Franquin's Last Laugh (French: Idées noires: Dark thoughts) is a collection of black comedy comic strips drawn by André Franquin, written by Franquin and Yvan Delporte. The one-page stories first appeared frequently in 1977, in the brief run of the Spirou magazine supplement, Le Trombone illustré. After this initiative was cancelled, Idées noires resumed publication in the magazine Fluide Glacial, upon Gotlib's suggestion, where it remained a fixture until 1983.[1] The first album was published in 1981, and a sequel in half-page format was published in 1984.
As the title Idées noires might suggest, these stories explore depressive and horrific fantasies, all drawn with dramatic use of black on white. Suicide, execution, industrial recklessness, ecological disaster and hunting accidents are some of the themes darkly illustrated in this body of work. It's also notable for its stances against nuclear energy, the death penalty, game hunting and war.[2] The series contrasts sharply with Franquin's other comic strips such as Gaston Lagaffe, Spirou et Fantasio and the Marsupilami, although a dark touch occasionally surfaced in other later work such as the Gaston Lagaffe strip for Amnesty International (published in Cauchemarrants,[3] 1979).[4][5]
A few pages were translated in Kitchen Sink's short-lived comics magazine "French Ticklers" under the title "Dark Designs".[6] The whole collection was set to be published by Fantagraphics Books in an English translation by Kim Thompson in 2013, but publication has been delayed, possibly because of Thompson's death to cancer.[7] It was finally published in 2018 under the title "Die Laughing".
Die Laughing (2018, complete collection in English)
In popular culture
In the Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels the permanent exhibition brings homage to the pioneers of Belgian comics, among them André Franquin. One of the rooms dedicated to his work is a black, dark tunnel where pages from "Idéés Noires" are exhibited.[8]
Gaston is a Belgian gag-a-day comic strip created in 1957 by the Belgian cartoonist André Franquin in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou. The series focuses on the everyday life of Gaston Lagaffe, a lazy and accident-prone office junior who works at Spirou's office in Brussels. Gaston is very popular in large parts of Europe and has been translated into over a dozen languages, but except for a few pages by Fantagraphics in the early 1990s, there was no English translation until Cinebook began publishing English language editions of Gaston books in July, 2017.
André Franquin was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best-known creations are Gaston and Marsupilami. He also produced the Spirou et Fantasio comic strip from 1946 to 1968, a period seen by many as the series' golden age.
Marsupilami is a comic book character and fictional animal species created by André Franquin. Its first appearance was in the 31 January 1952 issue of the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou. Since then it appeared regularly in the popular Belgian comics series Spirou & Fantasio, as a pet of the main characters, until Franquin stopped working on the series; the character's final appearance in the series during Franquin's lifetime was in 1970.
Spirou is a weekly Belgian comics magazine published by the Dupuis company since April 21, 1938. It is an anthology magazine with new features appearing regularly, containing a mix of short humor strips and serialized features, of which the most popular series would be collected as albums by Dupuis afterwards.
Spirou & Fantasio, commonly shortened to Spirou, is one of the most popular classic Franco-Belgian comics. The series, which has been running since 1938, shares many characteristics with other European humorous adventure comics like The Adventures of Tintin, Lucky Luke, and Asterix. It has been written and drawn by a succession of artists.
Marcel Gottlieb, known professionally as Gotlib, was a French comics artist/writer and publisher. Through his own work and the magazines he co-founded, L'Écho des savanes and Fluide Glacial, he was a key figure in the switch in French-language comics from their children's entertainment roots to an adult tone and readership. His series include Rubrique-à-Brac, Gai-Luron, and Superdupont.
Éditions Dupuis S.A. is a Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines.
Belgian comics are a distinct subgroup in the comics history, and played a major role in the development of European comics, alongside France with whom they share a long common history. While the comics in the two major language groups and regions of Belgium each have clearly distinct characteristics, they are constantly influencing one another, and meeting each other in Brussels and in the bilingual publication tradition of the major editors. As one of the few arts where Belgium has had an international and enduring impact in the 20th century, comics are known to be "an integral part of Belgian culture".
Modeste and Pompon is a Belgian comic series consisting mainly of humorous one-page short stories about a temperamental young man and his girlfriend. Created by André Franquin, it was first published in Tintin magazine on 19 October 1955.
Yvan Delporte was a Belgian comics writer, and was editor-in-chief of Spirou magazine between 1955 and 1968 during a period considered by many the golden age of Franco-Belgian comics. He is credited with several creative contributions, among these his collaborations with Peyo on The Smurfs, with René Follet on Steve Severin (1/2) and André Franquin with the creation of Gaston Lagaffe and the co-authorship of Idées noires.
Le gorille a bonne mine, written and drawn by Franquin, is the eleventh album of the Spirou et Fantasio series. The title story and Vacances sans histoires, were serialised in Spirou magazine, before the hardcover album release in 1959.
Le dictateur et le champignon, written and drawn by Franquin, is the seventh album of the Spirou et Fantasio series. After serial publication in Spirou magazine, the story was released as a hardcover album in 1956.
Marsu Productions is a comics publishing house which mainly manages the Franco-Belgian comics characters and copyright concerns of the comics universe of André Franquin. The company, based in Monaco, also manages the rights of François Walthéry's Natacha and Le P'tit bout d'chique, and Léonid et Spoutnika by Yann and Philippe Bercovici among others.
Noël, or Le Petit Noël, is the main character of an eponymous Belgian comics series, and a secondary character of Spirou et Fantasio. His name means "Christmas" in French. The series Noël was created in 1957 by André Franquin and Jidéhem and published in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou, while Franquin created the following work alone or together with Will.
La Saga des gaffes, written and drawn by Franquin, is the fourteenth album of the original Gaston Lagaffe series. It is made up of 44 strips previously published in Spirou.
Le cas Lagaffe, written and drawn by Franquin, is the ninth album of the original Gaston Lagaffe series. It is composed of 52 strips previously published in Spirou. It was published in 1971 by Dupuis.
Gaffes et gadgets, written and drawn by Franquin, is an album in the original Gaston Lagaffe series, numbered 0. It is made up of strips and illustrations originally published in Spirou, and was published by Dupuis in 1985. It consists of 48 pages.
The Belgian Comic Strip Center is a museum in central Brussels, Belgium, dedicated to Belgian comics. It is located at 20, rue des Sables/Zandstraat, in an Art Nouveau building designed by Victor Horta, and can be accessed from Brussels-Congress railway station and Brussels-Central railway station.
Delaf is a Québécois comic strip writer, cartoonist, animator and scriptwriter. His is best known for his work in The Bellybuttons, a comics feature that he co-created with his then wife, Maryse Dubuc.
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