September 1917-November 1918: The Nyctalope goes on a variety of secret missions for the Allies, possibly assisted by Vitto and Soca. During one of these, he meets and collaborates with Mathias Lumen and Captain Marc Ayrol of the French Navy. From Lumen, he learns of the existence of Leonid Zattan. (La Hire states that Leo was promoted to the rank of Colonel, but it seems he was only a Commandant (equivalent of Major).)
1919-20: Hugues Mezarek becomes Professor of physics and chemistry in Leipzig then goes to teach in Boston.
January 1919: Black and Bold. The Nyctalope thwarts the plans of Doctor Fisturn who was using a plague germ to kill the survivors of the Black Corsair’s organization in order to secure the secret of transmutation of base metals into gold.
February-April 1919: The Nyctalope goes to Southern Morocco to subdue a rebel chieftain.
May 1919: The Nyctalope frees Alphonse XIII, King of Spain, who had been kidnapped by anarchists. He also saves the honor of Duke Petro d’Arendar who was threatened by a woman.
June-August 1919: Leo meets singer Laurence Païli in Antibes and spends some time with her. He also meets Helen Parsons (later to be known as Djinn) and spurns her advances.
September-October 1919: The Nyctalope travels to China and defeats an evil triumvirate comprised of Monsieur Ming (aka The Yellow Shadow), Doctor Natas (aka Fu Manchu) and the Blue Scorpion, who were trying to take over the country.
October 1919: In Morocco, while vacationing, Helen Parsons is captured by a rebel Berber tribe and becomes the wife of their leader, Ou-Skounti.
Until 1925, she sends several death threats to Leo. She also organizes a gun smuggling ring to arm the rebels.
February 1920: Leo’s mother dies from pneumonia.
February 1920-April 1921: A grief-stricken Leo travels alone in the Sudan.
May-June 1921: The Nyctalope vs. Lucifer. Baron Glô von Warteck, a.k.a. Lucifer, uses his formidable occult powers to place Hélène Ciserat (wife of Raymond Ciserat, one of Leo’s friends) under a spell. He also tries to steal a millionaire’s fortune, Laurence Païli’s affections, and seeks to plunge France in political chaos. Finally, he schemes to enslave the world with his teledyname, a machine that will amplify his hypnotic powers.
The Nyctalope, assisted by Corsat and Pilou, invades his foe’s German fortress of Schwarzrock. Then, with the help of Grysil, a former slave of the Warteck family, he destroys their underground lair in the Bermudas. Finally, he attacks Glô’s North Pole base and kills Lucifer.
Leo marries Laurence Païli. They have three boys, born between 1922 and 1924.
September-December 1921: Leo returns to Morocco and meets his friend Rached Ben Atia, as well as several mystics based in Fez.
January-February 1922: The Nyctalope goes on a secret mission to South Africa with Baron Jean de Ciserat and Comte Hubert de Pibriac. Together, they defeat the Mexican adventurer Matalpa and his Spanish associate, Guiroun.
March-June 1922: Leo helps Jean de La Hire write the story of his fight against Lucifer.
1923: Leo travels to London several times to prepare his expedition to Mount Everest.
July-October 1923: Great motorized trip through Central Africa with Pilou. Corsat retires from his life of adventure.
November 1923: Out of Time. The Nyctalope, back from the year 2103, tries to kill Adolf Hitler in Munich during the Beer Hall Putsch but is thwarted by the Time Patrol which erases his memory and takes him back to 1928 (see Belzébuth).
January-June 1924: L’Amazone du Mont Everest. The Nyctalope embarks on an expedition to Mount Everest, accompanied by Jean de Ciserat, his wife Gaëlle, Hubert de Pibriac, Pilou and (unknowingly) his old enemies, Matalpa and Guiroun. In Tibet, they discover a secret kingdom inhabited by amazons ruled by Queen Mizzeïa Khali VII, who falls in love with Leo and, after an aborted revolution, eventually follows him back to France.
It is possible that Leo’s affair with Mizzeïa caused his divorce with Laurence, who is never mentioned again. Laurence probably got custody of their three children.
December 1924: After spending some time in India, and with Pilou wanting to retire, Leo goes to Corsica to recruit two new assistants, Vitto and Soca.
January 1925: La Croix de Sang. Leo’s friend, Comte d’Harmont, asks Leo for his help: a strange curse killed his wife and now threatens him, his sister and his daughter. Leo travels to d’Harmont’s castle in Touraine and, with Vitto and Soca’s help, exposes the villain Armand Logreux d’Albury, aka The Master of the Seven Lights, a dark magician who seeks to steal the d’Harmont’s fortune. Leo, adopting the guise of Romani leader Pedro del Campo, uses the young sybil Nèves first to seduce, then destroy his enemy who is left alive but paralyzed.
October 1925: Helen Parsons take part in the rebellion of Adl el Krim. After her husband’s death, she vanishes into the desert with her two children. Some believe she was killed by a stray bullet.
January 1926: The Nyctalope goes on a secret mission to Siberia, working alongside the British Intelligence Service and an agent from the Soviet Government. The purpose of this mission is unknown, but it might have had something to do with either Leonid Zattan or Fu Manchu. Leo meets Dominique de Soto, whose identity he learns from his British colleague.
February 1926: In Spain, the Nyctalope infiltrates Leonid Zattan’s criminal organization, using the alias of Pedro del Campo.
March-May 1926: La Captive du Démon/La Princesse Rouge. The Nyctalope discovers the truth behind the battle between the forces of Mathias Lumen and those of Leonid Zattan. A Nostradamus prophecy states that the future husband of the “Golden Virgin” will play a decisive role in the forthcoming battle against the Antichrist. The “Virgin” turns out to be Sylvie MacDhul, the daughter of billionaire Gregor MacDhul, a friend of Lumen. Zattan has Sylvie kidnapped and taken to his fortress of Issyk-Koul, in China. The Nyctalope joins forces with Gno Mitang, Lumen’s assistant, and Marc Ayrol. Together, they invade the fortress, capture and defeat Zattan.
Meanwhile, Lumen has been killed by Diana Ivanovna Krasnoview, a.k.a. the Red Princess. Zattan is nevertheless sent in exile and dies soon after. Diana is captured by her enemy, the Kiewicz family, but manages to escape.
1926: Diana marries Korrides and together, they start a new criminal organization, the Haschischins. She adopts the nickname of “Titania.”
May 1926-March 1927: Leo and Sylvie get married; then, they go on a cruise around the world.
February 1927: Birth of “Little” Pierre, the son of Leo and Sylvie. (Not to be confused with the older Pierre, whose mother was Xavière de Ciserat, born in 1912.)
March 1927: Maur Korrides and Diana Ivanovna Krasnoview have a son, Hugues, the future Hugues Mezarek a.k.a. Belzebuth.
May-June 1927: Titania/Ecrase la Vipère! The Nyctalope witnesses the assassination of a member of the Kiewicz family by Maur Korrides, avenging his wife, Diana Ivanovna Krasnoview. This in turn leads to Diana and her Haschischins kidnapping Sylvie and Little Pierre from the house of Pedro d’Arandar in Spain, and taking them to their island fortress in the Mediterranean. Leo, Gno Mitang, Vitto and Soca, invade the island and capture Diana, but with Korrides’ help, she escapes with her captives. Leo pursues her to Abyssinia where he finally succeeds in freeing Sylvie and defeating Diana. The Red Princess is murdered in her cell by a gypsy girl. When he learns the news, Korrides commits suicide.
June 1927-January 1939: Out of Time. Hugues, the son of Korrides and Diana, is raised by his uncle, Prosper Korrides, who subjects him to an experimental treatment that accelerates his physical growth and intellectual capacities.
November 1927-May 1928: Leo, Sylvie and Little Pierre travel through Africa.
June 1928: Belzébuth/L’Ile d’Épouvante. Sylvie and Little Pierre are kidnapped by the grown-up Hugues Mezarek, a.k.a. Belzébuth, who returned from 1948 to 1914 and has been waiting for the right time to avenge his parents. He places them in a state of suspended animation until the Year 2100. The Nyctalope and his friends follow him, using the
same method. But the next day, Leo wakes up in bed with Sylvie as if nothing had happened and it had all been a dream…
Out of Time. We now know that Leo and his family and friends were returned to their own time by the Time Patrol, with their memories erased.
1928: Death of the Black Corsair.
October 1929: Death to the Heretic! The Nyctalope is in Egypt and helps Indiana Jones and the young American millionaire Bruce Wayne stop the Gang of Anubis who was trying to destroy the tomb of Akhenaton.
Late 1929: Death of Little Pierre in unknown circumstances.
December 1929: Moved by his son’s death, Leo uses his wife’s fortune to create the CID, Comité d’Information et de Défense, a secret organization that takes over from the remnants of Mathias Lumen’s organization, to defend France and her European allies.
March-April 1930: Gorillard!/Le Mystère Jaune. The Nyctalope and the CID protect French inventor Yves le Moal against a mysterious organization whose leader is nicknamed “Gorillard” or the “Mastodon.” Leo discovers that the secret leaders of that evil empire are the Seven Living Buddhas of Urga, in Mongolia, who seek to destroy western civilization. Their agent, “Gorillard,” is none other than Dominique de Soto, a Frenchman whose family carries a feud against the Saint-Clair since the 17th century. Leo captures two of the Living Buddhas and finally defeats de Soto, who is later executed.
June-August 1931: Les Mystères de Lyon/Les Adorateurs du Sang. The Nyctalope and the CID fight the sect of the Blood Worshippers led by the Chinese princess Alouh T’Hô, which steals the life force of young victims to prolong their own lives. With the help of his older son, Pierre, Leo discovers Alouh T’Hô’s lair, but is captured and taken to her citadel in Southern China. Alouh T’Hô eventually falls in love with the Nyctalope and agrees to no longer operate in France.
1931: Death of Sylvie, also in unknown circumstances.
September 1931-March 1934: Alouh T’Hô tries to become Empress of Chinas but is thwarted by Gno Mitang who supports her rival, Pou Hi. On March 1, 1934, Pou Hi becomes Emperor of Manchukuo. The Japanese have won this battle.
1932-1936: After Sylvie’s death, the CID begins to fall apart and is ultimately disbanded.
1932-Early 1934: Les Chasseurs de Mystères. The Nyctalope returns to Mars. The official reason for his visit is to study the possibility of a new colony, but what he actually does there remains unknown. This appears to be his last visit to the Red Planet.
February-March 1934: Le Sphinx du Maroc. The Nyctalope goes on a secret mission to Morocco to fight another rebellion, led by the desert chief Merebbi Rebbo and Helen Parsons, who now goes under the name of “Djinn,” secretly supported by Otto Von Kubitz’ Nazis. Leo is helped by his friends Rached Ben Atia and Xavier de Pibrac, who has invented a device that can broadcast sound and images in a 3000 km radius. The French Army wins the battle. Djinn is killed in a psychic attack by Moroccan mystics. The Nyctalope has recovered from Sylvie’s death and has a romance with Naïma, a young local girl.
May 1934: The Nyctalope’s New York Adventure. The Nyctalope travels to New York, where he meets Nero Wolfe and the Shadow.
June 1934-December 1935: Le Roi de la Nuit. The Nyctalope, Gno Mitang, Vitto and Soca, travel to the wandering planet Rhea in a rocketship invented by Professor Maxime d’Olbans, using an anti-gravitational metal called Z-4. (It might be a synthetic form of heliose or cavorite.) On Rhea, Leo stops a war between the Daysiders, a peaceful winged race, and the Nightsiders, a race of man-beasts who live in darkness, and makes peace between the two. Three months after his return to Earth, Leo marries Veronique, the Professor’s daughter.
Before May 1936: Leo and Veronique separate.
June-October 1936: The Nyctalope fights Princess Alouh T’Hô in Morocco. Leo captures the Princess, who manages to escape. He pursues her but finally loses her trail in Lhasa in Tibet.
November 1936: The Nyctalope travels to French Indochina and there, befriends Monsieur Levillard of the Deuxième Bureau. (He will meet him again in La Sorcière Nue.)
1937-1938: Leo travels with Gno Mitang in India, Morocco and Spain, meeting powerful mystics and occult masters to improve their knowledge and powers.
May 1937: L’Énigme du Squelette. A scientist friend of Leo’s is murdered by a weapon which disintegrates his flesh, leaving only his skeleton behind. Leo and Gno Mitang investigate and discover the identity of the murderer, Maya de la Cruz. Behind her is her sinister uncle, Comte Albert de la Cruz Tanguy, the inventor of the death-ray used by his niece. Maya commits suicide after being exposed.
January-March 1939: With the help of a few friends left over from the CID, Leo sets up a secret base in the Moroccan deserts, where he stores some on the extraordinary inventions and weapons in his possession in the event of a new world war.
January 1939: In Spain., Prosper Korrides and young Hugues are captured by the Nazis and taken to Baron Zemo’s castle in Germany.
September 1939: World War II starts.
September 1939-April 1945: Hugues works designing weapons for the Third Reich.
June 1940 : L’Enfant Perdu. The Nyctalope and Gno Mitang witness the kidnapping of a child and the death of the woman who was his guardian.
July 1940 : The Nyctalope allies himself with the Vichy regime.
The Lesson of Captain Danrit. Meanwhile, his elder son, Pierre, joins General de Gaulle in England and becomes alienated from his father.
January 1941: Rien qu’une Nuit. The Nyctalope and Gno Mitang witness the kidnapping of young Madeleine d’Evires. They unmask and defeat the villain, dark magician Godfrey Cultnom, and free the girl.
1941: A Present for Hitler. Göring dispatches the Nyctalope, Maciste and Dr. Strangelove on a secret mission to Russia to find the remains of the teledyname.
1941: Marguerite. Near Lyon, Leo saves a French aviator from the clutches of the Vichy Milice.
June 1942: L’Enfant Perdu. Leo and Gno Mitang find the child who had been kidnapped and kept prisoner by gypsies and free him.
March 1945: Twilight. Back in Japan since late 1942, Gno Mitang decides it is better to not revive Godzilla than continue the war.
April 1945-June 1948: During the fall of the Third Reich, Hugues escapes and comes to France. He meets and befriends scientist Noël Essaillon and his assistant Saint-Ménoux who are working on a method to travel through time.
May 1946 : La Sorcière Nue. Monsieur Levillard, now an important official in the Ministry of the Interior, asks Leo to help solve a series of mysterious disappearances in Southern France. Leo, Vitto and Soca discover that the guilty party is none other than Princess Alouh T’Hô and her Blood Worshippers who once again are stealing the life force of their victims. The Nyctalope defeats the evil sect and frees its victims; Alouh T’Hô commits suicide.
January 1947: The Heart of a Man. To avoid being arrested for having collaborated with the Nazis, the Nyctalope leaves France and goes to Argentina. There, he avenges the death of a former girlfriend by killing the man responsible for her death. He also meets former Sûreté Inspector Giraud (a rival of Hercule Poirot’s) and is almost recruited by Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
February 1947: The Nyctalope is sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in absentia by the French Courts.
June 1948: After Saint-Ménoux, Hugues uses Professor Essaillon’s invention to travel back in time. (He will arrive in October 1914.).
1949: The Children of Heracles. In the American Southwest, the Nyctalope teams up with Professor Quatermass and the OSI to destroy an ancient Martian Capsule of the same type that caused the death of the French Colony in 1917. He finally comes to realize and accept what he did on Mars.
1951: A Moment of Perfect Happiness. In Saigon, the Nyctalope locates Doctor de Villiers-Pagan who operated on him and saved his life in 1898. He learns that, at the same time that he was transplanted with an artificial heart, he was injected with a serum that has extended his life and stopped the aging process. Villiers-Pagan also injected himself with th
e serum, but dies in a terrorist explosion. Leo forgives him for having used him as a guinea pig.
1954: The Mysterious Island of Doctor Antekirtt. The Nyctalope agrees to go on n unofficial secret mission for the French Government. He teams up with Bob Morane, Bernard Prince and Tintin to prevent Monsieur Ming, Doctor No and Emilio Largo (both agents of SPECTRE) to steal the nuclear secrets of Mathias Sandorf, a.k.a. Doctor Anterkirtt, on the island of Antekirtta. In the end, the island blows up and the Nyctalope destroys Antekirtt’s secrets which he deems too dangerous.
August 1957-February 1958 : The Three Sisters. Tipped by OSS 117, the Nyctalope learns that the Soviets are preparing to send a satellite to the Moon to exploit the Ioun Stone hidden there by his ancestor. (They have the third stone stolen by Sadi Khan in 1898.) To stop them, Leo officially surrenders to the French Authorities, negotiates a pardon from President Coty (granted on November 15, 1957) with Geo Paquet and SNIF, and finally goes to his secret base in the Morocco desert. There, he uses Professor d’Olbans’ rocket to go to the moon, destroy the Soviet satellite, and move the stone to the Sea of Tranquility. (His actions, however, have been monitored by the Americans.)
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