In Juve Contre Fantômas, the theme of disguise and interchanging personas continues with Fantômas being identified by Juve as both Loupart, a brutal gang leader, and as a surgeon, Dr. Chalek (Loupart’s supposed victim in a robbery!). In this book, Fantômas torments Juve by a series of savage crimes, deceptions and labyrinthine false trails. It is packed with murderous set-pieces: a woman (Valgrand’s widow)crushed to death by a snake, Juve nearly buried alive in a room filling with sand, a high-speed train collision that kills and maims hundreds of innocent passengers, Juve and Fandor nearly burnt alive in a blazing winery, a young woman who hurls herself from a balcony in terror, attempted murder by gas poisoning and electrocution, Juve nearly suffocated by the same boa constrictor that killed Valgrand’s widow, and, finally, Juve and Fandor lured to a house that Fantômas, now dressed in what will henceforth be his signature black hood and cape, has packed with dynamite. As they enter, the arch-criminal detonates the huge blast and makes his escape, levelling the house behind him.

“But were Juve and Fandor among the dead?”

To find out, read on.

Notes

[1] “Juve Versus Fantômas”; originally published in English as “The Silent Executioner” by Brentano’s (1917), and reprinted under the same title by William Morrow in 1986. Filmed as “Juve Contre Fantômas” by Louis Feuillade, 1913, 4 episodes.

CHAPTER ONE : THE DRAMA OF THE RUE NORVINS

On Monday, April 4th, 19–, the evening paper La Capitale published the following article on its first page:

“A drama, over the motives of which there is a bewildering host of conjectures, was unfolded this morning on the heights of Montmartre. The Baroness de Vibray, well known in the Parisian world and among artists, whose generous patroness she was, has been found dead in the studio of the ceramic painter, Jacques Dollon. The young painter, rendered completely helpless by a sleeping draft, lay stretched out beside her when the crime was discovered. We say ‘crime’ deliberately, because, when the preliminary medical examination was completed, it was clear that the death of the Baroness de Vibray was due to the absorption of some poison.

The painter, Jacques Dollon, whom the enlightened attentions of Doctor Mayran had drawn from his condition of torpor, underwent a short interrogation from the superintendent of police, in the course of which he made remarks of so suspicious a nature that the examining magistrate put him under arrest then and there. At police headquarters they remain absolutely mute regarding this strange affair. Nevertheless, the personal investigation undertaken by us throws a little light on what is already called: The Drama of the Rue Norvins.

The Discovery of the Crime