XIII

XIII (Thirteen) is a successful Franco Belgian Comics series written and drawn by Belgians Jean Van Hamme and William Vance. The series was initially serialised in 1984 in Spirou, and was later published by Dargaud.

The series begins with a man found on a shore in Peacock Bay in the East Coast of the United States, suffering from amnesia, and just the tattoo "XIII" on his collarbone to link him to his past. Volumes one through five deal with XIII searching for his identity and his past, only to find himself confronting the "conspiracy of the XX" which aims to a coup d'état in the United States.

Adapted in 2003 into a first-person shooter video game with the same name, in 2008 into XIII: The Conspiracy (a two-part miniseries on Showcase in Canada and NBC in the USA starring Stephen Dorff and Val Kilmer), and in 2011 into XIII: The Series.

The original series is made up of these volumes:

The Day of The Black Sun, 1984 (Le jour du soleil noir)
Where the Indian Goes, 1985 (Là où va l'Indien)
All the Tears of Hell, 1986 (Toutes les Larmes de l'Enfer)
S.P.A.D.S, 1987
Full Red, 1988 (Rouge Total)
The Jason Fly File, 1989 (Le Dossier Jason Fly)
The Night of August 3rd, 1990 (La Nuit du 3 Août)
Thirteen to One, 1991 (Treize Contre Un)
For Maria, 1992 (Pour Maria)
El Cascador, 1994
Three Silver Watches, 1995 (Trois Montres d'Argent)
The Trial, 1997 (Le Jugement)
The XIII Mystery: The Investigation, 1999 (XIII Mystery : L'Enquête)
Danger to the State, 2000 (Secret Défense)
Unleash the Hounds!, 2002 (Lâchez les Chiens !)
Operation Montechristo, 2004 (Opération Montechristo)
Maximilian's Gold, 2005 (L'or de Maximilien)
The Irish Version, 2007 (La Version Irlandaise), drawn by Jean Giraud, to accompany The Last Round
The Last Round, 2007 (Le Dernier Round)

A new series began in 2014:

The Day of the Mayflower (2014)
The Bait (2015)
Return to Green Falls (2016
The Martyr's Message (2017)
Jason McLane's Inheritance (2018)

There is also a standalone "XIII Mystery":

The Mongoose (2014)

Tropes used in XIII include: