From our continental correspondent – Blake and Mortimer ride again, but it wasn’t easy | The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

From our continental correspondent – Blake and Mortimer ride again, but it wasn’t easy

Wed, Nov 11, 2009

Comics and cartoons, From our Continental Correspondent

If you believe the press in France and in the French part of Belgium, the arrival of the new Blake And Mortimer (scheduled for publication in French on November 20th) will be met with a level of hysterics unseen since the release of the latest Astérix book (and which it undoubtedly will fail to reach as well).

The book, La Malédiction des trente deniers (The curse of the thirty pieces of silver), is the eighteenth in the series, and the seventh title published after the death of creator Edgar P. Jacobs. It’s also the first title written by star comic writer Jean Van Hamme since L’Etrange Rendez-Vous from 2001. Contrary to the previous Van Hamme penned Blake and Mortimer books, this one will not feature art by ligne claire virtuoso Ted Benoit, who couldn’t keep up with the publication rhythm that the book’s publisher had imposed on its two creative teams.

Blake and Mortimer La Malédiction des trente deniers

(cover to Blake and Mortimer: La Malédiction des trente deniers by Van Hamme, Stern and Spiegeleer, published Dargaud)

Instead, the art of the book was done by Belgian cartoonist René Sterne (ps. for René Vanpijperzeele) who previously had created his own series, Adler, for Le Lombard. Tragically, in 2006, Sterne passed away after having finished only 29 pages, and a new artist had to be found to finish the book. The editors didn’t have to look far, though, as Sterne’s wife, Chantal de Spiegeleer, is a cartoonist in her own right : she created the series Madila and was colouring assistant for Sterne’s Adler series. This made her sufficiently familiar with his art and drawing style to agree to take over the pencil and finish the second half of the book (and with quite a good result, as the Blake, Jacobs And Mortimer blog attests).

Following Jacobs’ own example with quite a few of the previous books in the past (and continuing on his own habit of spreading out his stories), Van Hamme has created a story that is too long for one album, featuring traditional bad guy Olrik (who escapes from prison to once more have his revenge) and playing around the Biblical story of Judas who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. The second part of the book will be drawn by yet another artist, Aubin Fréchon, for whom this will be his very first book-length production, after having only published a few contributions to magazines and anthologies.

La Malédiction des trente deniers jail break

(“tonight there’s going to be a jail break, somewhere in this town..”; a scene from La Malédiction des trente deniers, published Dargaud)

Quite a lot of fuss is made about the new book. Just a few of the events that are being organised:

The Galerie Daniel Maghen (47 Quai des Grands Augustins, 75006 Paris – very centrally placed) will be showing forty pages and fifty sketches from the book, by Sterne and De Spiegeleer, from the 18th until the 29th of November. The Brussels comics store and gallery Brüsel is publishing an ex-libris for the book, featuring a panel by Sterne, signed by De Spiegeleer. On November 28th and 29th, in the Imagix centre in Mons (Belgium), an exhibition of work by Sterne and De Spiegeleer (featuring art from Adler, Madila and Blake & Mortimer) will be held in a fifties style. De Spiegeleer will also be present for a signing session. In the Médiateque Jean Falala in Reims, Jean Van Hamme will talk about his many projects, together with some of his collaborators (such as Ted Benoit and Chantal De Spiegeleer).

If you want to find out for yourself what it’s all about, and you know a bit of French, you can read the first fifteen pages of the new album online, thanks to publisher Dargaud’s PlayerBD application. Finally, on the fansite marquejaune.com, fans can participate in a quiz and win one of ten copies of La Malédiction des trente deniers.

(With thanks to Blake, Jacobs And Mortimer blog for keeping tabs on all the news from the world of Blake And Mortimer)