Spirou & Fantasio

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Spirou & Fantasio
Spirou-ensemble1.jpg
Some of the main characters of Spirou & Fantasio, from the album Le gorille a bonne mine .
From left to right: the Marsupilami, Spirou, Fantasio, and the squirrel Spip.
Publication information
Publisher Dupuis (French), usually first in the magazine Spirou , then in albums
Cinebook Ltd (English)
Publication date1938–present
Main character(s) Spirou
Fantasio
Spip
Creative team
Created by Robert Velter
Written by
Artist(s)

Spirou & Fantasio (French : Spirou et 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.

Contents

Spirou and Fantasio are the series' main characters, two adventurous journalists who run into fantastic adventures, aided by Spirou's pet squirrel Spip and their inventor friend the Count of Champignac.

History

Origins of Spirou

Rob-Vel's Spirou Rob-vel-spirou1.jpg
Rob-Vel's Spirou

The comic strip was originally created by Rob-Vel for the launch of Le Journal de Spirou ( Spirou magazine) on April 21, 1938, and published by Éditions Dupuis. [1] The main character was originally an elevator (lift) operator (in French: un groom) for the Moustique Hotel (in reference to the publisher's chief magazine, Le Moustique), and remained dressed in his red bellhop uniform for a long time after the occupation was dropped. Spirou (the name means 'squirrel' (lit.) and 'mischievous' (fig.) in Walloon) has a pet squirrel called Spip, the series' first supporting character, who was introduced on June 8, 1939, in the story arc titled L'Héritage de Bill Money and liberated in the following week's issue, remaining a presence in all Spirou stories since. [2] [3]

Spip's liberation, June 15, 1939 Spirou et spip-150639.jpg
Spip's liberation, June 15, 1939

Adding to the difficulties of magazine publication that came with the outbreak of World War II, Velter joined the army effort, and his wife Blanche Dumoulin, using the pen name Davine, continued the work on the Spirou strip, with the aid of the young Belgian artist Luc Lafnet. [4] [5] Spirou became the property of the publisher Dupuis (atypical in France and Belgium where most comic characters are owned by their creator(s)), who bought the character from Rob-Vel in 1943, and since then the series has belonged to no specific author. [6] The title has therefore subsequently been passed on to several different artists and writers.

The first success came in 1943 when Joseph Gillain, known by the pen name Jijé, was given charge of the character. In 1944 Jijé introduced a new character, Fantasio, who would become Spirou's best friend and co-adventurer. [1] Holding many artistic commitments at Spirou magazine, Jijé sought to delegate much of his work, and in 1946 he handed the series to his understudy, the young André Franquin, in the middle of the production of the story Spirou et la maison préfabriquée. [7]

Franquin's Spirou

Franquin developed the strip from single gags and short serials into long adventures with complex plots and is usually considered the definitive author of the strip. He introduced a large gallery of recurring characters, notably the Count de Champignac, an elderly scientist and inventor; the buffoonish mad scientist Zorglub; Fantasio's cousin and aspiring dictator Zantafio; and the journalist Seccotine, a rare instance of a major female character in Franco-Belgian comics of this period.

Spirou et les heritiers, 1952, by Franquin Spirou4heritiers.jpg
Spirou et les héritiers, 1952, by Franquin

One Franquin creation that went on to develop a life of its own was the Marsupilami, a fictional monkey-like creature with a tremendously long prehensile tail. The Marsupilami appears in the majority of the Franquin stories, starting in 1952 with Spirou et les héritiers . In the series, it is adopted by the duo and follows them everywhere they go. Marsupilamis in the wild take centre stage briefly in Le nid des Marsupilamis (1957) which presents Seccotine's documentary featuring a family in their natural habitat, the jungles of the fictitious South American state Palombia.

Starting with Le prisonnier du Bouddha (1959), Franquin began to work with Greg (writing) and Jidéhem (backgrounds). As in some of his later series ( Bruno Brazil , Bernard Prince ), Greg staged his stories in a realistic geopolitical context. Le prisonnier du Bouddha is set in mainland China, with veiled references made to the Cold War. As for QRN sur Bretzelburg , it takes place in two imaginary European countries which bring to mind pre-reunification Germany. Lastly, it is with Greg that Franquin created the famed villain Zorglub in the diptych of Z comme Zorglub and L'ombre du Z .

However, as Franquin grew tired of Spirou, his other major character Gaston began to take precedence in his work, and following the controversial Panade à Champignac , the series passed on to a then-unknown young cartoonist, Jean-Claude Fournier, in 1969. One side effect of this is that the Marsupilami would only appear in one last story, Le faiseur d'or . This is because Franquin decided to retain the rights to that character; all the other characters remained the property of the publisher. Starting with Du glucose pour Noémie , there would be no more appearances of the Marsupilami in Spirou et Fantasio, with the exception of a few discreet references. Only in the 1980s did the Marsupilami reappear in its own series, and later a television cartoon and video game.

A long transition

Fournier authored nine books in the series, which saw Spirou evolve into a more modern character. Where Franquin's stories tended to be politically neutral (in his later works, notably Idées noires , he would champion pacifist and environmental views), Fournier's stint on Spirou addressed such hot topics (for the 1970s) as nuclear energy ( L'Ankou ), drug-funded dictatorships ( Kodo le tyran ) and Duvalier-style repression ( Tora Torapa ).

Fournier introduced some new characters such as Ororéa, a beautiful girl reporter with whom Fantasio was madly in love (in contrast with his dislike of Seccotine); Itoh Kata, a Japanese magician; and an occult SPECTRE-like criminal organisation known as The Triangle. None of these were reused by later artists until some thirty years later when Itoh Kata appeared in Morvan and Munuera's Spirou et Fantasio à Tokyo.

However, at the end of the 1970s Fournier's pace began to slow down and the publisher, Dupuis, sought new authors to replace him. For a time, three separate teams worked on concurrent stories. Nic Broca (art) and Raoul Cauvin (writing) took on Fournier's lead without adding much to the characters. Their primary addition to the Spirou universe, namely the "Black box", a device that annihilates sound, is in fact an acknowledged rehash from an early Sophie story by Jidéhem (La bulle du silence). Strangely, the authors were not allowed by the publisher to use any of the side characters and because of this, the duo's three stories read somewhat like a parenthesis in the series.

Yves Chaland's case

Yves Chaland proposed a far more radical make-over. His (very short) stint on Spirou is an ironic re-staging of the strip as it was in the 40s. This homage to Jijé and early Franquin was seen at the time as too sophisticated for the mainstream readership. It was pre-published in 1982 in Spirou magazine, n°2297 to n°2318, printed in two-colour, but was interrupted before it was completed. This unfinished story was first collected in an unofficial album in 1984, À la recherche de Bocongo, and then, legally, under the name of Cœurs d'acier (Champaka editor, 1990). This last edition includes the original strips, and a text by Yann Le Pennetier, illustrated by Chaland, that finishes the interrupted story. [8]

Tome and Janry – the Dynamic Duo

Vito la Deveine, 1991, by Tome & Janry Spirou Vito la Deveine.jpg
Vito la Déveine, 1991, by Tome & Janry

It was the team of Tome (writing) and Janry (art) which was to find lasting success with Spirou, both in terms of sales and critical appeal. Graphically, the authors' work was seen as a modern homage to Franquin's classic work, while their plots involved such modern topics as biotech ( Virus ), robotics ( Qui arrêtera Cyanure? ), and even time travel (the diptych of L'horloger de la comète and Le réveil du Z , featuring future descendants of the Count and Zorglub). Their position as the official Spirou authors made them the flagship team to a whole new school of young, like-minded artists, such as Didier Conrad, Bernard Hislaire, or Frank Le Gall, who had illustrious careers of their own. For a time, Spirou also acted as a side character in Frank Pé's short-lived absurd humor strip L'Élan (originally published in the weekly Spirou magazine).

With La jeunesse de Spirou (1987), Tome and Janry set out to imagine Spirou's youth. This idea was later developed into a spin-off series, Le Petit Spirou ("Young Spirou"), which details the antics of the character as an elementary school boy. A lot of the center of gags center around the character's interest in the opposite sex. It is generally acknowledged, however, that the Petit Spirou has little in common, psychologically speaking, with the adult character.

A new villain, the unlucky Mafia boss Vito "Lucky" Cortizone, based on the character Vito Corleone from The Godfather movies, was introduced in Spirou à New York , while Spirou à Moscou (1990) sees Spirou and Fantasio pay their first visit to the USSR, just as it was about to collapse (the country was dissolved in 1991).

In Machine qui rêve (1998), Tome and Janry tried to once again renew the series with a more mature storyline (wounded hero, love relationships, etc.), coupled with a more realistic graphic style. This sudden shift into a darker tone shocked many readers, although its seeds were apparent in previous Spirou albums and in other series by the same authors ( Soda , Berceuse assassine). While many considered the change in tone to be courageous and laudable, there was some concern that Spirou lost much of its point when presented as a "realistic" character. At any rate, the controversy caused Tome and Janry to concentrate on Le Petit Spirou, and stop making albums in the main series.

Spirou in the 21st century

Spirou mural in Brussels. Spirou Bruselas.jpg
Spirou mural in Brussels.

Morvan and Munuera

After a six-year break, which only saw the publication of L'accélérateur atomique, a Spirou spoof by Lewis Trondheim not included in the official series (but which received Dupuis' approval), the series went back to a more classical storytelling mode with seasoned cartoonists Jean-David Morvan (writing) and José-Luis Munuera (art). The latter kept close to the spirit of Franquin's graphical style, while bringing its own touch of manga-inspired modernism. Morvan and Munuera's Spirou is partly remarkable in that it uses background elements and secondary characters from the whole history of the title, and not just from Franquin's period.

The duo's third album, Spirou et Fantasio à Tokyo was released 20 September 2006. Spirou and Fantasio uncover the story of two children with telekinetic powers (similarly to the manga Akira ) that are forced to construct an Edo and Meiji period theme park. Dupuis has also released as Spirou et Fantasio 49Z a manga story by Hiroyuki Oshima after an idea by Morvan. This story tells Spirou's adolescence as a bellhop in a five-star Tokyo hotel. [9]

Due to a significant decline in sales, Dupuis decided to cease Morvan and Munuera work in Spirou in January 2007. [10] However, they were allowed to complete one last album, Aux sources du Z, which was released 5 November 2008, with the help of scenarist Yann. [11]

Yoann and Vehlmann

In January 2009, it was announced in Spirou magazine #3694 that Morvan and Munuera would be succeeded by Fabien Vehlmann and Yoann, who had together created the first volume of Une aventure de Spirou et Fantasio par.... Their first album in the regular series was announced for October 2009, [12] but was later pushed back to September 3, 2010, and is named Alerte aux zorkons. [13] Their last album was La Colére du Marsupilami, published in 2016.

In 2018, Yoann and Vehlmann launched a spin-off series with Spirou as a superheroSupergroom (French for 'Superbellhop') – and have since then been focusing on this version of the character.

Guerrive, Abitan & Schwartz

In 2022, Sophie Guerrive and Benjamin Abitan (writers) and Olivier Schwartz (artist) had their first Spirou album (La Mort de Spirou) published.

Le Spirou de...

In 2006, Dupuis launched a second series of one-off volumes by various authors, under the name Une aventure de Spirou et Fantasio par... ('A Spirou and Fantasio adventure by...'). It has subsequently been renamed Le Spirou de... ('The Spirou story by...')

The first volume, Les géants pétrifiés by Fabien Vehlmann and Yoann, had a modern storyline and art, not dissimilar in spirit to Morvan and Munuera's work. [14] The second volume, Les marais du temps, by Frank Le Gall, is drawn in a more classic style not dissimilar to The Adventures of Tintin and Théodore Poussin, Le Gall's own comic series. The third, Le tombeau des Champignac, by Yann and Fabrice Tarrin, is a slightly modernized homage to Franquin's classic period. The fourth, Journal d'un ingénu, by Emile Bravo, is a novelistic homage to the original Rob-Vel and Jijé's universes and stories, and was released to critical acclaim, being awarded at the Angoulême festival. The fifth, Le groom vert-de-gris by Yann and Olivier Schwartz, is based on one of Yann's old scripts from the 1980s originally intended to have been drawn by Chaland, while the editor rejected it. Yann picked up the artist Schwartz, working in a similar style, to complete the story. The story takes place among the resistance movement in the Nazi-occupied Belgium. Unlike traditional Spirou stories, but similar to other works by Yann, the story features rather much dark humour and political satire. It was released once again to some acclaim but also attracted controversy for its cavalier approach to sensitive issues. The sixth album, Panique en Atlantique, authored by Lewis Trondheim and Fabrice Parme, was released on April 16, 2010.

A One-Shot album from 2017, Il s'appelait Ptirou (His Name Was Ptirou), written by Yves Sente and illustrated by Laurent Verron, which was a fictional "real-life" story of a boy that became the inspiration for Spirou, [15] was repurposed and reissued as the first volume of a new spin-off series, Mademoiselle J, centered around a girl named Juliette, Ptirou's love interest from Il s'appelait Ptirou. To date, this series has two volumes. [16]

Characters

Main and recurring Spirou et Fantasio characters:

Spirou, Spip & Fantasio, the main characters of the series Spirou-100x100.png
Spirou, Spip & Fantasio, the main characters of the series

Enemies

Albums

This list includes French titles, their English translation, and the first year of publication

Jijé

André Franquin

Jean-Claude Fournier

Nic & Cauvin

Tome & Janry

Morvan & Munuera

Yoann & Vehlmann

Guerrive, Abitan & Schwartz

Special issues (hors-séries)

One-shots: Une aventure de Spirou et Fantasio par...

Translations

The strip has been translated to several languages, among them Spanish, Portuguese, English, Japanese [ citation needed ], German, Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnamese, Turkish, Italian, Dutch, Finnish, Scandinavian languages, Serbo-Croatian, Galician, Catalan [18] and Icelandic.

One book, number 15, was translated into English, by Fantasy Flight Publishing in 1995. This edition is out of print. Book 16 was partially translated but never published. [19]

In 1960, Le nid des Marsupilamis was printed in the weekly British boys' magazine Knockout , under the title Dickie and Birdbath Watch the Woggle. In that early localization, Spirou was called "Dickie," Fantasio was "Birdbath," Seccotine was "Cousin Constance," the Marsupilami was "the Woggle," and the female Marsupilami was "the Wiggle." [20]

Egmont has printed and released English translations of Spirou in 2007 in India through its Indian subsidiary (Euro Books). So far, albums number 1–11 and 14 have been translated. [21] [22]

Cinebook has started publishing the series in October 2009. [23] Books released so far:

34. Spirou & Fantasio: Adventure Down Under (Aventure en Australie), 2009, ISBN   978-1-84918-011-5
39. Spirou & Fantasio in New York, 2010, ISBN   978-1-84918-054-2
40. Spirou & Fantasio: Running Scared, 2012, ISBN   978-1-84918-116-7
41. Spirou & Fantasio: Valley of the Exiles, 2013, ISBN   978-1-84918-157-0
05. The Marsupilami Thieves, 2013, ISBN   978-1-84918-167-9
42. Spirou & Fantasio in Moscow, 2014, ISBN   978-1-84918-193-8
06. The Rhinoceros' Horn, 2014, ISBN   978-1-84918-224-9
43. Tough Luck Vito, 2015, ISBN   978-1-84918-248-5
07. The Dictator and the Mushroom, 2015, ISBN   978-1-84918-267-6
33. Virus, 2016, ISBN   978-1-84918-297-3
08. The Wrong Head, 2016, ISBN   978-1-849183-130
35. Who Will Stop Cyanide?, 2017, ISBN   978-1-84918-355-0
15. Z is for Zorglub, 2017, ISBN   978-1-84918-362-8
36. The Clockmaker and the Comet, 2018, ISBN   978-1-84918-404-5
16. Shadow of the Z, 2018 ISBN   978-1-84918-419-9
37. The Z Rises Again, 2019 ISBN   978-1-84918-441-0
12. The Marsupilamis' Nest, 2020 ISBN   978-1-84918-5-332
51. Attack of the Zordolts, 2021 ISBN   978-1800440227
13. The Visitor from the Mesozoic, 2022 ISBN   978-1800440661
52. The Dark Side of the Z, 2023 ISBN   9781800441033

Concurrently, Europe Comics has published translations of the One-Shot albums, available in digital form. Books released so far:

12. His Name Was Ptirou, published April 18, 2018, ASIN   B07CPTFFH3
4. Spirou: The Diary of a Naive Young Man, published November 21, 2018, ASIN   B07K8LLM6D
16. Spirou in Berlin, published March 20, 2019, ASIN   B07NY7B3QR
14. Spirou – Hope Against All Odds: Part 1, published March 18, 2020, ASIN   B0859LLWGT
15. Spirou – Hope Against All Odds: Part 2, published June 17, 2020, ASIN   B08B6C53ZV

In other media

The popularity of the series has led to an adaptation of the characters into different media. On February 25, 1961, and October 16, 1963, two radio audio play adaptations were broadcast on the RTBF radio channel. The stories were based on Le Dictateur de Champignon and Les Robinsons du Rail, with participation of Yvan Delporte and André Franquin. Two TV cartoon series has been produced, the first, Spirou , consisting of 52 episodes originally aired between 1993 and 1994, and the second, Les Nouvelles Aventures de Spirou et Fantasio consisting of 39 episodes originally aired between 2006 and 2009. Two video games have also been produced, the first, Spirou , was released in 1995 by Infogrames, and the second, Spirou: The Robot Invasion , was released in 2000 by Ubisoft. In Sierra's Playtoons series, Spirou and Fantasio appeared in the stories "The Case of the Counterfeit Collaborator" and "The Mandarin Prince". A live-action movie adaptation directed by Alexandre Coffre was released in 2018, [24] starring Thomas Solivérès as Spirou, Alex Lutz as Fantasio, Christian Clavier as Count of Champignac, Géraldine Nakache as Seccotine and Ramzy Bédia as Zorglub.

Stamps

On October 3, 1988, the Belgian Post issued a stamp featuring Spirou, drawn by Tome and Janry, in the series of comic stamps for youth philately. This was the fourth Belgian stamp showing a comic hero. [25]

On February 26, 2006, the French Post issued a set of three Spirou et Fantasio stamps, featuring art by José-Luis Munuera. To commemorate the occasion, the Musée de la Poste de Paris (Paris Mail Museum) organized an exposition from February 27 to October 7, 2006, with two halls, one showing original plates and the other more recreational, with television, games, etc. [26]

Statues

In 1991 a statue of Spirou and Spip posing for a photograph by Fantasio was erected in the Avenue du Général Michel in Charleroi. [27] Another statue of Spirou and Spip, designed by Monique Mol in 2003, can be seen in the Prosper Pouletstraat at the Zeedijk in Middelkerke. [28] On 1–2 September 2016 Manneken Pis was dressed in Spirou's uniform. [29]

Murals

Spirou, Fantasio and Spip are portrayed on a mural in the Rue Notre Dame des Grâces/Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Gratiestraat in Brussels as part of the Brussels' Comic Book Route. The mural was based on a design by Yoann and created in 2014 by graffiti artist Urbana (Nicolas Morreel). [30] [31] [32] A second mural was created in the Elsenesteenweg 227A in Elsene, based on a drawing by Schwartz and Yann from the Spirou story Spirou and the leopard woman. [33]

In September 2016 a mural was made in Middelkerke, based on a design by Hanco Kolk and created by Art Mural vzw. [34]

Scientific instrument

SPIRou (SpectroPolarimètre Infra-Rouge) is a near-infrared spectropolarimeter and high-precision velocimeter designed and constructed by an international consortium for observing exoplanets and the forming of Sun-like stars and their planets. [35] Silhouettes of Spirou and Spip are featured in its logo.

Related Research Articles

<i>Gaston</i> (comics) Belgian comic series

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">André Franquin</span> Belgian comics artist

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zorglub</span> Fictional character in Spirou et Fantasio comic strip series

Zorglub is a fictional character in the Belgian comic strip Spirou et Fantasio, created by Greg and André Franquin, and first appeared in the serialised story Z comme Zorglub in Spirou magazine in 1959, later published in the diptych albums "Z comme Zorglub" (1961) and "L'ombre du Z" (1962). Zorglub's character was initially that of a sinister megalomaniac, mad scientist, but also a clumsy and bungling one who later reformed and became a friend and ally to the protagonists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marsupilami</span> Comic strip character created by André Franquin

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.

<i>Spirou</i> (magazine) Weekly Franco-Belgian comics magazine

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zantafio</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Champignac</span>

Champignac, or specifically Champignac-en-Cambrousse, is a fictional village frequently featured in the adventures of Spirou et Fantasio by André Franquin and the successive authors. The initial idea of Champignac is attributed to Henri Gillain. The village was introduced in the adventure Il y a un sorcier à Champignac, first published in Spirou magazine in 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seccotine</span> Recurring character from the Spirou et Fantasio comics

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.

<i>Le voyageur du Mésozoïque</i>

Le voyageur du Mésozoïque, written by Franquin and Greg, drawn by Franquin with assistance by Jidéhem, is the thirteenth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series. The title story, and another, La Peur au bout du fil, were first serialised in Spirou magazine before the release in a hardcover album in 1960.

<i>QRN sur Bretzelburg</i>

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.

<i>Le faiseur dor</i>

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.

<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>Le réveil du Z</i>

Le réveil du Z, written by Tome and drawn by Janry, is the thirty-seventh album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the fifth of the authors. The story was initially serialised in Spirou magazine before being released as a hardcover album in 1986.

<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>

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>Le dictateur et le champignon</i>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Le Petit Noël</span>

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.

Marcel Denis was a French-speaking Belgian comics creator. He was the creator of the series Hultrasson and Les Frères Clips in Spirou magazine. He also made two episodes of Tif et Tondu. He was a part of the so-called Marcinelle School, influenced by Jijé and André Franquin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spip (comics character)</span> Comics character

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.

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