The image of a sneering Colonel Olrik in an underground room… The image puts an end to the 30th volume of the adventures of the most British duo in comics, Blake and Mortimer. It is also the last touch laid by André Julliard, 76 years old, historical master of comics, Grand Prix d’Angoulême in 1996, celebrated for “the 7 lives of the Sparrowhawk” or even “le Cahier bleu”, during a prolific career. The designer died this summer, on July 31, having managed, despite illness, to complete this last adventure.
Full of mischief, the story of this “Signed Olrik” gives pride of place, as its name suggests, to the odious colonel, one of the most famous villains in the history of the 9th art. Locked up in London’s Wandsworth prison, he continues his shenanigans with his fellow inmates, visibly close to a terrorist and nationalist group from Cornwall, in the southwest of England, which is protesting against the arrival of immigrant workers.