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

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.

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.

A very good reading comic book by Edgar Jacobs. I've been a big fan of Tintin, Asterix, Lucky Luke, & Smurf comics from the past. Now, I begin to feel this comic deserves to be in my heart as well. The story depicts 2 main characters: Blake & Prof. Mortimer. Yellow "M" is one of the interesting comic book, I am totally hooked. Okay, I'm a-40-yr-old guy who still loves comics, people. Yet, I still find this comic enjoyable to read in a spare time. The story tells about the disappearance of kidnapping some important people, yet the main adversary is difficult to be caught by police. What should Mortimer & Blake do to solve it ? In this comic book, it has some heavy words reading to understand them. I have to say as they are quite different from what I've read from other comics in the past.

pretty good

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).

I have fond memories of reading Hergé's Tintin stories as a child, so it was only natural that I should introduce my daughters to them as well. Once we'd read our way through Tintin I ordered "The Yellow M" in hopes of finding a worthy follow-up. While most ten-year-olds will enjoy it, I think the Blake and Mortimer series falls short in several respects. First, it's far more wordy: dialog fills much of the frames, and virtually every frame has a text bubble, much of it entirely superfluous narration. Second, it lacks the innocent humor and memorable characters that make Tintin so appealing.On another note, the binding of the book we received was shoddy: after a single reading, pages were falling out.If you found your way to "The Yellow M" because you enjoyed Tintin and are looking for more comic books in the same spirit, I would recommend the "Rainbow Orchid" series by Garen Ewing instead. They have far more charm, and the combination of Mr. Ewing's prodigious talent and modern color graphics technology yields stunning results.

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.

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.

Originally I rated this book with 2 stars. I think the story and the artwork are wonderful but the book fell to pieces before I had finished reading it. However, I emailed Cinebook and they respond immediately (even though it was a Saturday) and replaced the book free of charge. I think that is good service and that my original rating deserves to be changed. The Yellow M is a good read and I am looking forward to increasing my collection of Blake and Mortimer.

I had high hopes, I thought this appeared very Tin Tin esque and the author had worked on some Tin Tin adventures. It is a nice book, however the bit that make it simply ok for me and not fab was I just didn't find the level of humour i love from Tin Tin and Asterix.

This old-fashioned cartoon detective strip was wolfed down by my 9 year old who has grown up on the original Tintin strips. I feel the request for more of these stories coming on in time for the Summer holiday reading.

One of Blake and Mortimer's earlier adventures, a little confusingly Cinebook have called this number 1 but it refers to the Mystery of the Great Pyramid in it which are books 2 and 3. Very good stuff though. lovely drawings of London in the 50's

One of the finest of the series; great drawings; a gripping story. I really enjoyed reading this one.PS: The translator did a good job ;)