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XIII
(by W. Vance & J. Van Hamme)
See also: Comic Errors

Mix Robert Ludlum's "The Bourne Identity" with the fog around the assassination of President Kennedy, and you have XIII in a nutshell. A man wakes up, wounded, and without his memory. He does find out that he is trained in fighting and killing, and that he is the spitting image of the killer of the President of the United States. Throughout the series he'll try to puzzle his past back together again, and find out who he really is.

Nr.	Title	Story
1	Zwarte vrijdag (Black friday)	A man is found on the shore by an elderly couple. The man has no means of identification, except for a small tattooed "XIII" on his collar bone. The wound on his head is not lethal, but it seems to have wiped out his personal memories. Two months later he returns from a walk to find his "foster parents" killed. The men who did it are still there. He kills one, the other escapes. The dead man cannot make him much wiser, except for a picture he has on him, from "XIII" and a young woman. Maybe this is the start of a trace that can lead him to his own identity?
2	Waar de indiaan gaat (Where the indian goes)	XIII goes to the army, hoping to find more information about Kim, the woman on the picture. General Carrington recognizes him, to XIII's astonishment. It seems his true identity is Steve Rowland, missing in action two years ago. He has a wealthy father and an uncle, and returns to them. To find his paralyzed father married to a young nurse, who sees Steve's return as the perfect moment to get rid of her husband and have all that wealth for her alone...
3	Alle tranen van de hel (All tears of hell)	Being convicted for the murder on his father and his uncle, XIII is imprisoned in a high security institution where mostly mentally ill (and dangerous) men are. Meanwhile colonel Amos' investigation leads him to the discovery that XIII cannot be Rowland, but most likely Ross Tanner, a tough soldier who disappeared, and has but one weak side: claustrophobia. XIII escapes through the sewers...
4	SPADS	While XIII is with the SPADS, returning to his unit as the lost Ross Tanner, colonel Amos is checking general Carrington's story about Tanner. And he discovers that there is something wrong with it all. When he finds an uncle of Tanner, he is almost killed. He suspects Carrington, but cannot prove it. The lieutenant Jones escapes and tries to get XIII out of the SPADS. From then on the events rush on, uncontrolled, uncontrollable. Will we finally see the story behind XIII?
5	Rood alarm (Red alert)	While XIII, Lieutenant Jones and Betty do what they can to get back to the civilized world, the exercise "Red Alert" is only a few days ahead. Just then, at the burial of Henry Sheridan, father of the murdered president, an assassin attempts to kill Walter Sheridan, brother of the killed president. This is the signal for massive arrests of everyone who knows anything of the plot. Will XIII and his friends arrive on time? And what could they possibly do?
6	Het dossier Jason Fly (The Jason Fly files)	Now that the whole plot has been discovered, and the coup-d'état avoided, XIII can finally go looking for his past. His search brings him to the small town of Greenfalls. Someone there recognizes him, which is quite a shock - but a good sign as well. However, some other people seem to think they know why XIII came back, and would rather have him disappear...
7	De nacht van 3 augustus (The night of august 13)	XIII discovers how his father died, and why people don't want him to find out. But that's the least of his worries, with his old enemy on his tail and lieutenant Jones in prison..
8	Dertien contra één (Thirteen contra one)	The president has asked XIII to work directly for him, to look for number I. XIII doesn't feel like it, but he changes his mind when the Mangust escapes from prison. XIII's first goal is to find Kim Rowland, he hopes she can give him a hint about the ones she works for. But she disappeared three years ago...
9	Voor Maria (For Maria)	While staying with Betty and the Marquis, XIII gets a phone call from someone who says he's a priest, that tells him to come to a meeting to find out about his wife. This is new to XIII of course, and intrigued he goes there. To discover a bit about the few missing years in his past - and to be thrown in yet another adventure...
10	El Cascador	XIII is in prison, but not for long. The combined forced of the Santosists, Lt. Jones, Betty and the Marquis signal a large offensive that not only sets XIII free, but attempts to free the entire country. Maria is captured by the escaping camp-commander. XIII jumps on to the helicopter...
11	Drie zilveren horloges (Three silver watches)	Mullway tells XIII his story. It's the story of three friends that marry three daughters of their employer. It sounds like a fairy-tale, but it didn't end that way. The mafia brought the family down to its knees, and the three friends had to run to Mexico to escape the law. Meanwhile Costa Verde requires El Cascador once more, to stop the troops of Peralta...
12	Het vonnis (The trial)	Has General Benjamin Carrington gone mad? He kidnaps the president and goes to an abandoned army-base in the desert, planning to hold a public trial. XIII and Jones are even looking for one of the key witnesses: the Mangust...
13	Het onderzoek (The inquest)	Two journalists have been digging into the puzzle that is president Sheridan's murder case. They have come a bit further than the others, and have untangled the web of lies and deceptions that have kept XIII hidden. They are being chased though, and one of them "falls out of the window". The other one manages to get away, and sends his files to his newspaper, from all over Europe, while being chased...
14	Staatsgevaarlijk (Danger to the state)	The president asks XIII if he knows who pushed the button that activated the explosion that killed president Sheridan, but XIII doesn't know it. He doesn't believe XIII, and that condemns XIII to a top secret trial, where he is condamned to isolated detention. On his way to prison the convoy is attacked, and XIII is taken away. Not that his situation improved...
15	Laat de honden los! (Let the dogs loose!)	XIII has taken the train south, to LA. But the NSA and EXECUTOR are right on his tail. In Sacramento they board the train, and prepare for picking him up. Four against one. But XIII does manage to get away, and he takes Jessica Martin with him. Together they disappear, and try to make it to Mexico. Unnoticed, they hope...
16	Operatie Montechristo (Operation Montechristo)	XIII and his friends are imprisoned. President Maria has no choice but to extradite them to the US, together with another prisoner. Soon after the convoy leaves however the prisoners are kidnapped, or at least that is the story. A perfect cover-up it would be if that extra prisoner, an old acquaintance of XIII, hadn't escaped...
17	Het goud van Maximiliaan (Maximilian's Gold)	Betty hints that the code in the three watches might be Irish, and that makes sense. Not Irish in fact, but Gaelic, a language none of them understands, so they have to find someone to translate and decipher. A down and out teacher helps them, but he also pays off his gambling debts with his freshly acquired information. XIII and his friends think they know now where to get the treasure buried so many years ago, but they are not alone there ...

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Last update: Tuesday, November 1, 2005

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