Cubitus | |
---|---|
Author(s) | Dupa, Michel Rodrigue, Pierre Aucaigne |
Illustrator(s) | Dupa, Michel Rodrigue |
Current status/schedule | Running |
Launch date | April 16, 1968 in Tintin magazine |
Publisher(s) | Le Lombard |
Genre(s) | Humor comics, Gag cartoon |
Cubitus is a Franco-Belgian comics series, and the basis for the Wowser cartoon series appearing in the United States. Cubitus was created by the Belgian cartoonist Dupa, and features Cubitus, a large anthropomorphic dog, who lives with his owner Semaphore. Cubitus is known as Dommel in Flanders and the Netherlands, Muppelo or Pom Pom in Finland, Teodoro in Italy, Zıpır in Turkey and Доммель in Russia. His name derives from the old anatomical name of the ulna bone, supposedly derived from the Greek kybiton (elbow).
The series tells the story of Cubitus, a good-natured large, white dog endowed with speech. He lives in a house in the suburbs with his master, Sémaphore, a retired sailor, next door to Sénéchal, the black and white cat who is Cubitus' nemesis.
A vast majority of the album publications collect single page gags, but a few gather collections of shorter stories or, in rare cases, one long story throughout the entire album. Some of the single gag albums or short story compilations are thematic, with for instance in "Cubitus illustre ses ancêtres" revisiting history of humankind, "L'ami ne fait pas le moine" being pastiches of fellow authors from Tintin magazine or Les enquêtes de l'inspecteur Cubitus where he is a fictional police inspector.
Cubitus first appeared in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Tintin on April 16, 1968. [1] The series gained immediate popularity, and began album publication in 1972. [2] After several years of gags and album publications, it became the title strip for a magazine of its own. [3] The first publication of Cubitus was published by Le Lombard in December 1989, though it proved short-lived, lasting only six issues. [4]
In 2005, the series was relaunched by Pierre Aucaigne (scenarist), and Michel Rodrigue (artist) under the title Les nouvelles aventures de Cubitus.
In 1977, the strip was adapted into an animated short film by the Belgian studio Belvision, featuring the voices of André Gevrey, Georges Pradez and Guy Pion. It was broadcast on Radio-Québec's Ciné-cadeau on December 29, 1984 and January 1, 1986, and Télétoon in 2000. [5]
On November 28, 1984, the strip was adapted into three animated sequences on La bande à Bédé. [6] [5]
In 1988, the strip was adapted into a Japanese cartoon series named Don Don: Domeru to Ron, which was re-titled as Wowser for US audiences. Dubbed by Saban Entertainment, it is the only part of Cubitus that has been translated into English.
In 2011, there were plans to adapt the strip into a new 3D computer animated series. The series was produced by Ellipsanime and Storimages. [7] [8]
(in English)
Philippe Vandevelde, working under the pseudonym Tome, was a Belgian comics writer. He was known for collaborations with Janry on Spirou et Fantasio and Le Petit Spirou, and with Luc Warnant and later Bruno Gazzotti on Soda. He also collaborated with Ralph Meyer on Berceuse assassine, and with Marc Hardy on Feux. Earlier in his career he was an assistant-artist for Dupa.
Count Jean Bruno Wladimir François-de-Paule Lefèvre d'Ormesson was a French writer and novelist. He authored forty books, was the director of Le Figaro from 1974 to 1977, as well as the dean of the Académie Française, to which he was elected in 1973, until his death, in addition to his service as president of the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies within UNESCO (1992–1997).
Edgard Félix Pierre Jacobs, better known under his pen name Edgar P. Jacobs, was a Belgian comic book creator, born in Brussels, Belgium. He was one of the founding fathers of the Franco-Belgian comics movement, through his collaborations with Hergé and the graphic novel series that made him famous, Blake and Mortimer.
Michel Vaillant is a French car racing comics series created in 1957 by French cartoonist Jean Graton and published originally by Le Lombard. Later, Graton published the albums by himself when he founded Graton éditeur in 1982. Michel Vaillant is the main character of the eponymous series, a French racing car driver who competes mainly in Formula One.
Ellipsanime Productions is a French animation studio that produces television programs. It was founded in 1987. In February 2000 it merged with Expand SA; Expand sold the company to Dargaud in 2003, and it became Ellipsanime in 2004. In 2014, Ellipsanime bought the assets of Moonscoop SA.
Robert de Groot was a Belgian comic books artist and writer.
Luc Orient is a Belgian science fiction comic series featuring an eponymous hero, created in 1967 by the writer Greg and the artist Eddy Paape. It belongs to the large family of Franco-Belgian comics.
Tintin was a weekly Belgian comics magazine of the second half of the 20th century. Subtitled "The Magazine for the Youth from 7 to 77", it was one of the major publications of the Franco-Belgian comics scene and published such notable series as Blake and Mortimer, Alix, and the principal title The Adventures of Tintin. Originally published by Le Lombard, the first issue was released in 1946, and it ceased publication in 1993.
Achille Talon is a Franco-Belgian comics series featuring an eponymous main character, created by Greg. Starting publication in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Pilote in 1963, the series presents the comic misadventures of an anti-hero.
Le Petit Spirou is a popular Belgian comic strip created by Tome and Janry in 1987. The series developed from La jeunesse de Spirou (1987), a Spirou & Fantasio album in which Tome and Janry set to imagine Spirou's youth. It was developed into a spin-off series shortly afterwards and the authors have focused on it ever since the controversy created after their final Spirou et Fantasio album, Machine qui rêve (1998). New albums are among the bestselling French-language comics, with 330,000 copies for the latest one.
Boule et Bill is a popular comic, created in 1959 by Belgian writer-artist Jean Roba in collaboration with Maurice Rosy. In 2003, the artistic responsibility of the series was passed on to Roba's former assistant Laurent Verron. The stories center on a typical family: a man and his wife, their young son Boule and Bill the cocker spaniel.
Gai-Luron is a French comics series about a melancholic basset hound, Gai-Luron, created on July 12, 1964, by Gotlib. Originally published in the Franco-Belgian comics magazines Vaillant and Pif Gadget, the character joined Nanar, Jujube et Piette, which Gotlib had drawn since 1962, but eventually headlined a hit series of its own. The album collection series started in 1975, and the second album, Gai-Luron en écrase méchamment was awarded the prize for French comical work at the Angoulême in 1976.
Claudine Luypaerts, better known as Maurane, was a Francophone Belgian singer and actress.
Ric Hochet is a Franco-Belgian comics series created by Tibet (drawings) and André-Paul Duchâteau (scripts). It first appeared on March 30, 1955, in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Tintin.
Zig et Puce is a Franco-Belgian comics series created by Alain Saint-Ogan in 1925 that became popular and influential over a long period. After ending production, it was revived by Greg for a second successful publication run.
Tibet, the pseudonym of Gilbert Gascard, was a French cartoonist in the Franco-Belgian comics tradition. Tibet, who debuted in 1947, is known for work produced for the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Tintin, most notably the long-running series Ric Hochet and Chick Bill.
Raymond Leblanc was a Belgian comic book publisher, film director and film producer, best known for publishing works such as The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé and Blake and Mortimer by Edgar P. Jacobs. He debuted, published, and promoted many of the most famous Franco-Belgian comics. Leblanc and his two partners created Le Lombard publishing, Tintin magazine, PubliArt advertising agency, and Belvision Studios.
Wowser, known in Japan as Bigger and Better: Dommel & Ron, is an anime based on the Belgian comic strip Cubitus. It is the first TV anime to be produced by anime studio J.C. Staff. Telescreen Japan co-animated the series alongside J.C. Staff. It consisted of 52 two-part episodes the running time of 25 minutes in total, and it originally aired from 5 April 1988 to 27 March 1989. The show aired in the USA on The Family Channel in 1989.
Luc Dupanloup, more famous under his pen name Dupa, was a Belgian comics artist best known as the creator of Cubitus which later was turned into an animated series called Wowser. He was born on 12 February 1945 in Montignies-sur-Sambre and died on 8 November 2000 in Ottignies.
Hollywood Girls : Une nouvelle vie en Californie, or simply Hollywood Girls, is a French soap opera created by Alexandre dos Santos, Jérémy Michalak, and Thibaut Vales for NRJ12. The series features an ensemble cast and follows a groups of French peoples who decided to start a new life in California, but their life is quickly disrupted by the diabolical Geny G and her husband, the Dr. David Moretti.