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STILL MORE MYSTERIES
Martin Mystère's investigations involve various narrative genres.
The most common are:
A fictional mythology inspires many Martin Mystère adventures.
In far-off times the world had already reached and gone beyond our current
technological level. In those times science had discovered, amongst other
things, the nature of what we now call natural magic; certain energies which
are today unknown were then used regularly. The nations that populated the
Earth were divided into two blocks, Atlantis (with many characteristics
common to the modern Western World) and Mu (with characteristics common
to the modern Eastern World); this contraposition caused continual hotbeds
of war, fought with the use of an arsenal of hi-tech devices.
Twelve thousand years ago, the conflict became world-wide; following the
use of powerful nuclear weapons, the super-powers provoked a planetary cataclysm,
later remembered in Plato s legend of Atlantis.
With the passing of centuries, the survivors began to reorganize themselves,
giving rise to our current civilization.
More than once, Mystère has run across finds proving the existence
of Atlantis and Mu, but each finding has been - and is - systematically
destroyed by the Men in Black , who fear that the knowledge of the existence
of another past could lead to a radical change in the current way of thinking.
In a world of fantasy, in which a certain background is taken for granted,
Mystère s attitude towards mystèrious phenomena is never fanatical
one way or another: their existence is not denied on principle, nor is accepted
by faith. In his articles Martin Mystère places himself above the
par ts: for each phenomenon taken into consideration he states - objectively
and with full knowledge of the facts - the pros and cons, without taking
up a definite position.
Martin Mystère s fictional stories are included in rigorously real
settings. Special care is taken of the informative and documentary side
of the series; many didactic elements are integrated in the narration in
the same style of the main action, so that, without realizing it, the reader,
whilst enjoying himself, is able to take in a remarkable amount of data,
curiosities and information on the listed subjects.
| History | News |
| Geography | Archeology, paleontology |
| Anthropology and ethnography (folklore, habits and customs) | Technology (with particular emphasis on computer science) |
| The arts (music, painting, sculpture, architecture) | Linguistics (foreign languages and alphabets, secret codes) |
| Mythology, the history of religions, the history of magic | Tourism (transportation, local habits, food and cooking) |
Martin Mystère's adventures often are an excuse for narrating
little-known or forgotten historic episodes; for illustrating places, objects,
habits of the countries from all over the world; for talking about civili
zations, folklore, legends, curiosities, trivia.
An ecological and pacificist background is always present in the stories,
although it is never expressed in a pedantic way; news items are a regular
part of the stories to prove that they take place in our real world.