The Last Pharaoh , new adventure of Blake and Mortimer reviewed and magnified by the artist of Cited the Obscure François Schuiten is not an album like others. Intimidated by the brilliant work of Jacobs, the Belgian has been appointed to the help of the three stooges, the filmmaker Jaco Van Dormael, the novelist Thomas Gunzig and the poster artist Laurent Durieux. For three years, they are found in the workshop of the designer of The Fever of Urbicande and have devised a new adventure out of the common for the two heroes «so british» created by Edgar P. Jacobs in 1946. While keeping his own graphic style, François Schuiten has given birth to a great comic, full-bodied and controlled, which is able to capture the spirit of Jacobs, and the original series. By Jove, Mr. Schuiten! Hats off to…

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The BOX BD:

François Schuiten: «I took the lantern used by Mortimer in this box because for me, it is symbolic.» Blake and Mortimer Schuiten

In this case, François Schuiten is clear its not in those of Edgar P. Jacobs. «The world of Jacobs, the fantastic, science-fiction, not his style but his spirit, it’s amazing how this work had an impact on me,» he admits. With The Last Pharaoh , I wanted to go back to the sources of the work. I understood that Jacobs has always had a true belief, the one that the comic strip could take us elsewhere. In this case, we see professor Mortimer, the dos, which holds a lantern at the heart of the great pyramid. For me, this is like an invitation to travel …»

The editor Yves Schlirf knew by offering to François Schuiten resume Blake and Mortimer for a unique adventure, it inséminait in the head of the author of The Fever of Urbicande is an ambitious project. He was not mistaken. «Me, I have dreamed that Moebius makes a Tintin,» says Schuiten. It is necessary to have boldness. It must be jostled. I’m 63 years old and I have been BD since the age of 16 years. It grabs automation… My three friends Jaco Van Dormael, Thomas Gunzig, and the poster artist Laurent Durieux helped me to imagine Blake and Mortimer, to reinvent them… I have everything set!»

«lights in the night»

We realize that Schuiten is a child of Jacobs, when it warms up, for example, the check box of the Mystery of the Great pyramid volume 2 page 40 (below) in the revisiting and installing its own style, its perspectives and vanishing points. «I took the lantern used by Mortimer in this box because for me, it is symbolic. With it, Mortimer lights up the world. And our lantern, we readers, on the mysteries of the universe! It is for this reason that the figure of Mortimer holding this light has been available also on the cover… there’s like a retinal persistence of this image throughout the album.»

the image of The hero is about to dive into the unknown only with this magic lantern is almost allegorical. There is something of the wonder of the primitive.»This lantern that illuminates the world is an element of iconic graphic grammar of Jacobs, confirms Schuiten. Mortimer between without fear in the night, he explores the spaces unknown thanks to his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and his curiosity boundless. We need characters who enlighten us. At this time, there is a lack of lights in the night… For me, Blake and Mortimer (Edgar P. Jacobs) are one!»

The box’s Mystery of the Great pyramid book 2, pages 40, which inspired François Schuiten to the bottom of page 22 in The Last Pharaoh . Blake and Mortimer Edgar P. Jacobs