CINEBOOK – serie

At long last, a hardback collected edition of Blake & Mortimer is published in English! A Cinebook exclusive, not even available in French, this Complete Collection will gather two or three books per volume, in the original publishing order, plus another book's worth of fascinating extra material on the series and the author, as well as sketches and historical notes - unmissable for any true fan! Four volumes will come out in 2025, with the next four already scheduled for 2026. This first one brings together the three episodes of our heroes' very first adventure, The Secret of the Swordfish, introducing their nemesis Olrik, their habit of saving the world ... and Jacobs's love of airplanes!

With The Time Trap, first of the two titles in this fourth volume, Jacobs tackles a quintessential science-fiction trope: time travel. Dinosaurs, medieval knights and an apocalyptic future make it a fabulous adventure, and who cares if, for the first time, Olrik isn't there? The Affair of the Necklace, on the other hand, is a pure crime story done in ultrarealistic overtones that set it somewhat apart from the rest of the series. Finally, the extra material will shine a light on the dangers of censorship at the time - from which even Jacobs wasn't safe.

Buck and his friends are sent to Edwards Air Force Base on a new top-secret assignment. Their joy at being test pilots again is short-lived: they are in fact to test and train an artificial intelligence program that could very well one day replace them in the cockpit of a fighter jet. As if that wasn't enough, the project is plagued by a string of incidents, to the point that Buck begins to - rightly - suspect outside interference ... A two-part story concluded in the next volume.

Frederic Hamilton, an aging millionaire and philanthropist, calls upon Harry Dickson to investigate most curious facts. For some time, he has been having strange dreams in which he appears before a mysterious court eleven masked judges who accuse him of despoiling Humanity. Now, his latest dreams have included physical torture and the pain is still present when he wakes up! Dickson and Superintendent Goodfield travel to Hamilton's residence, but their mission quickly turns into a nightmare.

The two stories contained in this third volume are firmly within the realm of science-fiction. And yet, Atlantis Mystery, with its prehistoric monsters, futuristic machines and subterranean lost civilisations, stands in stark contrast with S.O.S. Meteors, the action of which takes place entirely within Paris and the surrounding countryside. A falsely mundane environment that demonstrates Jacobs' ability to summon adventure anywhere! The 32 pages of extra material highlight, among other things, the author's creative process and sources of inspirations.

1864. The USS Kearsarge, a Union warship, puts in at the port of Amsterdam. Its mission in Europe: to stop the predations of the Alabama, a confederate privateer that's been preying on the transatlantic trade. Aboard are Blutch and Chesterfield, threatened with a firing squad by an irascible general, and sent to lie low in the Navy by their own superiors. Soon, the Alabama is spotted, and the Union ship rushes to intercept it. The confrontation will take place in the English Channel!

Two separate expeditions into the heart of the Amazon rainforest have trespassed upon Yanomami territory. On one side, Reinhard and his Nazis are looking for a sunken submarine and the gold it transported. On the other, Kathy Austin and Captain Delio of the Brazilian Navy are tracking a potentially extraterrestrial being. Threatened by both the hostile natives and the dangerous jungle itself, all will soon come to realise that the two quests may, in fact, be one and the same ...

As Emilie comes to explore the Irish estate she's inherited, she's forced to face a startling truth: there, ghosts, fairies and gateways to other worlds aren't mere legends, but rather the reality! Then there are the other residents, all of them strange, creepy at times, and who seem to hide a terrible secret. But there is a greater mystery still: who is the man who, from the shadows, manipulated the young woman into coming to Ireland - and for what purpose?