THE REDISCOVERED CONTINENTS

Behind many of Martin Mystère's adventures there lies a sort of "alternative mythology", which is reflected in the events that unfold during the series. In remote times, the world had already reached and indeed surpassed our current level of technology; furthermore, science had already discovered the nature and the mechanisms of what we now call "magic", and certain energies that are unknown to

us today were utilized quite routinely at that time. The nations that populated the Earth were groups into two blocs, Atlantis (with many characteristics of the present-day West) and Mu (which had many characteristics of the present-day East); the opposition between these two blocs generated constant outbreaks of wars, which were fought making use of an arsenal of weapons that now strike us as belonging to science fiction. Twelve thousand years ago, the conflict became global: following the use of powerful nuclear devices, the superpowers triggered a terrifying catastrophe that affected the entire planet, and traces of this ancient catastrophe are found in Plato's legend of Atlantis. As the centuries went by the survivors began to reorganize, gradually giving rise to our current civilization.

Mystère has more than once encountered pieces of evidence proving the existence of Atlantis and Mu, but each time his discoveries have been systematically destroyed by the Men in Black, who fear that dissemination of these remote events might lead to a radical change in the present-day mankind's established way of thinking.