L'Ombre

Real Name: Frédéric-Jean Orth

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Adventurer

Affiliations: Alexis

Enemies: Police Commissioner Voisin

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: The Shadow (translation of his name)

Base of Operations: France

First Appearance: "L'Ombre Joue à Cache-Cache (The Shadow Plays Hide-and-Seek)" in L'Aventurier (Editions Fleuve Noir, 1958)

Powers/Abilities: Master of disguise.

History: L'Ombre (The Shadow) was a crimefighting "Knight Errant" who protected widows and orphans, punished bad guys, and did not hesitate to take his cut of the villains' ill-gotten gains. He was a master of disguise, and few men knew his real identity - he claimed to be Frédéric-Jean Orth, a name which itself might have been an alias for the last heir of an illustrious family. Normally he acted under a disguise, only revealing himself at the end of a case. His only trusted confident is Alexis, a big, burly adventurer; his nemesis was police commissioner Voisin, who once arrested him.

Comments: Created by Alain Page (pseudonym for Jean-Emmanuel Conil). He created the series of novels starring L'Ombre for the L'Aventurier (The Adventurer) imprint of Editions Fleuve Noir in 1958 to compete with Fayard's line of Saint novels. In fact, the Ombre novels are written in the same style, with similar types of chapter headings.

  1. L'Ombre Joue à Cache-Cache [The Shadow Plays Hide-and-Seek] (FNAv 21)

  2. L'Ombre Mène le Bal [The Shadow Leads the Dance] (FNAv 24)

  3. L'Ombre Gagne la Belle [The Shadow Wins the Last Hand] (FNAv 26)

  4. L'Ombre Abat son Jeu [The Shadow Shows His Cards] (FNAv 29)

  5. L'Ombre ne sait pas Chanter [The Shadow Does Not Know How To Sing] (FNAv 31)

  6. L'Ombre Prend son Vol [The Shadow Takes Off] (FNAv 33)

  7. L'Ombre pour la Proie [The Shadow and his Prey] (FNAv 35)

  8. L'Ombre Prend le Large [The Shadow Goes Away] (FNAv 37)

  9. L'Ombre Revient de Loin [The Shadow Returns] (FNAv 39)

  10. L'Ombre Se Dissipe [The Shadow Vanishes] (FNAv 41)

  11. L'Ombre Nage entre Deux Eaux [The Shadow in Troubled Waters] (FNAv 43)

  12. L'Ombre Porte l'Estocade [The Shadow Strikes] (FNAv 46)

  13. L'Ombre sort de l'Ombre [The Shadow Leaves the Shadows] (FNAv 48)

  14. L'Ombre Etait dans la Tombe [The Shadow Was Inside the Tomb] (FNAv 52)

Much of the information on this page comes verbatim from Cool French Comics, used with permission. Likewise the images.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

Back to French Superheroes

Home

All images and characters depicted on this site are copyright their respective holders, and are used for informational purposes only. No infringement is intended and copyrights remain at source.