XIII (comic series)
| Comic | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Comics series XIII logo | |
| country | Belgium |
| author | Jean Van Hamme , Yves Sente (from volume 20) |
| Illustrator | William Vance , Iouri Jigounov (Juri Schigunow) (from Volume 20) |
| publishing company | Dargaud |
| magazine | Spirou |
| First publication | 1984 - ... |
| expenditure | 27 |
XIII (Thirteen) (in the original XIII, Trente [ tʁɑ̃t ]) is a Franco-Belgian comic series published since 1984 , created by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance .
action
The realistically drawn agent thriller is set in the USA and is about a man without a memory who calls himself "XIII" after a tattoo on his shoulder. In the search for his identity , he is hindered, hunted and also slandered by different people. But he also makes friends who help him trace what has happened. He discovers the trace of a major conspiracy in which the right-wing military and members of the secret service want to overthrow the president. The story is built up with several narrative threads using a large number of characters.
- Volume 1-5
The series begins with a man who washes up in Peacock Bay on the east coast of the USA and suffers from amnesia. The only links to his past are the "XIII" tattoo on his collarbone and a photo of himself and a woman who turns out to be Kim Rowland. While searching for Kim Rowland, XIII discovers a message from her suggesting that he "meet at the Indian." Shortly afterwards, murderers commissioned by La Mangoustes find him, but a government agent named Colonel Amos saves him. He is tasked with investigating the conspiracy surrounding the murder of President William B. Sheridan and tracking down the assassin. Amos confronts XIII with a video that shows a person who looks like XIII assassinating Sheridan. The day of the murder has since been called "the day of the black sun". XIII manages to escape Colonel Amos.
The second volume leads XIII in search of Kim Rowland to General Carrington, who confirms XIII's identity as Steve Rowland, Kim Rowland's husband. Carrington goes on to explain that Rowland was a member of a special military unit, the SPADS (Special Assault and Destroy Sections), which Carrington created. Rowland allegedly died in a helicopter crash two years ago while on duty. Then XIII is driven by Lieutenant Jones, Carrington's adjutant, to the Rowlands house in Southbourg. While Jeremy Rowland, a wealthy landowner, and the other relatives have no doubt about XIII's identity as Steve Rowland, XIII is disappointed that Kim is not there. Amos visits XIII and explains to him that he still thinks he is his prime suspect, since his fingerprints were found on the sniper rifle with which President Sheridan was shot. In order to expose the people behind the attack, Amos XIII lets the search for Kim Rowland continue, because he suspects that she knows something important and would otherwise not be hiding. XIII finally manages to find out "where the Indian is going" but is tricked by Jeremy Rowland's young wife, Felicity. In addition to Jeremy Rowland, Felicity also kills Steven's uncle Matt and then arrests the XIII murders with the aim of inheriting from Jeremy. XIII escapes the police with the help of Carrington and Lieutenant Jones, who drop him off near Kim's hiding place. Kim reveals to him not only that she is tattooed just like him (number XVII), but also that he is not Steve Rowland, but she does not know his real name. She disappears before XIII is arrested by the police. A court sentenced him to life imprisonment in a locked institution for the murder of the Rowlands.
At the beginning of the third volume, XIII is in a facility for mentally ill criminals. In the meantime, as a result of his investigations, Colonel Amos has realized that XIII is not Steve Rowland, but a body double. He therefore assumes that Rowland was actually killed in battle and that XIII was given his appearance thanks to a surgical operation to assassinate President Sheridan. He also thinks that La Mangouste is trying to kill XIII so that investigators identify the body as Steve Rowland, which would lead the investigation to a dead end. Colonel Amos asks General Carrington for access to a list of people who have undergone military training to become "combat agents" and are roughly XIII's physique with the aim of discovering XIII's real identity. Carrington gives Amos the papers of about 20 people, one of whom, a certain Ross Tanner, has been missing for two years. Amos decides to leave XIII in jail so that he can be at hand when needed. Meanwhile, Dr. Johansson "treated" to bring his memory back. During an escape attempt together with his cellmate Billy Stockton, XIII's life is again in extreme danger: The assistant doctor bribed by La Mangouste tries to kill XIII with a lethal injection, but is stopped by Lieutenant Jones at the last moment. Together, XIII and Jones manage to escape from prison.
Volume four begins with Colonel Amos' finding that General Carrington fictitiously fabricated the Tanner identity and his suspicion that Carrington was part of the conspiracy. XIII was hidden by Carrington under the name Ross Tanner in a SPADS training camp in the fictional country of San Miguel. In the course of his research, Amos discovers that the grave of Jason Fly was indeed the body of the real-life Captain Steve Rowland, who was not killed in a helicopter crash two years ago but by bullets shortly after the assassination of President William Sheridan . Hence, Amos assumes that Rowland was the real killer. With this discovery he confronts Judge Allenby, who had identified a body as Rowland after the helicopter crash. Allenby heads the investigation into President Sheridan's assassination, and Amos exposes him as Number VI of the plot. Amos tries to find out the name of Number I from Allenby, but Allenby is previously killed by a murderer sent by La Mangouste. This in turn is shot by Kim Rowland shortly before he can kill Amos. Meanwhile, a female SPADS sergeant named Betty Barnowsky XIII reveals that she saw Steve Rowland once in Eastown after his alleged death, accompanied by SPADS Colonel Seymour McCall, who hereby turns out to be a member of the conspiracy. XIII, Barnowsky and Jones escape an assassination attempt by Colonel McCall but end up in the jungle of San Miguel due to a lack of fuel. Kim Rowland brings Amos to FBI Director Carl Heideger and General Carrington. They tell him that after his fake death Steve Rowland contacted his wife Kim and forced her to join the conspiracy. Kim, himself a former FBI agent and Carrington's daughter, secretly alerted her former boss Heideger, who nevertheless failed to prevent President Sheridan's assassination. Steve Rowland was shot by La Mangouste but escaped seriously wounded and died shortly after telling Kim what happened. Heideger and Carrington then came up with a plan to trick the XX conspiracy into believing that Steve Rowland had survived in hopes of exposing the conspirators. As a result, agent Jason Fly turned into Steve Rowland's double, but shortly afterwards he disappeared (he was shot and lost his memory, the point where the story begins).
At the beginning of the fifth volume, XIII, Jones and Barnowsky kidnap Marquis Armand de Préseau, a wealthy landowner, to fly back to the USA in his jet. Meanwhile, Carrington and Heideger have been arrested by the conspirators as the conspirators attempt to take over the country during a large-scale military exercise. XIII and the women meet with Colonel Amos, who puts them in contact with Walter Sheridan, the brother of the murdered President William Sheridan and now himself a candidate for the presidency. Sheridan helps XIII and the others infiltrate the military operations center and, together with President Galbrain, manage to stop the conspiracy at the last minute. The entire conspiracy, with the exception of the famous number I, can be killed or captured. Walter Sheridan is elected President. Kim Rowland disappears for unknown reasons and Betty Barnowsky returns to the Marquis de Préseau. Amos is retiring and wants to dedicate himself to the hunt for La Mangouste in the future. At the end of the arc, XIII believes he has found his old identity as Jason Fly and is ready to continue his life normally, even if his memories have not yet returned.
Characters
XIII: main character in the series. His real name is Jason Fly. He takes on the identity of Steve Rowland and is the new number XIII after his death.
General Ben Carrington: Carrington founded the elite SPADS unit. There he was responsible, among other things, for the training of the real Steve Rowland. He learns from his daughter Kim Rowland that the conspirators do not know that Steve Rowland died on the day of the assassination attempt on President Sheridan. Thereupon he hatches with Admiral Heideger the plan to transform a soldier of the SPADS, Jason Fly, into Steve Rowland, and to start on the conspirators. Due to his extensive military contacts, he can always find a hiding place for XIII.
Lieutenant Jones: aide to General Carrington.
Steve Rowland: Former elite soldier / captain of the SPADS (in the unit of Colonel Mac Call) and member of the conspiracy (number XIII). He fakes his death so that he can go into hiding. Two years later he shoots President William B. Sheridan. He is then critically injured by La Mangouste, but can make it home to his wife before he dies.
Kim Rowland: Carrington's daughter, former FBI agent and member of the conspiracy (number XVII). Married to Steve Rowland. She also has a son (Colin) with Walter Sheridan. She knows about the secret operation and the transformation of Jason Fly into Steve Rowland / Number XIII and reveals him to Sheridan. When Fly in the guise of XIII is about to be lured into a trap on a yacht, La Mangouste appears and shoots him (beginning of the plot).
Colonel Samuel Amos: Assigned to solve the conspiracy after the assassination of President Sheridan. Amos is a former agent and founding member of the Mossad. After a fictitious argument, he was recruited by the CIA and emigrated to the USA. In truth, he continued to work for the Israeli intelligence service (code name Dovev) helping to steal sensitive information related to the construction of an atomic bomb. He is the father of Jessica Martin, who does not know this.
La Mangouste: professional killer . As a teenager he had to leave Berlin and emigrated to the USA. There he learned from a former soldier how to murder people in various ways. Many years later, and frustrated with his job, he receives a particularly well-paid offer from Kim Rowland. In return for the assassination of President Sheridan, this offers him not only two million dollars but also the release of his foster father. Shortly before La Mangouste wants to shoot Sheridan, Sheridan is shot by Steve Rowland. He himself is shot by Rowland and realizes that the assassination attempt should be attached to him. Some time later he manages to find Kim Rowland on a yacht. There he shoots at XIII, whom he mistakenly takes for Steve Rowland, and who falls over the rail into the sea (beginning of the plot). La Mangouste is later recruited by the conspirators to kill "Steve Rowland" (the main character Jason Fly).
Walter “Wally” Sheridan: twin brother of the murdered President William B. Sheridan. He's a presidential candidate and number one in the conspiracy.
Publications
Two volumes occupy special positions: Volume 13 The XIII Mystery - The Investigation is a summary of the first twelve volumes. Volume 18 was the only one drawn by Jean Giraud and did not immediately continue the plot as a prequel . Volume 19 finally ended the first cycle and Jean Van Hamme stopped working on the series.
From volume 20, the writing of the scenarios was handed over to Yves Sente . The volume The Day of Mayflower was started by William Vance (cover and pages 42-45), but then completed by the new draftsman Iouri Jigounov (Juri Schigunow), who also draws the other volumes in the series.
| No. | German title | Original title | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1st cycle scenario: Jean Van Hamme, drawings: William Vance |
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| 1 | The day of the black sun | Le Jour du soleil noir (Spirou, 1984) | ISBN 3-551-71791-5 |
| 2 | Tracks in the ice | Là où va l'Indien ... (Spirou, 1985) | ISBN 3-551-71792-3 |
| 3 | All the tears of hell | Toutes les larmes de l'enfer (Spirou, 1986) | ISBN 3-551-71793-1 |
| 4th | Merciless drill | SPADS (1987) | ISBN 3-551-71794-X |
| 5 | Red alert | Rouge Total (1988) | ISBN 3-551-71795-8 |
| 6th | Jason Fly dossier | Le Dossier Jason Fly (1990) | ISBN 3-551-71796-6 |
| 7th | One night in August | La Nuit du 3 août (Hello Bédé, 1990) | ISBN 3-551-71797-4 |
| 8th | A surefire job | Treize contre Un (1991) | ISBN 3-551-71798-2 |
| 9 | Deadly danger | Pour Maria (Hello Bédé, 1992) | ISBN 3-551-71799-0 |
| 10 | El Cascador | El Cascador (1994) | ISBN 3-551-71800-8 |
| 11 | Three silver watches | Trois montres d'argent (1995) | ISBN 3-551-71897-0 |
| 12 | the last witness | Le Jugement (1997) | ISBN 3-551-71898-9 |
| 13 | The XIII Mystery - The Investigation | The XIII Mystery - L'Enquête (1999) | ISBN 3-551-71899-7 |
| 14th | The hunt continues | Secret Defense (2000) | ISBN 3-551-71900-4 |
| 15th | Let go of the dogs! | Lâchez les chiens! (2002) | ISBN 3-551-71915-2 |
| 16 | Operation Montecristo | Operation Montecristo (2004) | ISBN 3-551-71916-0 |
| 17th | Maximilian's gold | L'Or de Maximilien (2005) | ISBN 3-551-71917-9 |
| 18th | The Kelly Brian story | La Version irlandaise (2007) Drawings: Jean Giraud |
ISBN 3-551-71918-7 |
| 19th | The last round | Le Dernier Round (2007) | ISBN 3-551-71919-5 |
| (not yet published in German) | L'Enquête, deuxième partie (2018) Drawings: Philippe Xavier |
ISBN 978-2-505-07267-6 | |
|
2nd cycle scenario: Yves Sente, drawings: Iouri Jigounov (Juri Schigunow) |
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| 20th | The day of the Mayflower | Le Jour du Mayflower (2011) | ISBN 978-3-551-71920-1 |
| 21st | The decoy | L'Appât (2012) | ISBN 978-3-551-71937-9 |
| 22nd | Return to Greenfalls | Return to Greenfalls (2013) | ISBN 978-3-551-71938-6 |
| 23 | Message from a martyr | Le Message du martyr (2014) | ISBN 978-3-551-71939-3 |
| 24 | The legacy of Jason Mac Lane | L'Héritage de Jason Mac Lane (2016) | ISBN 978-3-551-71940-9 |
| 25th | History | The XIII History (2019) | ISBN 978-3-551-75337-3 |
| 26th | 2132 meters | 2 132 mètres (2019) | ISBN 978-3-551-75338-0 |
XIII mystery
In addition, so-called One Shots have been released since 2008 (in Germany since 2010) under the name XIII Mystery . The series is dedicated in each album to the past, the motives and the secrets of a character from the XIII universe and tells previously unknown stories, often z. B. from the childhood of the characters. At the same time, interesting connections between the characters are revealed, which help to understand the main series. The volumes are written by different authors and illustrators.
| No. | German title | Original title (year of publication) | Illustrator | author | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La Mangouste | La Mangouste (2008) | Ralph Meyer | Xavier Dorison | ISBN 978-3-551-71071-0 |
| 2 | Irina | Irina (2009) | Philippe Berthet | Eric Corbeyran | ISBN 978-3-551-71072-7 |
| 3 | Little Jones | Little Jones (2010) | Eric Henninot | Yann | ISBN 978-3-551-71073-4 |
| 4th | Colonel Amos | Colonel Amos (2011) | François Boucq | Alcante | ISBN 978-3-551-71074-1 |
| 5 | Steve Rowland | Steve Rowland (2012) | Richard Guérineau | Fabien Nury | ISBN 978-3-551-71075-8 |
| 6th | Billy Stockton | Billy Stockton (2013) | Steve Cuzor | Laurent-Frédéric Bollée | ISBN 978-3-551-71076-5 |
| 7th | Betty Barnowski | Betty Barnowski (2014) | Sylvain Vallée | Joel Callède | ISBN 978-3-551-71077-2 |
| 8th | Martha Shoebridge | Martha Shoebridge (2015) | Colin Wilson | Frank Giroud | ISBN 978-3-551-71078-9 |
| 9 | Felicity Brown | Felicity Brown (2015) | Christian Rossi | Matz | ISBN 978-3-551-71079-6 |
| 10 | Calvin Wax | Calvin Wax (2016) | Corentin Rouge | Fred Duval | ISBN 978-3-551-71080-2 |
| 11 | Jonathan Fly | Jonathan Fly (2017) | Olivier Taduc | Luc Brunschwig | ISBN 978-3-551-71081-9 |
| 12 | Alan Smith | Alan Smith (2018) | Daniel Pecqueur | Philippe Buchet | ISBN 978-3-551-71082-6 |
| 13 | Judith Warner | Judith Warner (2018) | Olivier Grenson | Jean van Hamme | ISBN 978-3-551-72649-0 |
Adaptations
Video games
Based on the comic book was created by Dargaud the computer game XIII developed. The first person shooter was published by Ubisoft in 2003 on various platforms and managed to implement the graphic elements of the comic with the help of a cel-shading technique .
In 2007, Gameloft released a sequel to the game called XIII 2 : Covert Identity as a side scroller for mobile phones. In November 2011, Microïds also published the adventure / mini-game collection XIII: Lost Identity, which was independent of the previous games .
Film adaptations
In 2008, a television adaptation of the comics was released under the title XIII - The Conspiracy . Val Kilmer and Stephen Dorff can be seen in the leading roles . Directed by Duane Clark . While the two-parter ran on television in the USA, it was released directly on DVD in Germany.
Between 2011 and 2012 the story was adapted as a series in two seasons under the title XIII - The Conspiracy (original title: XIII: The Series ). The French - Canadian production follows on from the events of the television film. Stuart Townsend will take on the leading role, with Aisha Tyler , Virginie Ledoyen and Greg Bryk taking on other roles .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jean-Pierre Füri: Dossier XIII in XIII Complete Edition Volume 5 , Carlsen Verlag, Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-55172-847-0 , S. 207th
- ^ Acknowledgments in XIII tome 20: Le Jour du Mayflower , Dargaud, Paris 2017, ISBN 978-2-50506-766-5 , p. 2.
- ↑ Bernd Michael Krannich: Play By Day: XIII The Series starts at Showcase. In: Serienjunkies.de. April 20, 2011, accessed July 11, 2011 .
- ^ XIII, la série. Retrieved October 17, 2019 (fr-fr).