"Bob Morane’s colorful rogues’ gallery included: (a) the
diabolical Monsieur Ming, a.k.a. the “Yellow Shadow”, a fiendish Oriental
mastermind bent on universal domination, who appeared in Nos. 33, 35, 37, 38, 43, 50, 57,
63, 72, 75, 76, 87, 122, 135, 137, 144, 147, 148, 157, plus the Cycle du Temps episodes
listed below; (b) SMOG, an international spy cartel led by the beautiful but deadly Miss
Ylang-Ylang and Roman Orgonetz, her ruthless henchman, a professional assassin with teeth of gold (Nos. 41, 45, 53,
71, 78, 83, 88, 96, 100, 107, 123, 155); (c) the mad Dr. Xhatan, master of light, who is
served by an artificially-created breed of green-skinned men (Nos. 79, 80, 106); (d) the
humanoid Toad-men, descendents of an alien race stranded on our world long ago, secret
masters of robotics (Nos. 86, 89, 129); and (e) the Tiger, an ordinary tramp whose
intelligence was boosted with the memories of several brilliant scientists -- and that of
a deadly man-eating tiger (Nos. 124, 125, 145, 148, 149). |
| BOB MORANE is copyright by his creator,
HENRI VERNES (no relation to Jules Verne; it's a nom-de-plume).
BOB MORANE - The OMBRE JAUNE titles:
(A ** indicates that there is also a graphic novel)
La Couronne de Golconde [The Crown Of Golconde] (BM #33, Marabout Junior 142, 1959) (**:
gn Dargaud, 1965; art by Gerald Forton)
L'Ombre Jaune [The Yellow Shadow] (BM #35, MarJ 150, 1959) (**: gn as Les Otages de
l'Ombre Jaune [The Hostages of the Yellow Shadow], Dargaud/Lombard, 1988; art by Francisco
Coria)
La Revanche de l'Ombre Jaune [The Revenge Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #37, MarJ 158, 1959)
Le Châtiment de l'Ombre Jaune [The Punishment Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #38, MarJ 162,
1960)
Le Retour de l'Ombre Jaune [The Return Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #43, MarJ 182, 1960)
Les Sosies de l'Ombre Jaune [The Duplicates Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #50, MarJ 210, 1961)
Les Yeux de l'Ombre Jaune [The Eyes Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #57, MarJ 238, 1962)
L'Héritage de l'Ombre Jaune [The Inheritance Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #63, MarJ 262,
1963)
Les Guerriers de l'Ombre Jaune [The Warriors Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #72, MarJ 298,
1965) (**: gn Dargaud/Lombard 1982; art by Coria)
La Cité de l'Ombre Jaune [The City Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #75, MarJ 314, 1965)
Les Jardins de l'Ombre Jaune [The Gardens Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #76, MarJ 315, 1965)
Les Papillons de l'Ombre Jaune [The Butterflies Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #87, Marabout
Pocket 39, 1968)
La Forteresse de l'Ombre Jaune [The Fortress Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #90/Cycle du Temps
#1, MarP 54, 1968)
Le Satellite de l'Ombre Jaune [The Satellite Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #91/CT #2, MarP 57,
1968)
Les Captifs de l'Ombre Jaune [The Captives Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #92/CT 33, MarP 60,
1968)
Les Sortilèges de l'Ombre Jaune [The Spells Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #93/CT #4, MarP 66,
1969) (**: gn Dargaud/Lombard, 1976; art by William Vance)
Les Bulles de l'Ombre Jaune [The Bubbles Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #99/CT #5, MarP 83,
1970) (**: gn Dargaud/Lombard, 1978; art by Vance)
Une Rose pour l'Ombre Jaune [A Rose for The Yellow Shadow] (BM #105/CT #6, MarP 93, 1970)
(** gn Dargaud/Lombard, 1984; art by Coria)
La Prison de l'Ombre Jaune [The Prison Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #115/CT #7, MarP 112,
1973)
Les Poupées de l'Ombre Jaune [The Dolls Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #122, MarP 122, 1974)
(**: gn Dargaud, 1970; art by Vance)
Les Fourmis de l'Ombre Jaune [The Ants Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #126/CT #8, MarP 129,
1974) (**: gn Dargaud/Lombard, 1987; art by Coria)
Le Poison de l'Ombre Jaune [The Poison Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #135, MarP 144, 1976)
Les Jeux de l'Ombre Jaune [The Games Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #137, MarP 146, 1976)
L'Ombre Jaune Fait Trembler la Terre [The Yellow Shadow Makes The Earth Quake] (BM #139/CT
#9, MarP 148, 1976)
La Prisonnière de l'Ombre Jaune [The Prisoner Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #143/CT #9,
Masque Bob Morane 4, 1978) (**: gn Dargaud, 1972; art by Vance)
La Griffe de l'Ombre Jaune [The Claw Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #144, M BM 6, 1978)
Le Trésor de l'Ombre Jaune [The Treasure Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #147, M BM 15, 1979)
L'Ombre Jaune et l'Héritage du Tigre [The Yellow Shadow And The Tiger's Inheritance] (BM
#148, M BM 20, 1979)
Le Soleil de l'Ombre Jaune [The Sun Of The Yellow Shadow] (BM #149/CT #10, M BM 23, 1979)
L'Ombre Jaune s'en va t'en Guerre [The Yellow Shadow Goes To War] (BM #157, Fleuve Noir
Bob Morane 9, 1988)
L'Exterminateur [The Exterminator] (BM #158, FN BM 13, 1989) Le Jade de Séoul [The Jade
From Seoul] (BM #161, FN BM 26, 1990) (**: gn Dargaud/Lombard 1992; art by Coria)
La Jeunesse de l'Ombre Jaune [The Youth Of The Yellow Shadow] (--, novella serialized in
L'Ombre Jaune Omnibus #1,#2 & #3, Lefrancq, 1993-94)
Les Mille et Une Vies de l'Ombre Jaune [The Thousand And One Lives Of The Yellow Shadow]
(BM #172, Lefrancq Bob Morane 26, 1995) |
Contemporaries and/or Predecessors
Some contemporaries and/or predecessors of the literary archetypes (Mad
Doctor/Fiendish Chinese) that inspired Fu Manchu:
One of the first "mad doctors" in popular fiction was "Dr. Caresco",
introduced in "Le Mal Nécessaire" [The Necessary Evil] (1899), written by
André Couvreur, himself a medical doctor. I think Caresco was one of the first mad
surgeons in popular literature. (Like Fu Manchu, he returned in several more
adventures.)
A worthy (and more famous) literary successor of Caresco was "Dr. Cornelius
Kramm", another mad surgeon and the star of "Le Mystérieux Dr. Cornélius"
[The Mysterious Dr. Cornelius], a sprawling saga serialized in eighteen volumes during
1912 and 1913 and written by another prolific writer of adventure stories, Gustave Le
Rouge.
Less prolific than Le Rouge, but more important from a literary standpoint, was Maurice
Renard. Renard was the author of two archetypal "mad doctor" novels:
"Le Docteur Lerne - Sous-Dieu" [Dr. Lerne - Undergod] (1908), and the
classic "Les Mains d'Orlac" [The Hands of Orlac] (1920).
Deserving of a footnote in this sub-genre is Guillaume Livet, whose creation was
"Miramar, L'Homme aux Yeux de Chat" [Miramar, The Man With Cat Eyes] (1913),
another arch-villainous mad scientist out to conquer the world.
By comparison, the first French "yellow peril" novel I could find was
"Hurrah!!! Ou La Révolution par les Cosaques" [Hurrah!!! Or The Revolution Of
The Cossacks], published in French in London in 1854 by Ernest Coeurderoy. In it,
the decadence of Western Europe was followed by an invasion of Barbarians from the North,
the death of civilization as we know it and, finally, the glorious rebirth of a new
socialist era led by the Cossacks and, behind them, the Asians. Hurrah!!! may well
have the dubious honor of being the first “yellow peril” novel in genre history,
followed closely by the two-volume "La Bataille de Strasbourg" [The Battle Of
Strasburg] (1895) by Jules Lermina, in which a scientist uses telluric energy to fight the
invading Asian hordes, and by "Jonas" (1900) by Belgian writer Iwan Gilkin and
"Aeropolis" (1909) by another Belgian writer Henry Kistemaekers.
Finally, I would mention a series of pulp novels by writer Jean de La Hire featuring a
super-hero dubbed The Nyctalope (Léo Sainte-Claire, or Jean de Sainclair, depending on
the novel), who could see in the dark and sported an artificial heart. His
adventures comprised seventeen, luridly-entitled volumes, the most famous being Le
Mystère des XV [The Mystery Of The XV] (1911), Lucifer (1920), L'Antéchrist [The
Antichrist] (1927), Titania (1929), Belzébuth (1930) and Gorillard (1932). One of
the Nyctalope's most fearsome adversaries was an Oriental Mastermind named Leonid Zattan,
a worthy imitation (?) of Fu Manchu. |
