Plot
During a speleological expedition deep in the caves of the Azores, Blake and Mortimer are cut off by their old enemy Olrik, trapping them in a gaseous cavern. Surviving the odds, they are captured by a race of technologically advanced men, who claim to be descendants of survivors from Atlantis. Then, immersed in a sinister plot led by Commander Magon to topple the wise Basileus and lead modern Atlantis in conquest of the surface world, they ally themselves with Crown Prince Ikaros to thwart Magon's megalomaniac plans. But the outcome is far from certain.
Professor Philip Mortimer takes his vacation to São Miguel, an island of the Azores, to do a little speleology. While exploring a hole called by locals "O furo do Diabo", he finds a radioactive rock and cannot help making a rapprochement with the orichalcum mentioned by Plato, the mysterious metal of Atlantis, this legendary civilization so-called swallowed up by the waves. He then called to Captain Francis Blake to further exploration of this cave with him. But the two friends quickly discover that they are not the only ones interested in this case. Indeed, a foreign power, having intercepted the letter from Mortimer to the address of Blake, is interested by this potential source of nuclear energy and Olrik hired to retrieve the rock. He disguises himself as a native of the country and managed to accompany Blake and Mortimer in their exploration. Although Olrik is unable to retrieve the orichalcum, he managed to condemn Blake and Mortimer to stay trapped in the cave. Driven out by sulphurous fumes, the two friends have choice to go further in a tunnel, hoping to find another way out. After having escaped death repeatedly, they discover a wealth of orichalcum and eventually vanish, irradiated.
When they wake up, not only are they perfectly healed but, they left the cave, finding himself in a futuristic world. They are taken to the head of the place which is called Basileus. It condemns them to stay until the end of their days in this place. Blake and Mortimer are placed under the protection of a certain prince Icare who explain the situation: they are in Atlantis. Indeed, 12,000 years ago, Atlantis ruled the world from an island in the middle of the Atlantic. But the collision between Earth and a huge celestial body caused the immersion of the continental coasts and island. The few survivors of the Atlantean civilization then decided to build a new and secret Atlantis in the bowels of the Earth. Since then, the Atlanteans, much more evolved than the inhabitants of the surface thanks to the immense energy source that constitutes the orichalcum, watching the surface of the Earth thanks to what earthlings call flying saucers.
So that Blake and Mortimer are starting their new lives in Poseidopolis, capital of Atlantis, they are victims of murder attempts. He then appears to Icarus that Atlantis is threatened with a serious danger. To confirm his suspicions, he went secretly, accompanied by two earthlings, to the great gate that separates the Atlantis of the Kingdom to the barbarians. These are the descendants of wild peoples who lived on Atlantis and Atlantis were greeted in their underground area, now rejected in a territory behind the Great Gate as a result of attempts to revolt.
The three men have reason to be wary as Magon, the phulacontarque, is the head of a conspiracy which, with the help of the barbarians, intends to overthrow the Basileus and invade the Earth's surface. Having got wind of the departure of Icarus and fearing the discovery of its projects, mago tries to destroy the shipment, but Blake, Mortimer and Icarus to survive. They arrive finally at the Gong sacred, above the great gate and tower which was once used to prevent Poseidopolis of a barbaric attack. That's when Magon and an escort of conspirators through this place to visit Tlalak, the King of the barbarians. The latter is recommended by Olrik, who, having suffered a fall in the cave, found himself at the Court of the King, seeing in this post to advise an opportunity to take revenge on men. But while Magon and Tlalak to discuss the terms of their alliance, Blake, Mortimer and Icarus appear, who took the identity of members of the guard of Magon in the sacred Gong. The three friends fled and split: Blake tries to warn Poseidopolis directly while Mortimer and Icarus take the low road. At the inland sea, Blake steals a boat to reach the capital, but, caught in a typhoon, it is brought back to its starting point where he is captured by the conspirators. Meanwhile, Mortimer and Icarus hide themselves in the ceremonial start of the barbarians with the help of Kisin, a barbarian acquired their cause wanting to avenge the death of his brother caused by Olrik. They reach the sacred Gong where they find Blake that there was held prisoner, and Mortimer manages to ring the gong.
The three friends fly to Poseidopolis aircraft, but the attack has already been launched. When they reach the capital, the city is already half invaded by the barbarians thanks to sabotage of weapons of the Atlanteans by the conspirators. At the Palace, Magon finally unveils his coup in the Basileus as the King Tlalak and Olrik, followed by a horde of barbarians, enter the command room. All seems lost for the Basileus, when Blake, Mortimer and Icarus arise, having managed to reach the Palace through a secret passage. In attempting to exterminate these spoilsport, Olrik accidentally triggers the opening of the floodgates that held the ocean: Atlantis is lost. The Basileus decides to engage the large evacuation planned for a very long: the departure of the Atlanteans to another planet with an armada of spaceships. While Atlantis prepares to join other skies, barbarians, Tlalak, Magon and Olrik are facing the rising waters, and Blake and Mortimer are released and evacuated by a submarine remotely piloted by Icarus. Back on land, in the caldera of Sete Cidades, they attend the majestic departure of Atlantean ships.
Atlantis is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works Timaeus and Critias as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world, making it the literary counter-image of the Achaemenid Empire. After an ill-fated attempt to conquer "Ancient Athens," Atlantis falls out of favor with the deities and submerges into the Atlantic Ocean. Since Plato describes Athens as resembling his ideal state in the Republic, the Atlantis story is meant to bear witness to the superiority of his concept of a state.
The Adventures of Blake & Mortimer is a Belgian comics series created by writer and comics artist Edgar P. Jacobs. It was one of the first book series to appear in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Tintin in 1946, and was subsequently published in book form by Belgian comic book publisher Le Lombard.
Root races are concepts in the esoteric cosmology of Theosophy. As described in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's book The Secret Doctrine (1888), these races correspond to stages of human evolution, and existed mainly on now-lost continents. Blavatsky's model was developed by later theosophists, most notably William Scott-Elliot in The Story of Atlantis (1896) and The Lost Lemuria (1904). Annie Besant further developed the model in Man: Whence, How and Whither (1913). Both Besant and Scott-Elliot relied on information from Charles Webster Leadbeater obtained by "astral clairvoyance". Further elaboration was provided by Rudolf Steiner in Atlantis and Lemuria (1904). Rudolf Steiner, and subsequent theosophist authors, have called the time periods associated with these races Epochs.
Black Manta is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy, the character first appeared in Aquaman #35. He has since endured as the archenemy of the superhero Aquaman.
The legendary island of Atlantis has often been depicted in literature, television shows, films and works of popular culture.
Ocean Master is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy and debuted in Aquaman #29. While the character is depicted as the half-brother and one of the most enduring and recognized adversaries of Aquaman, Ocean Master has been subjected to numerous revisions to his origin stories throughout his history.
Queen Clea is a supervillain appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a recurring adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman. The ruthless dictator of Venturia, a remote kingdom on the sunken continent of Atlantis, she first appeared in 1944's Wonder Woman #8, written by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston and illustrated by Harry G. Peter. After several clashes with Wonder Woman, she became a member of Villainy Inc., a team consisting of several of Wonder Woman's Golden Age foes, including the Cheetah, Giganta, and Doctor Poison. She appeared periodically during Wonder Woman's Silver and Bronze Age adventures, and would be re-introduced during DC Comics' Post-Crisis era as the leader of Villainy Inc.
The Time Trap by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs was the ninth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It appeared in book format in 1962.
S.O.S. Meteors: Mortimer in Paris is the eighth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series by Edgar P. Jacobs. It was first published in Tintin magazine.
Professor Sató's 3 Formulae, Volume 2: Mortimer vs. Mortimer was the twelfth book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It was started by Edgar P. Jacobs but after his death, completed by Bob de Moor, and was finally published in 1990.
The Voronov Plot is the fourteenth book in the Blake and Mortimer comic book series. It was released in 2000.
The Strange Encounter is the fifteenth book in the Blake and Mortimer series created by Edgar P. Jacobs. Published in 2001, it was written by Jean Van Hamme and drawn by Ted Benoit who had already contributed to the series with The Francis Blake Affair in 1996. Whereas that book dealt with espionage, this story combines elements of detective and science fiction of the sort present in Jacobs' original stories.
Atlantis is a fictional location appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is based on the mythical island of Atlantis first mentioned in Plato's initial dialogue the Timaeus, written c. 360 BC. In the Marvel Universe, Atlantis was a small continent with many human settlements. Over 21,000 years ago, an event called the "Great Cataclysm" caused it to be submerged into the sea.
Atlantis, sometimes also called the Kingdom of Atlantis or the Atlantean Empire, is a fictional civilization appearing American comic books published by DC Comics based upon the mentioning of the island within Plato's works Timaeus and Critias. First appearing in More Fun Comics #87, the setting is often associated with the hero Aquaman. Within the DC Universe, Atlantis houses various aquatic-based human lifeforms whose biological adaptations often originate from both environmental changes when Atlantis sunk in a cataclysmic event within its history and influence from its magical origins. A nation considered a superpower, it is often stated to be among the oldest and most sophisticated civilization within the fictional universe throughout its collective history and possess significant technological and magical capabilities. Historically a hereditary monarchy, many stories involving Atlantis as a setting focuses on conflicts regarding its succession of leaders, diplomatic relations with the global world, and its fictional cultural heritage.
The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, Volume 2: Battle of the Minds is the seventeenth Blake and Mortimer book in the series.
The Curse of the Thirty Denarii is the nineteenth Blake and Mortimer book in the series. The story was written by Jean Van Hamme. Its completion was delayed with the death of the artist, René Sterne, on 15 November 2006. The book was completed by Sterne's girlfriend Chantal de Spiegeleer and was released on 20 November 2009.
The Gondwana Shrine is the eighteenth Blake and Mortimer comic book in the series. The book was published in France and Belgium on March 28, 2008.
Gamemnae is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She was an enemy of the Justice League. Gamemnae first appeared in JLA #69 and was created by Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke.
The Testament of William S. is the twenty-fourth album of the comic series Blake and Mortimer, written by Yves Sente and drawn by André Juillard, based on the characters created by Edgar P. Jacobs.
The fictional island of Atlantis frequently appears in popular culture, especially in comic books. The most notable examples are commonly related to Namor of Marvel Comics and a particular version of Aquaman in DC Comics.
