Le dictateur et le champignon

Last updated
Spirou et Fantasio #7
Le dictateur et le champignon
Spirou7dictateur.jpg
Cover of the Belgian edition
Date1956
Series Spirou et Fantasio
Publisher Dupuis
Creative team
Writers Franquin
Maurice Rosy, idea
Artists Franquin
Original publication
Published in Spirou magazine
Issues
  1. 801 - #838
Date of publication1953 - 1954
LanguageFrench
ISBN 2-8001-0009-5
Chronology
Preceded by La corne de rhinocéros , 1955
Followed by La mauvaise tête , 1957

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.

Contents

Story

When the Marsupilami causes chaos all over town, Spirou and Fantasio decide that it is time to take him back to his home in the Palombian jungles. After an eventful journey by cruise ship, they find that Fantasio's shady cousin Zantafio has reinvented himself as General Zantas and become the country's ruthless dictator. The now power-mad Zantafio, intent on invading a neighbouring country, offers them top positions in his army. When they indignantly refuse, Zantafio throws them in jail. The pair decide to feign a change of heart, and plan to foil the invasion using one of The Count of Champignac's curious inventions...

Background

Two characters introduced in previous stories return for the first time in this one: the resourceful Seccotine, and the shifty Zantafio who was last seen repenting his scoundrel ways at the conclusion of Spirou et les héritiers , but later evolved into a worse villain. Franquin expressed regrets at twisting the character back and forth like this, but later did the same again with Zorglub.

One of Champignac's most memorable mushroom-based inventions, the "Métomol", a powerful metal-softening gas, is introduced in this story and is later used again in several others.

The sequence where Spirou and Fantasio melt a whole army's gear is an early, still quite gentle, expression of Franquin's anti-militarism, which he would let loose much more ferociously in Gaston Lagaffe and Idées noires .

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<i>Spirou & Fantasio</i> Franco-Belgian comics series

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.

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Seccotine is a recurring character from the Spirou et Fantasio comics, and the first major female character of the series, a strong-willed reporter. She was created by André Franquin, and made her first appearance in La turbotraction serialised in 1953 and published in the album La corne de rhinocéros in 1955.

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Spirou et les héritiers, written and drawn by Franquin, is the fourth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and a great leap in the expansion of the Spirou universe. After serial publication in Spirou magazine, it was released as a complete hardcover album in 1952.

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<i>Le prisonnier du Bouddha</i>

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<i>Panade à Champignac</i>

Panade à Champignac is the nineteenth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series. The story, written and drawn by Franquin, was serialised along with Bravo les Brothers in Spirou magazine before publication as a hardcover album in 1969.

<i>Lombre du Z</i>

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<i>Z comme Zorglub</i> Fifteenth album of the Spirou & Fantasio series by Franquin

Z comme Zorglub, written and drawn by Franquin, is the fifteenth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the first part of Franquin's Zorglub diptych. The story was initially serialised in Spirou magazine before its release as a hardcover album in 1961.

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Tora Torapa, written and drawn by Fournier, is the twenty-third album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the author's fourth, following the Spirou retirement of André Franquin. The story was initially serialised in Spirou magazine before its publication as a hardcover album in 1973.

<i>Du glucose pour Noémie</i>

Du glucose pour Noémie, written and drawn by Fournier, is the twentyfirst album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the author's second, following the Spirou retirement of André Franquin. The story was initially serialised in Spirou magazine before it was published, along with the short story Un faux départ, as a hardcover album in 1971.

<i>Les Chapeaux noirs</i>

Les Chapeaux noirs, album in the Belgian comic series Spirou et Fantasio, released in 1952. The album contains the longer story Les Chapeaux noirs written and drawn by Franquin, and three shorter stories, Mystère à la frontière by Franquin, and Comme une mouche au plafond and Spirou et les hommes-grenouilles by Jijé. All the stories were previously serialised in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou between 1949-50.

<i>Il y a un sorcier à Champignac</i> Second album of the Spirou & Fantasio series by Franquin

Il y a un sorcier à Champignac, by Franquin, is the second album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the first to tell a long intricate story in what would become the Spirou tradition, in contrast to the previous short format stories. After serial publication in Spirou magazine, it was released as a complete hardcover album in 1951.

<i>Les voleurs du Marsupilami</i>

Les voleurs du Marsupilami, published in English as The Marsupilami Thieves, is the fifth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, written and drawn by Franquin. The story is a continuation from where the previous album, Spirou et les héritiers, left off. After serial publication in Spirou magazine, the story was released as a complete hardcover album in 1954.

<i>Le repaire de la murène</i> Ninth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series

Le repaire de la murène, written and drawn by Franquin, is the ninth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, adding underwater adventure to the Spirou universe. After serial publication in Spirou magazine, it was released as a complete hardcover album in 1957.

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