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| Spip | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Dupuis (Belgium) |
| First appearance | Spirou et Fantasio |
| Created by | Rob-Vel |
Spip is a fictional Eurasian red squirrel and a main character in the Belgian comic strip Spirou et Fantasio . He is Spirou's pet and was the first recurring supporting character in the series. [1] [2]
The character made its debut in the second Spirou story, L'Héritage de Bill Money (Bill Money's Heritage, 1939) by Rob-Vel. Spirou saves him from the mad and sadistic Sosthène Silly in the story, [3] [4] [5] but otherwise the animal remained a mere anecdotal character. It wasn't until Jijé took over the series that Spip became one of the main cast members and even gained the ability to talk, although humans don't understand it. When André Franquin took over the series he introduced the Marsupilami, a character who had somewhat stolen the spotlight away from Spip in many stories. However, when Franquin quit drawing Spirou & Fantasio, he retained the rights to the Marsupilami, and it ceased to appear in new Spirou stories, thus making Spip once again more prominent in the new Spirou stories by different creators.
Spip is saved by Spirou in Rob-Vel's and Jijé's first joint adventure L'Héritage de Bill Money (The Inheritance of Bill Money, 1938), and from then on he stands by his master's side. Under Rob-vel his presence is just visual, occasionally serving to gnaw ropes that bind his master, or adding to a comical detail. It is under Jijé's authorship he gains the capacity to speak through "thought balloons" (similar to Snoopy and Garfield). From this point he is given to state his opinion on any situation, often in a comical manner, and his communications appear to be understood.
Under André Franquin's authorship, Spirou and Fantasio lose the ability to understand Spip, and when the Marsupilami joins the family, he also loses a great deal of attention but gains the perspective to feel ignored and underappreciated. In the shadow of his extraordinary fellow pet, he is less influential, although there are exceptions. In La corne de rhinoceros, he saves his friends from an angry elephant, earning him the title "king of creation". [6] Near the end of this era, in QRN sur Bretzelburg, he is allowed to shine.
Jean-Claude Fournier 's Spip continues where Franquin's left off, his sarcasms becoming more frequent and self-pitying. He occasionally breaks the fourth wall, acknowledging that he is in a comic book and sometimes even complaining that Spirou and Fantasio are not exactly his idea of comic book heroes. Complaints aside, he was still an active (if often unwilling) participant in the stories, even saving the day on a few occasions, such as in L'abbaye truquée .
In the beginning, Tome and Janry continued Spip much as Fournier had, letting him make biting remarks about whatever situation he was in, providing comedy relief and occasionally contributing to the plots. However, as the series evolved and grew more dramatic and mature, Spip's role was greatly reduced, his comments becoming less frequent until he stopped talking entirely. In later albums he's more or less a background character, still always by Spirou's side but seldom noticed by anyone. This was even parodied in Spirou à Moscou , where he after a kidnapping spends much of the story with a Band-Aid covering his mouth, and Spirou and Fantasio don't notice it.
Spip is featured in almost every Spirou story. Usually he provides sarcastic commentary on the events taking place around him. Humans don't understand him, however, so only readers are able to tell what's on his mind. [1] He is stubborn and somewhat reluctant and even scared to go on adventures with his owner. Still, Spip has saved Spirou and Fantasio on many occasions. The animal has his own spot in Spirou's house and sleeps in an old slipper, typically dreaming about nuts. [1]
The word "Spip" is a short variant of the word "spirou", which is Walloon dialect for "squirrel", thus explaining why he is Spirou's pet. [3] [7] [8]
Spip is somewhat of a counterpart to Tintin's Snowy and therefore often used in merchandise. The character is portrayed on a wall in the Rue Notre Dame des Grâces/ Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Gratiestraat in Brussels as part of the Brussels' Comic Book Route, along with other characters from Spirou and Fantasio . [9] [10]
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 Franco-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.
Joseph Gillain, better known by his pen name Jijé, was a Belgian comics artist, best known for being a seminal artist on the Spirou et Fantasio strip and the creator of one of the first major European western strips, Jerry Spring.
Zantafio is a recurring fictional antagonist in the Spirou et Fantasio comic book series. He was created by André Franquin and first appeared in Spirou et les héritiers (1952). Zantafio bears a strong resemblance to Fantasio, because they are cousins. In Le dictateur et le champignon (1953), he is a South-American dictator of the fictional country Palombia.
Spirou & Fantasio 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.
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.
François Robert Velter, known by his pen-name Rob-Vel, was a French cartoonist. He is best known for creating the character Spirou in 1938.
Spirou is a Belgian comic strip character and protagonist in the comic strip series Spirou & Fantasio and Le Petit Spirou, and the eponymous character of the Belgian comic strip magazine Spirou.
Quatre aventures de Spirou et Fantasio, written and drawn by Franquin, is a collection of four stories from serial publication between 1948 and 1950 in Spirou magazine, namely Spirou et les plans du robot, Spirou sur le ring, Spirou fait du cheval, and Spirou chez les Pygmées. Together they were released as the first official series Spirou et Fantasio hardcover album in 1950.
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.
QRN sur Bretzelburg, written by Franquin and Greg, drawn by Franquin with assistance by Jidéhem, is the eighteenth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series. The story was initially serialised in Spirou magazine under the name QRM sur Bretzelburg over an unusually long period, before a delayed hardcover album release in 1966.
Le faiseur d'or, written and drawn by Fournier, is the twentieth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the first to follow the Spirou retirement of André Franquin. The story was initially serialised in Spirou magazine, before publication grouped with Un Noël clandestin and Le champignon nippon in a hardcover album in 1970.
L'abbaye truquée, written and drawn by Fournier, is the twenty-second album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the author's third, following the Spirou retirement of André Franquin. The story was initially serialised in Spirou magazine, before its release as a hardcover album in 1972.
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.
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.
La corne de rhinocéros, written and drawn by Franquin, is the sixth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series. The material was first serialised in Spirou magazine in two parts, Spirou et la Turbotraction and the sequel La corne de rhinocéros, and finally merged into one for the release of the hardcover album in 1955.
Spirou et Fantasio, written and drawn by Franquin, is an album that precedes the main Spirou et Fantasio album series. It contains Franquin's first four stories completed between 1946 and 1948, three of which were serialised in Spirou magazine.
