After the icy North, Thorgal and his companions now face the
oppressive heat of the Middle East. On the road to Bag Dadh, the
reluctant hero has got dangerously close to the bewitching Saluma,
who tells him the story of the Red Mages - the very same who
kidnapped his son Aniel. It doesn't take long for Thorgal to realise
that he isn't mixed up in a simple crime, but rather in political machinations that could determine the future of the entire, sprawling
megalopolis!
Of all the enemies Thorgal made in his life, Kriss of Valnor is by
far the fiercest. Strangely, she's also, one of the most ambiguous,
and the mother of one of his children. Can there still be redemption
for her? Kriss sacrificed herself to save not only her son Aniel, but
also Aaricia and her family. An act of selfless bravery for which
she's rewarded with waking up in the kingdom of the gods. Yet Valhalla isn't hers yet, for she's also committed numerous terrible
and despicable acts throughout her life. She is brought before the
Valkyrie Tribunal, to have her life judged by the goddess Freyja. And
the childhood she is asked to recount was a most unhappy one ...
The Valkyries have passed judgement: Kriss of Valnor has been sent
back to Midgard, free to live a new life better than the first - she
cannot kill anyone or anything, or she herself will die immediately.
Befriended by Hildebrun, daughter of King Gustavson, she suddenly
finds herself in the midst of intense political scheming, caught
between the threat of Emperor Magnus, invader from the south, and a new, mysterious healer-king who's trying to unite the Vikings ...
Still appearing before Freyja at the Valkyrie tribunal, Kriss
continues to tell the story of her life before Thorgal. Following her
tragic first meeting with Sigwald, the young woman's existence
changed considerably. Now free and independent, the former victim
quickly became the bully, allowing her worst instincts to rule her.
Until, one day, her past caught up with her, and her horrific revenge
turned out to have serious consequences - including for Freyja's
final judgement ...
The time has come for the great battle. The armies of Emperor Magnus
have marched from the south, bent on forcefully converting all
Vikings to the worship of their unique god - or to exterminate them.
Facing them, the combined forces of Kriss and her new husband, King
Taljar - none other than Jolan! The survival of the Northmen will
rest on their courage, their loyalty, and the powers of their king and his lieutenants - as well as their queen's personal bravery.
While Jolan and his companions finally learn from Manthor what their
grand destiny will be, Thorgal is still on the trail of the men who
kidnapped his other son, Aniel. Along with jolly mercenary Petrov, he
sails down a frozen river aboard a Blade Ship - a trade vessel
equipped with heavy metal blades to break the ice. The journey is
fraught with dangers - storms, raiders, spies, wild animals ... and a group of shipwrecked Vikings looking for a mysterious chest ...
World War Three is over. Basam Damdu has been defeated. England can breathe and begin the rebuilding process ... or so it thinks. In China, unfortunately, Mao's Communists keep bowling over Chiang Kai-shek's troops, and are threatening Hong Kong. And General Xi-Lee, a ruthless warlord, has dreams of becoming the new Qin Shi Huang - first Emperor of China. When a relic of that very emperor is discovered by an acquaintance of Mortimer, things take a turn for the worst ...
Several months after their adventures in Antarctica, Blake and Mortimer are back in England. Still somewhat shaken after his ordeal, the professor is ordered by his doctor to get some rest. In typical Mortimer fashion, he decides to spend his holidays in Africa... looking for a lost civilisation! Accompanied by Nastasia Wardynska and an old flame of his, he begins tracking down a culture that is older than any ever recorded-but someone is dogging their every step...
1919. Colonel Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia - has an unpleasant meeting with an MI5 agent who confiscates his manuscript of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. 35 years later, Oxford is shaken by a series of burglaries at the Ashmolean Museum, at the same time as Blake learns of the death of an old friend. The captain begins an investigation, while Mortimer looks into the thefts... But what dark connection does all of this have with Lawrence or Blake's own past?
Mortimer is brought to the camp of General Li Hsi, the Chinese
warlord, where he is reunited with a seriously injured Nasir. The
professor was kidnapped in order to recover the archaeological proof
of the general's imperial lineage, but also to repair the Red Wing, a
formidable combat aircraft Olrik unwittingly delivered. While Blake
moves heaven and earth to find him and protect Hong Kong, Mortimer escapes to go in search of the only thing that can save Nasir: a
legendary pearl ...
Jason McLane - XIII - has just taken a shot at the pope during an
official visit to Washington DC. If he hadn't, two innocent hostages
would have paid the price. Granted, General Wolf's orders were always
to maintain his cover at all costs, but the plans of the Mayflower
conspirators - the same people that XIII was supposed to infiltrate
but now control him through blackmail - are appallingly more complex and dangerous than just this assassination attempt. American
democracy itself is in danger ...
The agents of the organisation that was hunting for XIII have finally captured him, along with his friends, but he's still refusing his captors' job offer. Forced to give in after they commit an appalling act just to coerce him, he's discreetly brought back to the USA, where he finally learns what they're really after. Meanwhile, Betty Barnowsky continues her own investigation under the FBI's very noses. For both of them, the road leads, once again, to Green Falls...
A Soviet rocket falls back to Earth carrying deadly bacteria. KGB Professor Voronov turns the extraterrestrial threat into a terrifying weapon that could be used to devastate the Western world-but he doesn't take into account the vigilance of Her Majesty's intelligence services. Soon, Blake and Mortimer are drawn into a lethal, shadowy war, from Moscow to London, where the stakes are no less than international peace and the real enemy may not be so obvious.
In Venice, a boating accident leads to the discovery of a 400 year old text bearing the signature `W.S.' and promising the truth about the `Shakespeare mystery'. That very night, someone tries unsuccessfully to steal the precious document. The discoverer, Marquis Stefano Da Spiri, decides to send a copy of the document to a specialist of the Bard in London for stylistic authentication. As for the original, he entrusts it to an old comrade in arms from WW2: Captain Francis Blake...
Jolan and his new companions have arrived safely in Manthor's home.
However, harmony isn't the word yet, and the instructions from their
new master don't help: their next task can only be accomplished if
all five of them work together to open a magical gate, but once
they're past that obstacle, only one of them can become the Chosen
one - and that by stealing no less than Thor's own shield! Can any of them even do it on their own?
1944. England is still locked in a struggle to the death with Nazi Germany. But already a new threat looms among the peaks of the Himalayas. For now, though, Squadron Leader Blake, having saved London from a German prototype, is assigned to a top secret mission, during which he meets with an old friend he hasn't seen since India: Philip Mortimer. Soon, the pair are introduced to an officer working for Allied Intelligence: Colonel Olrik...
Jolan, having triumphed in the trials set by his new master Manthor,
is now the Chosen One. At last his true mission is revealed: no less
than storming Asgard in order to restore the immortality of Manthor's
mother, a goddess who was cast out! While he leads his army of rag
dolls to the realm of the gods, Thorgal follows the trail of the Red
Mages who kidnapped his other son, Aniel, the child he had with Kriss
of Valnor.
Jason has managed to give his captors the slip, but he was forced to leave Betty behind, severely injured. After a short but tense episode dealing with the north-eastern mafia, he's off to the next step in his quest: Leiden, Holland, from where half of the Mayflower expedition left, and where his godfather appears to live. But his enemies haven't given up, and the young local guide he's picked brings her own heap of troubles...
After the terrible attack on the Capitol, the Mayflower Foundation, now under the sole leadership of Janet Fitzsimmons, succeeded in taking over the US government. As for Jason McLane, he has become a puppet controlled electronically by Janet - and is now also her husband, as well as one of the new president's closest advisors. When XIII goes to Cuba in order to covertly spring a Russian hacker from prison, he has no idea his past will once again come back to haunt him ...
Jason McLane, a.k.a. XIII, seems to have finally accepted his true
destiny. Tired of fighting the powerful elite who control the world,
he has apparently joined them. Of course, he supposedly did so on
orders from General Wolf, so as to bring down the sinister Mayflower
Foundation at last, but ... what if the temptation of power proved too
strong? Janet Fitzsimmons, the Foundation's president, too beautiful? Or the price of integrity too steep for him ... or his friends?
Still with Annika, Jason McLane has the documents his godfather left for him to find in the Netherlands deciphered. Once translated, the text offers revelations of breathtaking importance - enough to change the geopolitical map for ever. But the killers sent by the Mayflower Foundation are still after them, while in Afghanistan, Jones and Carrington's situation goes from bad to worse. XIII will have to be on his best game to sort it all out - but at what price?
XIII is hiding in France at the Préseaus, after a past more nebulous he even believed possible caught up to him again. But the organisation that's after him hasn't said its last word, and has considerable means at its disposal. It lures Jones, on duty in Afghanistan, into a terrible ambush, for the sole purpose of serving as bait for the amnesiac - who immediately rushes to her rescue. Meanwhile, Betty Barnowsky-Préseau is off to Maine to dig into XIII's past...
Philip Mortimer spent his youth in the land of the Maharajas. He loves India, but his last visit there did not end well. Now, many years later, the famous Professor Mortimer is in charge of the British pavilion at the Brussels Universal Exposition. When strange phenomena begin disrupting preparations, Mortimer and his friend Blake set off on a trail that will take them to the sixth continent-to confront an old and unexpected enemy.
Blake, Mortimer and Nasir are en route to Antarctica, hoping to locate Olrik and his Indian and KGB allies and to stop his attack on the Brussels Universal Exposition. Little do they know that their old adversary isn't the one in charge this time. In the frozen wasteland of the sixth continent, Mortimer will be reunited with an old acquaintance and solve the enigma of his younger days-at a terrible price.
