documents and copying Ahmed's finds on his orders. He was killed in a motor accident arranged by Olrik when he began to carelessly blunder their plot away in fear of retribution.
  • Dr Grossgrabenstein – an eccentric Egyptologist, he invited Mortimer to accompany him to his excavation site on the Great Pyramid, where his presented his discoveries to him and showed him his collection. He was ambushed and imprisoned by Olrik, who wore a disguise impersonating the professor in an attempt to subjugate Mortimer, but was later freed in a battle to recapture his property.
  • Superintendent Kamal – head of the Egyptian police force. A steadfast man with a serious, military, no-nonsense manner, he investigated Olrik's break-in of the Egyptian Museum, then worked with Mortimer to arrest the treacherous Abdul. On receiving a late-night telephone call from Mortimer, he and his officers invaded Youssef's antiques shop, then laid siege to the hotel hosting Olrik. He was the news-bearer of Abdul's death, and later launched an attack on Grossgrabenstein's property – at the time occupied by Olrik's gang – ultimately recapturing it and freeing Blake, Mortimer, and Nasir.
  • Youssef Khadem – one of Olrik's henchmen, he owned an antiques shop, a rendezvous point for their gang. He fought against Mortimer when he came to his store, collaborating with the Bezendjas and Olrik to capture him. He possessed considerable knife-throwing skill, but was fatally wounded by police fire while attempting to flee from the scene.
  • David Honeychurch – the deputy chief of MI5, he works for Blake. When Blake pretended to have become a traitor to England, Honeychurch was secretly on his side the entire time, deceiving his colleagues into believing the opposite. This was eventually discovered by Doyle-Smith and his minions, and he was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle's dungeons, afterwards escaping and helping Blake and Mortimer to reclaim the property.
  • Harold Doyle-Smith – under-secretary of state of the Home Office, he was in charge of coordinating various police forces. He was Blake's commanding minister, and after Blake's supposed treachery in The Francis Blake Affair, he became the Intelligence Service's acting minister. He inherited Ardmuir Castle following his uncle's death, lending it to Deloraine for a seminar, however betrayed its members by drugging them and attempting their kidnap. He was eventually discovered to have been working with Olrik's gang all along, informing Deloraine of results of discussions he attended within the Intelligence Service, and was arrested by SAS agents following their takeover of his property.
  • Major Lachlan MacQuarrie – a 34-year-old penniless Scotsman of the 18th century and a maternal ancestor of Mortimer's, he was previously the career officer of the British Army, having served mostly overseas. Following his regiment's defeat by the Continental Army during the American War of Independence, he was abducted by 81st century humans, resulting in his declaration as a deserter and the loss of his military status. Remaining with them for several years, he studied their time travel principles, ultimately perishing in an attempt to return to his own time.
  • Jimmy Tcheng – supposedly the Chinese-American assistant to Doctor Kaufman, he was really a disfigured future human in disguise. He cooperated with Mortimer and Kaufman to analyse the finds on MacQuarrie's body; however, after attempting to withhold a laser device discovered as part of the investigation, his betrayal was discovered by Mortimer, and following a car chase, he was killed in a tornado's onslaught.
  • Dr Jeronimo Ramirez – a lively, bustling, eccentric Mexican–American physicist of the Los Alamos Nuclear Centre, he helped Mortimer discover and prevent Operation Poplar Trees, an attempt by Olrik and 81st century humans to start a nuclear holocaust and subjugate the Earth using Hydrogen bombs.
  • Dr Walter Kaufman – director of the Unidentified Flying Object Studies section of the Centre for Spatial Studies in Topeka, Kansas. An eminent American scientist, he invited Mortimer over to investigate the discovery of Major MacQuarrie's body, and later helped him to prevent Operation Poplar Trees.
  • John Calloway – a head FBI agent, he led his men in an attack on Basam Damdu's military base.
  • Jessie Wingo – a half-Cheyenne FBI agent, she is Calloway's deputy. She rescued a drowning Mortimer from Olrik's clutches, and was subsequently part of an attack on him and Basam Damdu's military base. Shortly afterwards, she helped to prevent Operation Poplar Trees.
  • Dimitri Voronov – a Soviet scientist and biologist during the Cold War's height, he conducted virology research and dabbled in biological warfare. A cold, calculating, ambitious figure, he opposed the current governing system of the Soviet Union, and hoped to seize control of Russia and reimplement Stalinist rule using Bacteria Z, a deadly virus he succeeded in extracting from a failed Soviet space mission. He went into hiding following his plan's failure and the arrest of Olrik, a key collaborator in his mission.
  • Nastasia Wardynska – a female friend and ally of Blake and Mortimer with Russian heritage. Formerly a MI6 double agent planted in the USSR, she was imprisoned after her betrayal was discovered by Voronov, and then subsequently freed in exchange for Olrik during a prisoner swap. She is now a CSIR researcher, having been offered the role by Mortimer, and later journeyed with him to Africa.
  • Professor Akira Satō – a Japanese cybernetician, he works for the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. He has made numerous technological breakthroughs, succeeding in creating indistinguishably realistic androids and a flying machine in the image of a Japanese dragon – and, following the latter, he was betrayed by his assistant, Kim, in collaboration with Olrik's gang, who aimed to steal the findings of his research by obtaining three formulae held at banks across Tokyo.
  • Commissioner Pradier – the Divisional Commissioner to the Paris Branch of Territorial Surveillance, Pradier assists Blake and Mortimer during their adventures taking place in France. His physique was greatly inspired by the actor Jean Gabin.
  • Sarah Summertown – a novelist-archaeologist, she is friends with both Blake and Mortimer. She and Mortimer first met during their youth in British colonial India, and it is strongly implied that, soon afterwards, they were briefly romantically involved. Later on, she, like Natasha, travelled with Mortimer to Africa in The Gondwana Shrine.
  • Elizabeth McKenzie is a student in Cambridge, daughter of Sarah Summertown.
  • Admiral Sir William Gray is the prime minister of the United Kingdom and first sea lord and chairman of the chiefs of staffs committee.
  • Razul is a Bizenjo henchman of Olrik.
  • Freddy is Sharkey's partner-in-crime.
  • Professor Labrousse is an ally of Blake and Mortimer and meteorologist from Paris, France.
  • Commander William Steele is chief of MI6.
  • Mrs. Benson is Blake and Mortimer's landlady, a widow of Blake's former CO.
  • Kim is a Korean scientist who is an assistant of Prof. Akira Sato and an informant for Olrik.