XIII ("Thirteen") is a Belgian comic albums series about an amnesiac who seeks to discover his past. It was created by writer Jean Van Hamme and artist William Vance. It is currently being written by Yves Sente and Youri Jigounov. The storyline of the first five volumes was adapted into a video game in 2003, also titled XIII, with a remake being released in 2020. A Canadian television film based on the series, XIII: The Conspiracy, was released in 2008. It was followed in 2011 by two seasons of a TV series, each 13 episodes, called XIII: The Series.
Main characters
XIII: The title character suffers from total amnesia. He soon discovers that he is suspected of the assassination of President William Sheridan. Throughout the albums he tries to regain his memory and to find out the true facts surrounding the assassination of the president. Although his memory does not return, he gradually learns more about who he is. His real name is Jason Mullway. However, because he was adopted at a young age (after the death of his mother and the disappearance of his father) by Jonathan MacLane, a cousin of his father Sean Mullway, he officially bears the name Jason MacLane.
General Benjamin (Ben) Carrington: He holds a senior military position in the Pentagon. He is convinced that XIII is innocent and he helps him regain his memory.
Jones: She is Carrington's assistant and she was also trained by him. As a permanent partner, she supports XIII everywhere. She is a skilled pilot, both for airplanes and helicopters. While she is still a lieutenant in the first stories, she has now risen to the rank of colonel.
Mongoose: XIII's arch-enemy is an assassin who fears nothing. Initially they call him Schreiner, because he is an apprentice to a Berlin carpenter, this is revealed in XIII Mystery: The Mongoose. He was hired by Number I to kill XIII. XIII lost his memory due to a bullet from the Mongoose.
Colonel Amos: He had to solve the murder of William Sheridan and first suspected XIII, who was able to escape. After it became clear to him that XIII was innocent, he helped him instead of arresting him.
Wally Sheridan: US President. His brother William was murdered by Steve Rowland on behalf of Number I.
Betty Barnowski: a -now former- soldier who met XIII during an undercover mission and who has helped him regularly since then.
Marquis De Préseau: an old, friendly French aristocrat who often comes to XIII's aid. Through XIII he met Betty Barnowski, with whom he has been in a relationship ever since.
Felicity Brown: a dangerous opportunist who does not shy away from violence to get her way. Rather coincidentally, her path crosses that of XIII several times, and they get in each other's way.
Stephen G. Dundee: Appears only in the 13th album. It is remarkable that he plays a role in both XIII and another comics series, Largo Winch.
Volumes 1–5 The series begins with a amnesiac man awakening to find himself washed ashore in the East Coast. The only clues to his past are a tattoo of the Roman numerals "XIII" on his collarbone and a photo of himself with a woman, who is identified as Kim Rowland, widow of US Army captain Steve Rowland. Volumes 1 through 5 deal with "XIII" searching for his identity and past. He finds himself hunted by a contract killer, the "Mongoose", who works for a mysterious organization known as XX, which aims to mount a coup against the US government. XIII is rescued from XX's assassins by Colonel Amos of the FBI, who confronts XIII with video evidence that shows XIII assassinating the President.
In the second volume, XIII is captured by General Carrington and his aide, Lieutenant Jones. Carrington confirms that XIII is Rowland, and further explains that Rowland was a member of a special operations unit called Special Assault and Destroying Sections (SPADS). Carrington had been commander of SPADS when Rowland was supposedly killed in action two years earlier. Because XIII's amnesia prevents him from identifying who sponsored the President's assassination, Amos lets him go. XIII reunites with his father and his uncle, but they are both murdered by XIII's young, gold-digging stepmother Felicity, who frames him after harming herself. XIII escapes the police with Carrington's help and meets Kim, an XX member known as "XVII", who reveals that XIII is not Steve Rowland. XIII is arrested by the police and Kim disappears. XIII is found guilty for the murders and sent to a maximum security prison.
The third volume finds Amos, still pursuing his investigation, realizing that XIII was a body double for the real Steve Rowland. Amos requests Carrington's help to identify people who have been trained as top-level special operators and match XIII's physique; Amos's aim is to discover XIII's true identity. Carrington provides the papers of about twenty people. One, named Ross Tanner, has been missing for two years. Amos decides to leave XIII in prison to have his amnesia treated. The treatment fails, and the Mongoose tries to have XIII killed in the prison. Carrington helps XIII break out.
Volume 4 begins with Amos finding that Carrington had invented the Tanner identity and suspecting him of being part of the conspiracy to kill the President. XIII, under the name of Ross Tanner, has been hidden by Carrington in a SPADS training facility in the fictitious Latin American country of San Miguel. Amos continues to delve into the files and learns that Rowland was murdered shortly after the assassination. Amos now assumes that Rowland was the real assassin, and is confused about XIII's real role, but he exposes Judge Allenby, the head of the investigation, as one of the conspirators. Amos interrogates Allenby, who is killed by the Mongoose's assassin; Amos himself is rescued by Kim. Meanwhile, a female SPADS Sergeant named Betty Barnowsky reveals to XIII that she saw Rowland in Eastown after his alleged death, in the company with SPADS Colonel Seymour McCall. XIII, Barnowsky, and Jones escape an assassination attempt by McCall but end up lost in the San Miguel jungle.
Kim takes Amos to Carrington and National Intelligence Director Carl Heideger, who reveal that, after faking his death in the helicopter crash, Rowland contacted Kim and forced her to be a member of the conspiracy. Kim, not sharing the conspiracy's ideology, and herself a former secret agent, secretly alerted her former boss, Heideger. Despite having this information, however, Heideger was unable to prevent the assassination of the President. Rowland was shot by the Mongoose, but he escaped, mortally wounded, and died shortly after telling Kim what had happened. Heideger and Carrington then came up with a plan to make XX believe that Rowland had survived, hoping to attract the Mongoose's killers, arrest them, and follow their trail to the conspirators. They sourced a man named Jason Fly who was transformed into a Rowland double, but soon after, Fly disappeared, when he was shot and lost his memory, just before the story began. Kim is also revealed to be Carrington's daughter.
At the start of Volume 5, XIII, Jones, and Barnowsky kidnap the Marquis de Préseau, a rich French land owner in San Miguel, to steal his jet to fly back to the US. Meanwhile, Carrington and Heideger have been arrested by the conspirators as they prepare to take over the country during a large-scale military exercise. XIII and the women meet with Amos, who brings them into contact with Walter Sheridan, brother of the assassinated President and himself a candidate for presidency.
Sheridan helps XIII infiltrate the military's center of operations, and, together with President Galbrain, manage to stop the conspiracy at the last moment. The entire conspiracy group, with the exception of the illustrious Number I, has been either killed or captured. Walter is elected President, and Kim remains missing for reasons unknown. At the end of the story, XIII believes he has found his old identity as Jason Fly and is prepared to continue his life normally, even if his memories have not yet returned.
Volumes 6–8 In the following volumes, XIII takes up the investigation about his past. Volumes 6 and 7 bring XIII to Greenfalls, a snowy town in the Rocky Mountains, where the story revolves around the fate of his father in the McCarthian 1950s. XIII learns that his father, Jonathan Fly, was murdered by the local Klansmen after they found out Fly's real identity was Jonathan McClane, a "red" journalist who had to flee after suffering under McCarthy's witch hunt. The Mongoose still tracks XIII with the blessing of McClane's assassins, but XIII evades the manhunt, gets justice for the murder of his father and manages to arrest the Mongoose, who reveals that he was on Number I's boat when he shot the bullet that made XIII amnesic, but divulges no further information about Number I. The story ends with XIII finally finding his true identity as Jason McClane.
In Volume 8, XIII is approached by President Sheridan to become a special agent and is charged with finding Number I. The Mongoose escapes from custody. XIII tracks down Kim, guessing that she stayed in hiding because she knows Number I's identity. He discovers that one of the boats close to the spot where he was found amnesic is Sheridan's yacht. Meanwhile, Jones investigates further and discovers that Kim had a love child with Sheridan. After passing on this information to XIII, they become convinced that Sheridan was in fact Number I, and used the XX to have his brother killed and propel himself to the Presidency. Sheridan had the child kidnapped to force Kim to marry Rowland, to betray Jason when Heideger's plan threatened to expose him as Number I, and have him lured onto his yacht where XIII was shot by the Mongoose. After trying to release Kim from an island where they believe she is sequestered, XIII and Jones, along with Kim, are caught by the Mongoose, who sinks Sheridan's yacht with an explosive. XIII only manages to rescue Jones, and Kim is presumed dead.
XIII finally faces Sheridan, who has been exposed as Number I. XIII has no evidence or witness against him, however. Sheridan does not assassinate XIII to avoid a new investigation that might expose him, and XIII and Jones leave the country.
Volumes 9–13 In the following volumes, the action takes place in and around Costa Verde, a small fictional nation in Central America where XIII is led to believe he once led a revolution under the identity of "El Cascador", although El Cascador is supposedly dead. XIII gets involved with revolutionary Maria de los Santos, who claims to have been his wife. In the tenth volume, after freeing her from a prison from which she was awaiting execution, she confirms that he is her husband.
During the revolution, XIII meets an Irish-American expat, Sean Mullway, who claims to be XIII's real father and confirms that XIII is Jason McClane. The history of XIII's Irish descent is revealed, and XIII learns that his mother was the sister of NSA Director Giordino, who accidentally murdered her. The Giordinos are revealed to be a Mafia family. At the end of the volume, XIII is offered amnesty by the US ambassador, who explains that XIII's help is needed; Carrington has apparently gone insane.
In Volume 12, the corrupt President Sheridan is kidnapped by Carrington, who has learned that Sheridan ordered his daughter Kim's death. Carrington and Amos have XIII and Jones capture the Mongoose to get further evidence against Sheridan. In a televised "trial", Sheridan is revealed to the American public as Number I, with XIII and the Mongoose testifying. In the aftermath of the event, Sheridan kills the Mongoose, and Giordino accidentally kills Sheridan.
Volume 13, The XIII Mystery: The Investigation, is a special issue, where two journalists retrace the first twelve issues, clarifying and expanding the storyline.
Volumes 14–20