The Yellow 'M' (Blake & Mortimer) (Volume 1)

Edgar Jacobs created the Blake & Mortiner series in 1946. In the six decades since their creation, all of the books have remained constantly in print. They are considered classics in the Franco-Belgian comic book tradition. In Europe, these stories are held with the same high esteem as Tintin, Lucky Luke, Asterix and Alix. Unfortunately, with the exception of Tintin and Asterix, the Franco-Belgian tradition has never caught on in the English speaking world.The English publisher Cinebook has decided to issue a line of English language translations of classic European comic books. "The Yellow M" is their first Blake & Mortimer release. Hopefully, they will be able to eventually release the whole series.This is the first Blake & Mortimer story that I have ever read and it is easily understood why this series is such a classic. The series was produced in the clear line style of illustration. The quality of the draftmanship is very high. However, what makes the story first rate is the strong story line. It is cinematic in style and there is a film noire feel to the story. Highly recommended.

I have try for years to read an album of Blake and Mortimer, the series of comic books made by E.P. Jacobs, a disciple of Herge who worked on Tintin as well. Unfortunately, they are unavailable in my country, as well as many countries outside continental Europe. I finally got hold of the Yellow Mark (considered one of their best books), and it was even better than I expected, with the story of Professor Philip Mortimer and Captain Francis Blake pursuing a mysterious criminal who mystifies Scotland Yard with its spectacular exploits like robbing the imperial crown, with its good mix of fantasy, action and and suspense, its period ambience (this book was written in the early fifties), its London settings. I certainly would be interested on reading more books of B&M (specially from the early period).

Loved to read this story again after more then 50 years. Now in English instead of my native dutch in which I read the Blaker and Mortimer stories when I was 12 years old.

I enjoyed the art which resembles the lovely drawings of my favorite- Tintin. Yet the story was not too engaging as the supernatural elements rendered the storyline artificial and not believable.The plot is carried forward with far too much explication. Long paragraphs of narrative pack tiny speech balloons as the author can't seem to tell the story in pictures alone. It was an adequate read but measured against Tinti'.s crisp illustrations faced paced adventures even if Tintin suffers from rather contrived plot lines, The Yellow M was simply not as memorable. I remain curious to try the next in the series as I hope the minor short comings can be ironed out with practice.

Finally someone is translating the Blake and Mortimer books. I hope they do them all. They are so much better than the TV series. They started with one of the best. The Yellow M is Edgar P Jacobs most popular book. But the newly created ones by two teams of authors a quite good too.

A classic in the comic/art world. In Belgium they call this the 7th Art and for a reason; every drawing is a piece of art. Actually sometimes if I watch the Poirot's with David Suchet they remind me of B&M the same atmosphere. A great book!

As a father always on the lookout for alternatives to the mostly mind-numbing, intellect dulling, so-called childrens' literature I went back to my childhood to introduce my son to the world of Belgian comics, most notably Tintin. After my son devoured all the Tintin books, I researched other Belgian titles with similar themes and came across The Adventures of Blake & Mortimer. I was intrigued enough to buy The Yellow M. While every single panel of artwork is beautiful to look at the story and dialogue go around in circles, going nowhere in a spiral of unoriginality. Eventually, the story is revealed to be little more than the old "disgruntled mad scientist seeking revenge" plotline. The dialogue was needlessly verbose and the author relies too heavily on third person narration to explain events leading up to the situation at hand, sometimes using multiple paragraphs. The result was a dull-read for a parent previewing the book which turned out to be, for the aforementioned reasons, unsuitable for a nine-year old. As amazing as the artwork is, the story and dialogue don't hold up the same way Tintin has. Never-the-less, because of the artwork, I just might give the adventures of Blake & Mortimer a second chance. Yes, the illustrations are that good.

These stories make up an essential part of the Franco-Belgian comic strip canon. Jacobs is a great storyteller! Highly recommended!

To be honest most of the Blake and Mortimers I've read were written by others and not by Jacobs. I like very much the modern ones and I was wondering what could be the original one.So it's really good. It was selected among the top100 comics ever several times by several people.Good story, brilliant drawings you can't stop reading it.It's one of my top 3 B&M stories.Comparing with the first Jacobs story wit the Swordfish one, it's far better. The story telling and the drawing was developping a lot.

Enjoyed it very much - retro style comics panels, story line, characters etc. Thanks a lot cinebooks.

These stories have great art and storylines.

E.P. Jacobs zeichnerische Meisterleistung versetzt den Leser in die Nachkriegszeit Londons und fesselt durch die beiden Hauptprotagonisten Captain Blake und seinen Freund Prof. Mortimer bis zum Schluss. Für Anglophile ein Muss.

J'ai retrouvé toute la saveur, l'inventivité, du professeur Mortimer et du capitaine Blake Dans cette BD en anglais. J'essaie de trans mettre le virus à mon petit-fils, de culture anglo-saxonne et qui ignorait combien était savoureuse cette histoire presque vraie...A recommander pour tous et toutes celles qui veulent trouver ou retrouver de la bonne et traditionnelle BD.