If you have read a newspaper, or an article, or watched the news, somewhere along the line, you may have heard the name “Banksy.” The mysterious person is known for their artwork exhibited around the world. Their pieces are lauded, and their appearances are more “slight of hand,” making the proximity to the art a unique experience. This is not the first time the world has been fascinated with someone anonymous.

Jack The Ripper and the Zodiac Killer are two other examples and multi-media has provided audiences the ability to follow the clues of those attempting to unmask these individuals. Its created an industry on its own it seems. Media has helped the world became even more fascinated with mysterious figures and the world seems to always gravitate to their public actions, no matter how disgusting they may be.

I always wondered how someone like Banksy would do if he alerted the police before he committed one of his masterpieces? This is what Edgar Jacobs looks to uncover in the first volume of Blake and Mortimer Volume 1: The Yellow M.

We are taken to London, where the royal guard go about their rounds, when they hear a laughter off in the distance, it is the Yellow Mark, and he has the stolen the royal Crown. This is where we meet the retired police captain, Francis Blake and his genius partner, Professor Philip Mortimer, who catches the ire of the Yellow Mark as he taunts the duo as he taunts the establishment. This doesn’t deter the two from stopping this mysterious figure from hurting anyone, each crime, comes with even more dire consequences each time. Professor Mortimer eventually finds out exactly who is the man behind the Yellow Mark, but gets imprisoned by the person in question.  By book’s end, Blake has come to the rescue of his partner as the end the criminal enterprise of the Yellow Mark.

Overall, a fun graphic novel, that at first reminds of Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal in Sherlock, but both characters are forces of nature. The story by Jacobs is layered, intense, and action packed. Altogether, a story that is more contemporary than one might believe at first glance.

Story: Edgar P. Jacobs Art: Edgar P. Jacobs
Story: 9.5 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.2 Recommendation: Buy