Le Rayon U

''Le Rayon U'' (''The U Ray'') is a comic book written and drawn by the Belgian comics creator Edgar P. Jacobs in 1943.Philippe Biermé and François-Xavier Nève, ''Chez Edgar P. Jacobs : dans l'intimité du père de Blake et Mortimer''. Liège : CEFAL, 2004. (p. 55).

Publication history

In 1941, the outbreak of war between Germany and the United States meant that American comic strips could no longer be imported into Nazi-occupied Europe.

Alex Raymond's strip, '' Flash Gordon'', was then being published in the Belgian Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Bravo''. Artist and former opera singer, Edgar Pierre Jacobs was therefore asked to bring the current story to a satisfactory conclusion, which he did. He was then commissioned to produce a science fiction comic strip of his own. ''Le Rayon U'' ("The U-Ray") began serial publication in ''Bravo'' in 1943. This version had text boxes which described the action and the dialogues in the style of many Belgian comics of the time, similar in a way to Hal Foster's version of ''Tarzan'' and ''Prince Valiant''.

In 1974 Jacobs reformatted ''Le Rayon U'' in order to include speech bubbles. This version was published in ''Tintin'' magazine and in book form by Dargaud-Le Lombard.

Synopsis

''Le Rayon U'' is set on an Earth-like planet which combines elements of the distant past, present and far future. Two of its nations, Norlandia and Austradia, are in conflict. A Norlandian scientist, Marduk, has devised a weapon called the "U Ray", but requires a mineral called uradium in order to put it to actual use.

Marduk therefore organises an expedition into an unknown part of the planet in order to find the uradium. Those accompanying him include: his assistant Sylvia Hollis; the explorer Lord Calder; Adji, Calder's Indian manservant; and Major Walton and Sergeant Mac Duff of the Norlandian secret service.

The explorers encounter all manners of threats, including prehistoric monsters, giant snakes and tigers, a tribe of hostile ape-men, and the meddling of Austradian spy Captain Dagon. More welcoming, but no less intriguing, is a civilisation of Aztec-like people.

Characters

In itself ''Le Rayon U'' is a classic of Belgian science fiction, but the influence of ''Flash Gordon'' cannot be denied:

*The Austradian Emperor Babylos III resembles Ming the Merciless;
*In appearance, Marduk, Lord Calder and Major Walton are similar to Hans Zarkov, Prince Barin and Flash Gordon respectively;
*Like the dark-haired Dale Arden, the dark-haired Sylvia Hollis is coveted by almost every male character she meets, be it man or beast!

Dagon, the main villain, was modelled on Jacobs himself. Marduk, Calder and Dagon were to be the models for Mortimer, Blake and Olrik, in Jacobs's classic series ''Blake and Mortimer''.

References

External links

''Le Rayon U'' article
on Cool French Comics

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rayon U, Le
1943 in comics
Belgian comics titles
Belgian comic strips
Science fiction comics
Drama comics
Comics by Edgar P. Jacobs