The adventures of Captain Blake and Professor Mortimer include some of the most universally beloved comic books worldwide, following closely behind the likes of Tintin and Asterix. Created by Edgar P. Jacobs some 65 years ago, they remain incredibly popular in Europe and elsewhere, while having barely established a foothold in the English-speaking countries.  

I was unenthusiastic about the previous adventure I read in this rebooted version of Jacobs’ classic. While Andre Juillard’s artwork was technically solid, THE VORONOV PLOT unfortunately expanded upon the less enthralling aspects of the original series, and Jacobs’ naturalistic verbosity turned tiresome in the hands of writer Yves Sente.

Receiving my copy of THE GONDWANA SHRINE, I expected more of the same. What I got was the best Blake and Mortimer adventure I’ve yet read, and one of the most enjoyable graphic novels I’ve had the pleasure to dive into in years.

Now don’t get me wrong: This is still not a book for every comic book lover. It’s very much in the talky, slow-burn style of the classic Euro comics. Visually in the ligne claire mold of TINTIN (although more realistic) subject- and story-wise, this draws equally from H.G. Wells and Talbot Mundy as it does from H. Rider Haggard.

The story is something of a continuation of THE SARCOPHAGI OF THE SIXTH CONTINENT, but by no means is that necessary to read first. It is, however, a good idea to be somewhat knowledgeable of the character dynamics of the duo for GONDWANA SHRINE to work its magic.

The storyline starts with a discovery in an underwater cave somewhere in Namibia, and goes on to shuffle archaeology, psychology and espionage with nefarious villains, lost race mythology and rampaging hippos to a delightfully and precisely balanced mixture of high adventure.

The book is wonderfully detailed. Juillards artwork doesn’t only do justice to the originator of the series, but when we get towards the resolution of the story, he seems to be able to channel Jean “Moebius” Giraud! He is equally able to capture the wildlife of the Namibian desert as he is dealing with fictional super-science.

The artwork has that eyepopping clarity which also benefits from the large size of the book, but the detail goes far beyond the superbly rendered characters and vistas into the plotting.

Not only does the story do callbacks to earlier adventures — without the necessity of your having the read them to get the idea — it also appears to set up situations for future episodes. Curious how Sarah Summertown’s daughter has red hair? The book doesn’t spell things out, but allows the reader to figure them out and enjoy the discoveries.

If any of this sounds remotely interesting, I heartily recommend it. There is an utterly charming officious Britishness in this Franco-Belgian comic book with carefully drawn and thought-out characters and situations. It is a bit like a more polite version of an Indiana Jones adventure, which in itself of course drew from the same source materials.

It might be a good idea to read one or two earlier adventures (like THE YELLOW M) to get the full force of the book, but personally, soon as I had finished it, I went back to the beginning and read it again to find out what I had missed the first time around.

And when you’re done enjoying the plotting, spend some time poring over the drawings and you’ll find an immense amount of interesting and meaningful detail within those impeccably illustrated panels.  —JT Lindroos

Buy it at Amazon.