The Secret of the Swordfish

Graphicnovelbox|
title=The Secret of The Swordfish
foreigntitle=Le Secret de l'Espadon


caption=Cover of the third album, depicting the Swordfish
publisher=Le Lombard
date=1950 - 1953
series=Blake and Mortimer
main_char_team=
origpublication=Tintin Magazine
origissues=
origdate=September 26 1946 - September 8 1949
origlanguage= French
origisbn=
writers=Edgar P. Jacobs
artists=Edgar P. Jacobs
pencillers=
colorists=
transpublisher= Les Editions Blake et Mortimer
transdate=
transisbn=
translator=
previssue=
nextissue=The Mystery of the Great Pyramid

"The Secret of The Swordfish" was the first story in the Blake and Mortimer comic book series by Edgar P. Jacobs. It is set in the fictional third world war during the 1950s.

Publication history

"The Secret of the Swordfish" was first published in "Tintin magazine" from the very first issue in September 1946 on. In 1950, the first 18 pages were redrawn and reduced to 17 pages — giving more details on the background of the events leading up to the main plot — and the first half of the story was published as the very first comic album by publisher Lombard, in the later famous "Collection du Lombard". A second part followed in 1953. The two part edition was reprinted 9 times between 1955 and 1982. A single volume edition was published in 1964. [Béra, Michel; Denni, Michel; and Mellot, Philippe (1998): "Trésors de la Bande Dessinée 1999-2000". Paris, Les éditions de l'amateur. ISBN 2-85917-258-0] In 1984, the story was republished in three parts, with new lettering and colouring, and with the inclusion of a number of full page illustrations that had appeared in the magazine but were omitted from the comic albums. [Matla, Hans: "Stripkatalogus 9: De negende dimensie". Panda, Den Haag, 1998. ISBN 90-6438-111-9]

Plot

Part 1

The first volume, "Ruthless Pursuit," opens on the eve of the Third World War. Details are scarce, but we are told that the enemy is a totalitarian Asiatic superpower known as "the Yellow Empire," ruled by the Emperor Basam Damdu, and that the Yellow Empire and the free world have been locked in a cold war for the past three years. Within the first few pages of the book, the Yellow launch a worldwide aggression with rockets, bombers and paratroopers that quickly destroy and conquer the world's other major powers. However, the British military has been secretly working on a new type of superweapon known as the Swordfish, in anticipation of the war. Forewarned of the attack by a traitor in the Yellow army, Captain Francis Blake, a British officer, and Professor Phillip Mortimer, the scientist developing the Swordfish, escape with the superweapon's plans, their destination being a secret base in the Middle East where they will be able to finish their work.

The rest of the episode follows their attempts to escape the pursuing Yellow forces, led by the cunning and conniving Colonel Olrik, Basam Damdu's chief of security. They initially escape from Britain in a jet-powered airplane known as the "Golden Rocket," but are shot down somewhere over Iran by Yellow interceptors. They must continue the trek to the Strait of Hormuz on foot. Along the way, they encounter resistance fighter Ahmed Nasir, who becomes an invaluable help to them, and finally seek refuge in a small town in the Herat province. One of their hosts there betrays them, however; the episode ends with a cliffhanger leaving the reader with a want for more: the soldiers of the Yellow army are directed to the room where Blake and Mortimer are staying and as they enter they find an astonishing surprise (naturally the reader can only see their reaction, not the cause of it).

Part 2

"Mortimer's Escape" takes place in two distinct halves. The first one picks up right where "Ruthless Pursuit" left off. The enraged Yellow commander orders his troops to search the city until they find Blake and Mortimer; however, he then executes one of the community's elders when the latter refuses to cooperate. This sparks an immediate insurrection in which the outraged townsmen quickly massacre the Yellow troops; in the ensuing chaos, Blake and Mortimer emerge from hiding and take off again, still with Nasir helping them. Eventually, the three of them make it to the Strait of Hormuz, but Blake is injured and loses the documents while trying to escape a Yellow patrol. Mortimer then tells Nasir to take Blake to safety, while he returns to search for the plans. He is himself then captured by Yellow troops, but not before he is able to find and conceal the plans.

The second half of the episode begins three months later, with Colonel Olrik making a report to the high council of the Yellow Empire. It is clear that the Yellow are having a lot of trouble controlling their new empire; rebellions, dissident movements and acts of terrorism have continued worldwide, and despite their best efforts, the Yellow have still not been able to sweat the Swordfish plans out of Mortimer. As chief of security for the Empire, Olrik is the natural scapegoat for this state of affairs; he therefore decides to take the gloves completely off and torture Mortimer as harshly as necessary, hoping that his confession will help save Olrik. Under instructions from Nasir, who has managed to infiltrate the detention center, Mortimer pretends to relent, and agrees to reconstitute the Swordfish plans for the Yellow.

After this, we are finally shown the secret base, where Blake and the admiral in command, Sir William Grey, have been conducting resistance against the Yellow (including many of the incidents that Olrik is being blamed for). They now have two urgent priorities; first, to find the lost plans and second, to break Mortimer out of prison. The first problem is resolved when Mortimer is able to pass a message to Nasir telling him where he hid the plans. Soon after this, Mortimer almost manages a prison break on his own; before the Yellow are able to capture him, he is rescued by Blake and Nasir personally, who then take him to a submarine and manage to escape, despite the Yellow navy and air force's best efforts.

Part 3

"SX1 counterattacks," the third part of the saga, begins soon after Mortimer's escape. In the first pages, British commandos attack and capture a Yellow train taking imprisoned scientists to a forced labor camp. The scientists are freed and taken back to the Hormuz base, where they also begin to work on the Swordfish project. Soon after this, acts of sabotage begin to disrupt the base, and Blake suspects that one of the captured scientists was actually a Yellow mole. This is eventually revealed to be none other than Olrik himself, who personally undertook the operation in an attempt to reestablish his reputation in the eyes of the high council. Olrik manages to escape from the base despite Blake's best efforts, and the British are faced with an imminent Yellow invasion. Mortimer suggests a drastic solution; concentrate all the base's efforts on the assembly of two working Swordfish, which should be enough to destroy a Yellow invasion force. He estimates thirty hours before this can be done, and Admiral Grey gives him his word that the base will hold.

The next morning, a vast Yellow task force, composed of an aircraft carrier battle group and a number of land and air forces, appears and surrounds the base. The initial attacks are defeated and turned back by the heroic efforts of the British. However, Olrik then deploys new chemical weapons against which gas masks are ineffective; these allow the Yellow to gain a foothold, and they slowly begin to work their way inwards. However, both Mortimer and Grey keep their word, and the two Swordfish (designated SX1 and SX2, hence the title) are finished in time. The weapons, piloted by Blake and Mortimer, are unleashed and destroy the Yellow task force in minutes, though one of them is lost in combat. The base is saved, and Sir William Grey launches a radio call to the resistance movements of the world telling them the news and urging them to strike.

In the following week, open rebellions erupt worldwide, taxing the overextended resources of the Yellow to the limit until the Emperor decides to end the war by launching ICBMs against all the rebel targets. He even orders that Olrik be strapped to one of the rockets. Before he can do this, however, an entire squadron of Swordfish commanded by Blake arrives over Lhassa and nukes the city, killing Basam Damdu and decapitating the Yellow Empire, under the mocking eyes of Olrik. The last scene shows Blake and Mortimer back in a ruined and destroyed London, with Blake commenting that they will rebuild and that civilization, once again, has had the last word — "hopefully, this time, for good."

English Publication

The three parts are published in English as "The Secret of The Swordfish Volume 1: Ruthless Pursuit", "The Secret of The Swordfish Volume 2: Mortimer's Escape" and "The Secret of The Swordfish Volume 3: SX1 Counterattacks" in 1986 by Les Editions Blake and Mortimer.

Notes

Further reading

Chavanne, Renaud (October 2005): "Edgar P. Jacobs & Le Secret de l'Explosion". Paris, Editions PLG, collection "Mémoire Vive". ISBN 2-9522729-1-3