1929
THE JUDEX CODEX
Raymond Mystère and Henrietta de Marigny explore a Mayan temple in Guatemala.
When Raymond first met Henrietta at the University of Sorbonne, he thought she
was too interested in visiting professors like Henry Jones, Thomas Swift, and
John Kenton. Henrietta’s brother Etienne-Laurent de Marigny was an
archaeologist specializing in occult lore, who was inspired in his choice of
profession by his friend Pierre d’Artois. Henrietta was once kidnapped by a
madman named Don Jose to sacrifice to a dark god. Her twin sister Louise had
been previously abducted and killed by the Don. Etienne was able to attend
Miskatonic University through d’Artois’ influence. Etienne disappeared in 1926
while investigating some ruins in the swamps of Louisiana, the inhabitants of
which he believed to be the remnants of a Tcho-Tcho group that had come to
North America during the Asian Migration. When he resurfaced, he opened a shop
in New Orleans dealing in occult artifacts. A group of five men, including two
named Hernandez and Aguirre respectively, attempt to steal a stone tablet
discovered by Raymond and Henrietta. Months later, Raymond, recognizing the
pictoglyphs on the tablet as representing Vedic words, tells the pregnant
Henrietta that his grandfather, Doctor Mystère, claimed that his vehicle, the
Electric Hotel, was based on ancient Vedic designs. Henrietta and Raymond’s
student Jean Aubry introduces them to his father, Comte Jacques de Trémeuse.
The two visit the Comte’s estate, where they meet his wife Jacqueline and their
two sons, their old family friend Prosper Cocantin, his wife Daisy, and their
young son Jacques. Trémeuse tells Raymond and Henrietta that his mother made
his brother Roger and he swear to kill the banker Favraux for driving their
father to suicide. Trémeuse shows them a tablet he discovered in Africa, one of
a group of such items, almost identical to the one they discovered, which has a
ring set into it. Prosper and Daisy’s adopted son Michel Cocantin, formerly
known as the Licorice Kid, accompanies Henrietta and Jacqueline on a trip to
buy baby clothes. Henrietta is abducted by members of a group known as the Men
in Black. Jacques Cocantin has been learning the martial arts from a young
Annamese boy named Cato. Henrietta refers to tales of the legendary continents
of Hyboria, Lemuria, Mu, and Atlantis. Raymond says that the area where he and
Henrietta found the temple was near the region described by Ventidius as Atala,
which had ties with Atlantis, and was sometimes mistaken for it. Raymond
suspects that there was an African civilization that was the true parent of
lost cities such as Zu-Vendis, Kôr, Opar, and Zimbabue. Raymond and Trémeuse
charter The Pious Woman, owned and operated by Captain Owen Kettle, to
take them to Easter Island. They meet the manager of the island, Señor Ortiz.
Raymond and Trémeuse are confronted by the Men in Black, who are accompanied by
Dr. René Belloq. Belloq claims to have trained at Rache Churan. A crystal ball
emits an image of a man resembling an elderly version of Trémeuse, who tells
him and Raymond that Trémeuse is a member of the house of Elessar Telcontar.
Trémeuse’s forebear refers to the crystal ball as a Palantir, and
charges him to take the Book of Thain, the Book of Kings, and the Book of
Mazarbul to “the one who can best translate them for your people.” Henrietta
identifies Khokarsa as the sunken island civilization mentioned in the African
tablets discovered by Trémeuse. It is mentioned that some believe the tale of
Numenor to be the Oxford scholar to whom Henrietta sent the three books’ own version
of Atlantis, rather than the story of an island empire that existed ages before
Atlantis. An epic about the hero named Hadon described in the African tablets
was popularized by an American author whose work was recommended to the
Mystères by the Ironcastle family. Wooden tablets discovered by Raymond on
Easter Island form the epic tale of a warrior-King named Thongor who lived in
ancient Lemuria. After Jacques’ apparent death, his son Frédéric-Jean de
Trémeuse followed in his footsteps, adopting the identity of Frédéric-Jean
Orth, aka L’Ombre. Jacques Cocantin grew up to become Chief of the Sûreté after
his predecessor, Chief Inspector Dreyfuss, became mentally unstable. A film
version of Inspector Cocantin’s famous case against Sir Charles Litton, the
jewel thief known as the Phantom, portrayed him as a buffoon, causing the
Inspector to demand that the filmmakers change his name.
Short story by Dennis E. Power in The Shadow of Judex, Jean-Marc and
Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2013; reprinted in French in L’Ombre
de Judex, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2013.
Raymond Mystère and Henrietta de Marigny are the parents of the title character
of Alfredo Castelli’s comic book Martin Mystère. Henrietta is meant to be
the same character as Yvonne Marigny from E. Hoffmann Price’s Pierre d’Artois
story “The Devil’s Crypt.” Don Jose and Louise (de) Marigny are also from “The
Devil’s Crypt.” Etienne-Laurent de Marigny is from H.P. Lovecraft and Price’s
story “Through the Gates of the Silver Key.” Etienne’s shop will be inherited
by his son Henri-Laurent de Marigny, as seen in Brian Lumley’s Titus Crow
novels. Henry Jones, Sr. is Indiana Jones’ father. Dr. René Belloq is from the
first Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Thomas Swift is
better known as Tom Swift from the novels by Victor Appleton. John Kenton is
from A. Merritt’s The Ship of Ishtar. Miskatonic University and the
Tcho-Tcho are staples of the Cthulhu Mythos. Hernandez is a descendant of the
robber Hernandez from Joseph Conrad’s novel Nostromo. Aguirre is a
descendant of the fictionalized version of the historical conquistador Don Lope
de Aguirre seen in the film Aguirre: The Wrath of God. Doctor Mystère
appeared in a series of novels by Paul d’Ivoi. The Martin Mystère comics have
established that Martin was the grandson of Doctor Mystère’s adopted son
Cigale. Jacques de Trémeuse, his brother Roger, his wife Jacqueline,
Jacqueline’s son Jean Aubry, Prosper Cocantin, his wife Daisy, their adopted
son the Licorice Kid, and Favraux are from Louis Feuillade’s film serial
Judex. Jacques Cocantin is meant to be Inspector Jacques Clouseau from the
movie The Pink Panther and its sequels. Cato will grow up to be the
Inspector’s manservant and sparring partner. Chief Inspector Dreyfus and Sir
Charles Litton are also from the Pink Panther films. The tablet found by
Raymond and Henrietta in Guatemala and the one found by Jacques in Africa, when
combined, describe the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy saga The Lord of
the Rings. In Tolkien’s books, Elessar is the name that Aragorn took after
assuming the throne of the Reunited Kingdoms. Telcontor is an Elvish term for
his nickname of Strider. The Palantir is one of the scrying stones used by the
order of Wizards. Tolkien claimed that The Book of Thain was his source
for The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.
The Book of Kings and The Book of Mazarbul were supposedly the other two
books that served as Tolkien’s source for Middle Earth lore not found in The
Book of Thain. The Men in Black are the subject of many conspiracy theories,
but the version of the group seen here is the same one that will later battle
Martin Mystère. Power reveals that the Men in Black are the modern day
equivalent of the Black Riders, the Nazgûl, which served the Dark Lord Sauron.
Power also implies that the Men in Black are connected to the Nine from Philip José Farmer’s novels A Feast Unknown,
Lord of the Trees, and The Mad Goblin; although the Secrets
of the Nine trilogy takes place in an alternate reality to the Crossover
Universe, Win Scott Eckert’s story “The Wild Huntsman” establishes that a
version of the Nine exists in the CU. Numenor is an island that rose from the
sea in The
Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Hyboria is from Robert E.
Howard’s Conan stories. Ventidius Varro and Atala are from H. Warner Munn’s
novel The Ship from Atlantis. Philip José Farmer, in his novels of
Ancient Opar, revealed that the lost cities of Zu-Vendis (from H. Rider
Haggard’s Allan Quatermain), Kôr (from Haggard’s She and
sequels), and Opar (from the Tarzan books by Edgar Rice Burroughs) were among
the remnants of the destroyed Central African empire of Khokarsa, which was
later mistakenly identified with Atlantis. Power’s story adds Zimbabue (from
Charles R. Saunders’ Imaro novels, the precursor to Zimbabwe) to the list.
Hadon is the hero of the first two Ancient Opar books, Hadon of Ancient
Opar and Flight to Opar. Captain Owen Kettle is featured in a series of
books by C.J. Cutcliffe Hyne. Señor Ortiz is meant to be an ancestor of the
villainous Orthis from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Moon series. Although the Moon
books take place in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Alternate Universe (ERB-AU), there
is no reason why Orthis’ ancestor could not exist in both that universe and the
CU. The Rache Churan monastery is from Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels. The
Ironcastle family is from Farmer’s adaptation and translation of J.-H. Rosny
aîné’s novel Ironcastle. Thongor of Lemuria is the hero of a series of
books by Lin Carter. Frédéric-Jean Orth, aka L’Ombre, is the hero of a series
of novels by Alain Page; Jean-Marc Lofficier identified L’Ombre as Judex’s son
in his article “The Tangled Web: Genealogies of the Members of the French Wold
Newton Families – Rocambole and Fantômas” on the website The French Wold
Newton Universe.
