Monsieur Jean
Monsieur Jean is a French-Belgian comic book series jointly written and illustrated by Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian. The title character is a thirtysomething, middle-class, somewhat indecisive Parisian writer. The series follows various episodes of his daily life, but gradually develops into an evolving story arc.
The other characters are Monsieur Jean's circle of friends, a squabbling and sometimes annoying bunch, and Cathy, an ex-gilfriend who eventually becomes the mother of his child.
Tropes used in Monsieur Jean include:
- Acid Reflux Nightmare: Pizza-induced indigestion causes Monsieur Jean to have one.
- Babies Make Everything Better: Averted with two of Monsieur Jean's friends, whose couple falls apart in spite of baby twins being born. Played straight with Monsieur Jean himself, who finds emotional maturity and romantic stability in fatherhood.
- Cell Phone: Fittingly for a series spanning the 1990s and 2000s, cell phones take a growing importance in the characters' lives. Monsieur Jean, at one point, calls one of his friends in the middle of the latter's wedding ceremony.
- Cerebus Syndrome: A typical example. The early stories are short self-contained comedy arcs verging on slapstick, the later ones are drawn-out narrative arcs about serious issues (though humor is not abandoned altogether).
- Character Development: A shallow, self-centered and resolutely single man at first, Monsieur Jean gains in maturity and becomes a father.
- Completely Different Title: The series is marketed in English-speaking countries as Get A Life.
- Crying Little Kid: Eugène, as a toddler, likes to make his displeasure known by crying loudly. Though he can stop in a split second if asked his name by an adult.
- First Girl Wins: Cathy was Monsieur Jean's first steady girlfriend. They broke up and made up ten years later, at which point they figured out they really were made for each other.
- A Friend in Need: Félix needs a place to stay and Monsieur Jean allows him to crash in his flat. Months later, he's still there.
- Friends Rent Control: Justified; it's revealed that Monsieur Jean can afford his reasonably spacious flat because his landlady is a rich woman who hasn't bothered to revise the rent upwards in decades.
- Gay Paree: Monsieur Jean and his friends are all quintessentially Parisian.
- Growing the Beard: By the third album, the series found its footing.
- Hollywood Dateless: For all his social awkwardness, Monsieur Jean seldom has problems picking up good-looking girls.
- Is That Cute Kid Yours?: Happens repeatedly to Monsieur Jean while he takes care of Eugène on Félix's behalf.
- No Name Given: The title character is simply known to his friends as Jean, and to everyone else as Monsieur Jean.
- Parental Substitute: Monsieur Jean becomes the unofficial surrogate father of Eugène, Félix's adopted son.
- The Slacker: Félix.
- Slice of Life
- Wave of Babies: A nightmare that Monsieur Jean has.
- Wedding Day: in "Vivons heureux sans en avoir l'air", Monsieur Jean is invited to the wedding of old friends.
- With Friends Like These...: Monsieur Jean often wonders why he's still friends with Félix.
 |
Félix: Admit it! How many times have you wanted to strangle me? |
 |