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Zantafio is a recurring fictional antagonist in the Spirou et Fantasio comic book series. He was created by André Franquin [1] 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.
Zantafio first appears at an inheritance contest, arrogant and in debt. He and Fantasio are the only heirs, and he who wins three challenges wins the inheritance. After continually employing dirty tactics and still losing, Zantafio admits defeat, claiming to see the errors of his cheating ways, and feels guilty about it. The cousins part on good terms while searching for the Marsupilami in the Palombian rainforest.
Yet, Zantafio, under the alias of General Zantas, returns as the dictator of the country, much to the surprise of Spirou and Fantasio. He offers Spirou and Fantasio a place within his army, but they are repulsed by Zantafio's change in personality. No longer friendly, Zantafio becomes merciless, brutal, and drunk on power. Spirou and Fantasio, with the inventions of the Count of Champignac, initiate a revolt in Palombia. During the revolution, Zantafio is ousted from power and disappears into the jungle.
Zantafio later strikes back at his cousin by framing him for thievery. He employs special henchmen to impersonate him and therefore disgrace him, but Spirou manages to foil his plans. Zantafio continues to return several times as the nemesis antagonist, exploring many variants of crime. He even becomes Zorglub's second-in-command and then tries to replace him to gain power in L'ombre du Z (1956).
When Fournier took over the series, the criminal organisation known as the Triangle became the main recurring antagonist focus of the series. In Tora Torapa (1973), Zantafio returns as leader of the Triangle.
After Fournier left the series, Zantafio disappeared for a long time as well: the new creative team of Broca & Cauvin created new villains for their short run and their successors Tome & Janry started out their run creating own villains well. Their La jeunesse de Spirou included a story from the spin-off series Le Petit Spirou , which showed Zantafio as a child (but still wearing a moustache), but this story was done for comedic purposes. In Spirou à Moscou (1990), Zantafio returns, as the "White Prince of the Russian Mafia", attempting to become the new Tsar of Russia. He uses the alias, as well as the anagram, "Tanaziof".
When Morvan and Munuera took over as Spirou creative team, Zantafio returned in their second issue, L'homme qui ne voulait pas mourir (2005).
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.
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.
Jean-Richard Geurts, better known under his pseudonym Janry, is a Belgian comics artist. With Tome he created Le Petit Spirou and made several Spirou et Fantasio albums.
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 & 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.
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.
Jean-Claude Fournier, known simply as Fournier, is a French cartoonist best known as the comic book artist who handled Spirou et Fantasio in the years 1969-1979.
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.
Le nid des Marsupilamis, written and drawn by Franquin, is the twelfth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series. The title story, and another, La foire aux gangsters, were serialised in Spirou magazine before the release in a hardcover album in 1960.
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.
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.
L'ombre du Z, written and drawn by Franquin with Greg and Jidéhem, is the sixteenth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the second part of Franquin's Zorglub diptych. The story was initially serialised in Spirou magazine, before its release as a hardcover album in 1962.
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 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.
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.
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 queue du Marsupilami, written by Greg and drawn by Franquin and his collaborator Batem, is a comic album relating the adventures of the fictional character Marsupilami. This album is the number 1 in the series of Marsupilami albums, published by Marsu Productions.
José Luis Munuera is a Spanish comics artist. Along with writer Jean-David Morvan, he was in charge of the classic Spirou et Fantasio series from 2004 to 2008.
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.