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MARTIN MYSTÈRE is an unusual detective: archeologist, anthropologist, computer expert, he's American by birth, but was culturally formed in Italy.
He doesn't investigate police cases, but deals with the great enigmas which have never been solved; from archeological ones (Who built Stonehenge?) to historical ones (Who was the Man in the Iron Mask?), to scientific ones, to esoteric ones (What is the secret of Graal?), ranging over the field of UFOs, ESP, magic. From his experiences he draws ideas for his successful volumes and for a TV program titled "Mystère's Mystèries".
Although he has an athletic body, is an impressive expert in a thousand fields, and owns an unique, powerful weapon (a ray gun "old of a thousand years", capable of momentarily paralyzing the enemy), Martin is not a superman; he has a great spirit of self-irony (he doesn't take himself very seriously) and many faults (a tendency to be late, a good deal of verbosity, a fear of growing old) that make him "human" and captivating.
JAVA is Martin Mystére's inseparable assistant and friend, and shares with him every discovery and adventure. He certainly doesn't belong to our civilization; although half hidden by modern clothes, his distinctive tracts are those of a Neanderthal man, just as it is depicted in a traditional iconography: stocky, muscular, slightly curved, a low, receding forehead. Java cannot talk: he expresses himself by gestures and emits grunts which turn into real roars when he is in a rage. 
A flash of intelligence, acute but completely "different" from that of 20th century man, shines in his eyes. In some mysterious way Java lives an intense relationship with the powers of nature; he can "perceive" a very fine track in a thick forest or in the city traffic; he can "enter" the body of a wild animal and "see" what its eyes see. Java chose to leave his native town, "The City of Ethereal Shadows" hidden in the inaccessible mountains of Mongolia to reach and neutralize a diabolical enemy; with the help of Martin, he became an American citizen. He is economically independent and his sentimental life is as mysterious as it is intense. Of opposite and complementary characters, Martin and Java manage to live together and understand one another without the need of words.
DIANA LOMBARD is Martin Mystére's fiancèe; the couple is bound by a deep relationship, which has began many years ago in a dramatic situation. Diana is a fundamental reference-point for Martin, and manages to moderate his faults with a good dose of patience, irony and femminine wisdom.