The Scrameustache

The Scrameustache is a Belgian comic book by author Gos and his son Walt, published by Dupuis and later, by Glénat. It relates the adventures of the titular character, a highly intelligent, genetically engineered animal with the features of both a cat and a monkey. He is often accompanied by Khéna, a teenager human alien abandoned on Earth after his parent's ship was sabotaged, and uncle George, the archaeologist who adopted Khéna.

Other recurring characters include the Galaxians, green aliens about the same size of Scrameustache and living on Khéna's home planet, Aktarka, the Ramouchas, mischievous bear-like creatures with electric powers, who subvert pretty much all the time the Everything's Worse with Bears trope, the Kromoks, a (very) Lighter and Softer version of the Klingons, and the Stixes, a race of scheming aliens.


 * Achilles' Heel: Thorgull, a menacing robot warrior from outer space, can easily being disabled by hitting his on/off switch on his chest panel.
 * Not exactly. This is the recharge mode switch. So hitting the switch only works if he is discharged. He was just stupid enough to use the last of his charge before this.
 * Action Girl: Pilili, Brédiline.
 * A Day in the Limelight: Usually involves the Galaxians with the main characters making a small cameo.
 * Air Vent Passageway
 * Alien Abduction
 * All Trolls Are Different: In two volumes, trolls are introduced, but their appearance, behavior and culture are much closer to traditional dwarves.
 * Ancient Astronauts: A major theme in the series.
 * Anti Gravity: The Galaxians use Anti Gravity's pistols as part of their arsenal.
 * Arch Nemesis: The wizard Falzar is closest thing to an archnemesis to Scrameustache.
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: The Galaxian Princess toward a nameless medic. Later, the same medic gets hit by the Galaxian Prince.
 * Arranged Marriage: Falzarine and the Renegade marriage is set up by the Galaxian Elders. She is thrilled. He is not amused.
 * Art Evolution: Noticeable on the first volumes.
 * Art Shift: In the third volume, when we're first introduced to Pilili, she looks like a little girl. A few panels later, she looks like the same age as her cousin Khéna.
 * Atlantis
 * Bad Future: Our heroes travel in the year 2857 where desert wastelands are common because nuclear cataclysm and green spaces are rare.
 * Baleful Polymorph: Falzar favorite form of attack.
 * Banned in China: One story involves peaceful Tibeteans and Chinese officials, with the latter portrayed negatively.
 * Berserk Button: Seriously Khéna, don't ever insult Iridia's father in front of her. And the Galaxians should know better than to annoy Uncle George.
 * Big Damn Heroes
 * Black Bead Eyes: Varies inconsistently between this trope and cartoon eyes, sometimes with the same characters.
 * Bridge Bunnies: A very mild example, Iridia.
 * Butt Monkey: Uncle George is the frequent target of Scrameustache, the Galaxians and other aliens' mischief.
 * Canada, Eh?: Alien Invasion in Québec.
 * Cloning Blues: Scrameustache gets cloned in one story. The clone is less intelligent and more mischievous.
 * Cool Starship: Several.
 * Crossover: There was a intertwined story between the Scrameustache and another Belgian comic book, Les Petits Hommes. You have to read both stories to fully understand what happened.
 * Curse: After offending a Norse God, uncle George gets a viking helmet stuck on his head for the rest of his life.
 * Cyber Cyclops: Tobor.
 * Deflector Shields
 * Demoted to Extra: Khéna's family on his home planet. The Galaxians replace them as the frequent alien visitors.
 * Did They or Didn't They?: Happens between a Galaxian and a Figueuleuse. Seriously, it's a kids' comic book.
 * Distress Ball: Khéna needs rescuing from Scrameustache quite a lot, although there is one case where their roles are reversed.
 * Does Not Like Shoes: Scrameustache, although he wears shoes during winter or in space.
 * All the Kromoks.
 * Doomsday Device: The Sharbakan suffered from constant invasions from the Togons who originate from another continent. The Sharbakan eventually built a device which emit waves that destroy the Togons' cell structure. The wave is completely harmless to other living beings. There's subversion because the emitter is used purely for defense.
 * Emergency Impersonation: Khéna replace Triocca so the latter can escape without arousing his jailers' suspicions.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Galaxian known as The Renegade. Formerly known as The Cheater. They still refer him as The Renegade after his reform.
 * In fact, every Galaxians are referred by their titles/jobs unless the plot says otherwise.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: Iridia and Lila, from another planet and Atlantis respectively.
 * Evil Prince: Prince Chilmac who betrayed the Sharbakan to the Togons.
 * Fainting: Iridia when seeing Khéna for the first time.
 * Faster-Than-Light Travel
 * Flying Car: Used by various aliens.
 * Flying Saucer
 * Four-Fingered Hands: The Galaxians and several aliens.
 * Frickin' Laser Beams
 * Fun with Acronyms: Too many to list, but the most notable one is Scrameustache himself: Sujet Créé par Radiations Artificielles et Manipulations Extra-Utérines Sans Toucher Aux Chromosomes Héréditaires Endogènes. This roughly translate to: Subject created by artificial radiation and ectopic manipulation without affecting Hereditary Endogenous Chromosomes.
 * Global Currency: Not only aliens use paper currency, but one panel show Galaxians using dollars.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: Thorgull.
 * Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: The Kromoks are wearing nothing but a tunic and an occasional helm for officers. In one story, they all strip naked after being spread with itching powder.
 * Horny Vikings
 * Half-Human Hybrid:
 * Hover Tank: Used by the Togons.
 * Human Aliens: Several alien civilizations, although some are descendants from people of Atlantis who fled the Earth.
 * Identical Stranger: Prince Triocca look ridiculously like Khéna despite living on another planet.
 * Idiot Ball: Khéna. Although it could partially be justified because he has less experience in space travel and adventuring than Scrameustache.
 * Interspecies Romance:
 * Kill Sat: Used by the Kromoks to conquer Khéna's home planet. It can also be redirected to fire on spaceships.
 * La Résistance: The Sharbakan, after the Togons' successful invasion.
 * Les Collaborateurs: Prince Chilmac is implied, by a Togon leader, to have supporters who are opposing the Sharbakan.
 * Lego Genetics: Scrameustache himself. He was created from genes of a Ramoucha, Chatalou (some sort of feline), two different kind of apes and a squirrel. He shows the positive and negative traits from all of his "parents".
 * Lizard Folk: The Togons. The Accusmalas could count as well even if they serve as mounts and labors for the Stixes. They are sentients, communicate with other characters, understand technology and so forth.
 * Lost Technology
 * Love At First Sight: Justified with Falzarine and the soon-to-be-crowned-princess of the Galaxians. They were created magically and programmed to fall in love with the first person they set their eyes on.
 * Love Potion: Used by Falzarine to make her husband, the Renegade, love her.
 * Mecha-Mooks
 * Medieval Morons: Invoked by Uncle George and predictably, our heroes gets in trouble because of them.
 * Mineral MacGuffin: Inverted. Sorbon is rare mineral which cause ships to malfunction when mixed in their engines.
 * Mind Over Matter: Khéna's sister Bérengère, although, it's unclear if her powers are permanent after receiving the Applied Phlebotinum.
 * Mutants: Descendants of irradiated. They have no superpowers, they just have ingrate physique.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The series mix aliens, magic, fairies, ghosts, time travel, archeology, Cupid and Santa Claus just to name a few.
 * No Name Given: Practically every Galaxians are not named. Khéna's mother and Yamouth's wife names were never revealed.
 * No Waterproofing in the Future: A robot warrior, Thorgull got shorted out by rain despite being technologically advanced and from outer space.
 * He was surprised when discovering that water could fall from the sky, so maybe he comes from a very dry world. Also, the short out was not immediate and he had time to find cover.
 * Old Master: Master Whu, Tilou's mentor.
 * One-Gender Race: The Figueuleuses.
 * Our Ghosts Are Different
 * Parental Substitute: Uncle George to Khéna. Professor Najboul acts like one to Scrameustache, since the latter was created in a lab. Later, Yamouth and his wife fill Najboul's role in the origin story.
 * Power Crystal: The Crystal of Atlantis
 * Psychic Powers: Scrameustache received psychic powers (clairvoyance/clairaudience, empathy, telepathy) during his space training and use them during the series. Tilou and his order of monks. Brédiline and his father's species.
 * Punny Name: The series is full of them. Uncle George and Khéna's hometown is named Chambon-Les-Roses, which roughly translated to "the roses smell good".
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Renegade, before his reform.
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The Togons
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Princess Iridia and Prince Triocca.
 * Running Gag: The Galaxians show up unexpectedly, much to uncle George's dismay. Strangers swing-by for a visit and uncle George hides the Galaxians. The Galaxians mess up and are spotted. Uncle George makes up excuses to get rid of the visitors. Uncle George blow-up a fuse and spank the Galaxians.
 * She's All Grown Up:
 * Shock and Awe: The Ramouchas' innate ability.
 * Shout-Out: In the latter books, the Force is mentioned and some characters use it. One even says verbatim "May the Force be with you".
 * Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The Galaxians after their initial debut. It gets to a point where stories revolved around them with Scrameustahce and Khéna as secondary characters.
 * Stealth in Space: After Scrameustache's saucer gets an upgrade.
 * Swiss Army Weapon: The Scrameustache's red helmet house a beam emitter that act as a paralyzing ray, a petrification beam, a tractor beam, a flashlight or a heat lamp. All those are controlled with his brainwaves.
 * Symbol Swearing
 * Taken for Granite: One of Scrameustache beam weapon. It turns the subject victim in a salt statue for a limited period of time.
 * Talking Animal: Scrameustache, although he didn't talk until a biologist altered his vocal cords. Also, the people from Aktarka have technology that give the gift of speech to animals.
 * Team Pet: Uncle George and Khéna's pet dog Waterloo. Scrameutache's robot guard dog, Tobor, who looks like a robotic mini-brontosaurus.
 * Telepathy: The Ramouchas are capable of this with training and guidiance from Scrameustache.
 * The Cameo: Papyrus, another Belgian comic book character, show up in one panel during a time travel episode. Characters from Les Petits Hommes also show up in a Crossover.
 * The Greys
 * Teleporters and Transporters
 * The Chosen One:
 * The Dragon: Falzar to Satic, his creator.
 * Time Travel: Several stories.
 * Took a Level In Badass: The Cheater who will become known as The Renegade.
 * Tractor Beam
 * Trojan Horse: The Kromoks' successful hijack of a Galaxian ship is the result of this trope. In another story, Scrameustache makes use of this trope against the Kromoks who in turn fell for it.
 * Unobtainium: Thorgull's energy source is some strange alien metal. He force the Troll smiths to forge it into a sword, so it would be more practical to carry around.
 * Un Paused: Happens quite often when Scrameustache petrify people in salt statue. Hilarity Ensues.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Chatalou, one of Scrameustache's guardians ran away and was never seen again. No one ever bother to look for her, including Scrameustache himself.
 * Prince Chilmac's fate after the Togons' defeat.
 * What the Hell, Hero?:
 * Weather Control Machine: One of the Kromoks and the Stixes' latest scheme against the Galaxians.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: The origins of Scrameustache is finally told in the 18th volume.
 * Year Inside, Hour Outside: Time flows faster on Atlantis II than on Earth.
 * Zeerust: Technologically advanced aliens use analog controls, huge boxy display monitors, bulky cameras photos, wired telephones, video tapes, paper currency and the list goes on.
 * Un Paused: Happens quite often when Scrameustache petrify people in salt statue. Hilarity Ensues.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Chatalou, one of Scrameustache's guardians ran away and was never seen again. No one ever bother to look for her, including Scrameustache himself.
 * Prince Chilmac's fate after the Togons' defeat.
 * What the Hell, Hero?:
 * Weather Control Machine: One of the Kromoks and the Stixes' latest scheme against the Galaxians.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: The origins of Scrameustache is finally told in the 18th volume.
 * Year Inside, Hour Outside: Time flows faster on Atlantis II than on Earth.
 * Zeerust: Technologically advanced aliens use analog controls, huge boxy display monitors, bulky cameras photos, wired telephones, video tapes, paper currency and the list goes on.
 * Zeerust: Technologically advanced aliens use analog controls, huge boxy display monitors, bulky cameras photos, wired telephones, video tapes, paper currency and the list goes on.