Cinebook Ltd Blake & Mortimer 30 - Signed: Olrik

 

ISBN: 9781800441682 

£12.99 inc. VAT

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/blake-mortimer-signed-olrik-p-4586.html

Author: Yves Sente; illustrated by André Juillard
Based on the Characters of E.P. Jacobs
Age: 10 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 72 colour pages
Publication: September 2025 

A group demanding the independence of Cornwall has committed several attacks in Britain. Captain Blake, tasked with securing the site of an official visit by Prince Charles in Cornwall, must contend with the locals’ sympathies towards the secessionists and their leader, a mysterious High Druid. Meanwhile, Professor Mortimer is about to test his latest invention, a revolutionary excavator – in Cornwall. And as for Olrik, his new cellmates have a pronounced … Cornish accent! 

I'm glad the execution of Olrik on page 1 was a dream. Firstly, robed judges did not attend executions and hangings were always early morning events. Now this was written in 2024 so researching that was not a difficult thing. But, I am pedantic at the best of times!

Juillard was a very talented French artist and until I read the  dedication in this volume I had not realised that he passed away at the age of 76 in July, 2024. Tempus fugit

My pedantic outrage aside, this is another great yarn of Blake and Mortimer and the idea of a Cornish freedom fighting group seems a bit odd to most people but I'd say take a deep breath and go with the flow as it is fun and although Olrik does not die at the start of the story but at the end he does....

...maybe.

Madeleine Demille's colour work adds a great deal to Juillard's art and the atmosphere of the various settings. I think if anyone is a B & M fan you know what to expect but if you are new to the series it may well be worth starting from volume 1 so you know the characters OR there are 8 volumes in The Complete Collection -I mean, how can you go wrong?

All of these works have never appeared in English before so, as with Lucky Luke, you are in an age when you can have some great reading and art and see what our Europeans pals have been reading for decades!