Natacha

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Natacha is a Franco-Belgian comic created in 1970 by François Walthéry. The title character is a Sexy Stewardess for a fictional airline (BARDAF) whose adventures tend to revolve, fittingly, around commercial aviation. Her Sidekick is a bumbling and gaffe-prone male flight attendant named Walter.

Tropes used in Natacha include:
  • Break Out the Museum Piece: The 25th-century human rebels against robot rule use vintage weapons from the 20th century, pilfered from museums.
  • Catch Phrase: Commandant Turbo, who pilots most of the planes Natacha works on, is always saying "J'ai déjà vu ça" ("I've seen that before"). You know a situation is unprecedented when he admits he has not seen that before.
  • Chew Toy: Walter.
  • Deceptively Human Robot: With their clothes on, the robots in "Instantanés pour CalTech" and "Les Machines incertaines" are wholly undistinguishable from human beings. However, perhaps as a hardwired throwback to their distant origins as mere machines, all of them have an On/Off switch in the middle of the back.
  • Desert Island: Natacha and Walter are stranded on one for several months following a plane crash in "L'Ile d'outre-monde".
  • Identical Grandson: Walter's grandfather looked exactly like him when he was the same age, and likewise Natacha's grandmother.
  • Just Friends: Natacha's relationship with Walter remains stubbornly platonic, even though they behave in all other respects like an old couple.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: In "Un Brin de panique", a terrorist infiltrates the staff onboard the Concorde by pretending to be a klutzy flight attendant.
  • Robot Religion: In the 25th century, robots worship Babbage, Asimov and other prophets of artificial intelligence.
  • San Dimas Time: When Walter returns from an involuntary trip to the 25th century, his absence has lasted the same amount of time he's spent in the future.
  • Self-Insert Fic: Walthéry appears as himself--along with many other cartoonists of the Dupuis publishing company--in "Les Petits Miquets".
  • Sexy Stewardess: Natacha.
  • Spoiled Brat: In "Les Petits Miquets", a doting billionaire father indulges his spoiled and bratty daughters by hijacking a planeload of comic book authors, and forcing them at gunpoint to draw a full-length album each for his little darlings. In "Instantanés pour CalTech", Natacha and Walter have to put up with the spoiled sons of an obnoxious passenger. In both instances, the brats get a good spanking.
  • Time Travel: "Instantanés pour CalTech" involves UFO's who turn out to be time-travelling spaceships from the 25th century.
  • Turned Against Their Masters: The robots initially created as servants for humans eventually took over every productive aspect of life, leaving a dwindling human population to live in brainwashed idle bliss.
  • Underwater Base: In "Le Treizième apôtre", relic smugglers have set up a hidden base in the wreck of a WW 2-era submarine.