Monsieur Zenith | |
---|---|
First appearance | A Duel to the Death (Union Jack #837, Nov 1919) |
Created by | Anthony Skene |
In-universe information | |
Species | Human |
Gender | Male |
Occupation | Gentleman thief |
Nationality | Romanian |
Monsieur Zenith the Albino is an ambiguous villain created by writer Anthony Skene for the "Sexton Blake" series of detective pulp fiction.
Zenith is an albino, world-weary gentleman thief, originally Romanian nobility but in exile for undetermined reasons. He is full of an ennui which can only be relieved by opium, danger and adventure. Zenith sets himself against Blake not out of avarice but for the joy of the game, and treats Blake with sportsmanship rather than anger or hatred.
Zenith is influenced as much by the anti-heroes of Gothic fiction as he is by the master villains of 20th century pulp fiction, notably Fantômas.[ citation needed ] Zenith remains one of Blake's most popular adversaries.[ citation needed ]
M. Zenith was an important influence in the creation of the fantasy character Elric of Melniboné. Elric's creator Michael Moorcock in turn influenced the re-publication of Skene's sole novel, Monsieur Zenith: The Albino ( ISBN 0861301099), for which he wrote an introduction, [1] and reused the characters in The Metatemporal Detective .
A new collection of five original Zenith short stories, Zenith Lives!: Tales of M.Zenith, the Albino , edited by Stuart Douglas, was published in April 2012 by Obverse Books as Book 4 of The Obverse Quarterly. It includes stories by Stuart Douglas, Sexton Blake scholar Mark Hodder, Paul Magrs, George Mann (a story set in his steampunk universe which also features a crossover character from Mann's Doctor Who novel, Paradox Lost), and Michael Moorcock (featuring Seaton Begg, an alternate version of Sexton Blake). [2] [3] [4] [5]
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worked as an editor and is also a successful musician. He is best known for his novels about the character Elric of Melniboné, which were a seminal influence on the field of fantasy in the 1960s and 1970s.
Elric of Melniboné is a fictional character created by English writer Michael Moorcock and the protagonist of a series of sword and sorcery stories taking place on an alternative Earth. The proper name and title of the character are Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné. Later stories by Moorcock marked Elric as a facet of the Eternal Champion.
Stormbringer is a magic sword featured in a number of fantasy stories by the author Michael Moorcock. It is described as a huge, black sword covered with strange runes, created by the forces of Chaos. The sword has a will of its own and it is hinted that the sword may be controlled by an inhabiting entity. It is wielded by the doomed albino emperor Elric of Melniboné. Stormbringer makes its first appearance in the 1961 novella The Dreaming City. In the four novellas collected in the 1965 book Stormbringer, the sword's true nature is revealed.
The Eternal Champion is a fictional character created by British author Michael Moorcock and is a recurrent feature in many of his speculative fiction works.
Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character is often a detective, who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader. Some mystery books are non-fiction. Mystery fiction can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.
Sexton Blake is a fictional character, a detective who has been featured in many British comic strips, novels and dramatic productions since 1893. Sexton Blake adventures were featured in a wide variety of British and international publications from 1893 to 1978, comprising more than 4,000 stories by some 200 different authors. Blake was also the hero of numerous silent and sound films, radio serials, and a 1960s ITV television series.
Philip Purser-Hallard is a fantasy, science fiction and crime author described by the British Fantasy Society as "the best kept secret in British genre writing".
Albinism organisations and others have expressed criticism over the portrayal of individuals with albinism in popular culture, specifically in movies and fictional works, citing the overwhelmingly negative depiction. There is concern that such depictions could increase social bias and discrimination against individuals with albinism. This phenomenon is often referred to as the "evil albino" plot device.
Christopher Sequeira is a Sydney-based Australian editor, writer and artist who works predominantly in the speculative fiction and mystery realms.
The Metatemporal Detective is a collection of short fiction by British fantasy and literary writer Michael Moorcock.
Michael Moorcock's Multiverse is an American twelve-issue comic book limited series published in 1997 as a part of the short-lived DC Comics imprint Helix. It was later collected as a single edition graphic novel. Written by Michael Moorcock, each monthly issue contained a chapter from three separate storylines featuring distinct groups of characters lifted from Moorcock's sprawling Eternal Champion novels.
Mike Chinn is a horror, fantasy, science fiction and comics writer from Birmingham, England.
This is a bibliography of the works of Michael Moorcock.
Obverse Books is a British publisher initially known for publishing books relating to the character Iris Wildthyme, and currently for the Black Archive series of critical books on Doctor Who, and two sister series - the Gold Archive, focusing on Star Trek, and the Silver Archive, featuring other genre shows. The company also owns publishing rights for stories based on Faction Paradox, and previously held the license to Sexton Blake. Obverse Books had an e-book only imprint named Manleigh Books between 2012 and 2016.
George Mann is a British author and editor, primarily in genre fiction, and is best known for his alternate history detective novel series Newbury and Hobbes (2008–2019) and The Ghosts action science fiction noir novels (2010–2017), a book series set in the same universe.
The Albino's Treasure is a mystery pastiche novel written by Stuart Douglas, featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson up against Monsieur Zenith from the Sexton Blake novels.
Nelson Lee is a fictional detective who featured in the Amalgamated Press papers over a 40-year run. Created in 1894 by Maxwell Scott he appeared in various publications including The Halfpenny Marvel, Pluck, The Boys' Friend, Boys' Realm, The Boys' Herald and the Union Jack In 1915 he was given his own story-paper series, The Nelson Lee Library, which ran until 1933.
The Sexton Blake Library was a story paper of the first two-thirds of the 20th century, published by Amalgamated Press. It featured the adventures of private detective Sexton Blake, his boy assistant Tinker and their dog Pedro. It made its debut as a pocket-sized digest on September 20, 1915 and ran uninterrupted until June 1963. After a brief hiatus, it returned in paperback format in February 1965 and ran for 45 issues until October 1968.
Stuart Douglas is an author, editor and publisher from Edinburgh. Douglas is the founder of British publisher Obverse Books, an independent publishing house known for its speculative fiction, particularly in the realms of science fiction, fantasy, and weird fiction. He is the range editor for the Black Archive and Silver Archive series of monographs on genre television.
Holland, Steve (2002). Zenith:Prince of Chaos – The story of Anthony Skene (George Norman Philips) and his creation Zenith The Albino – A biography and bibliography. Watford: Norman Wright.