Spirou and Fantasio: Difference between revisions

''Spirou et Fantasio'' is one of the most successful Belgian comic book adventure series, spawning various spin-off series and an [[Animated Adaptation]].

 

 

This series has the distinction of being one the few "work for hire" franchises of Franco-Belgian comics (most of them are owned by their initial creators or their estate). As such, various authors worked on the main series over the years:

* [[Animated Adaptation]]: Two of them.

* [[Animesque]]: ''Spirou au Japon'', with [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] aplenty.

* [[Applied Phlebotinum]]: Almost all of the Count's inventions are based on mushrooms as a main ingredient or an energy source.

** Also, the Zorglonde, a form of energy designed by Zorglub which can be used to paralyze living things (only the Marsupilami is immune) or to [[Hypno Ray|control people's minds]].

* [[Author Tract]]: whenever currents events are alluded to, but especially ''L'Ankou'', an [[Anvilicious]] attack against * civilian nuclear power production "defiling" the folklorish lands of Brittany.

* [[A Villain Named Zrg]]: Spoofed. Zorglub's name is a portmanteau of this and "Arglub", which is a standard [[Written Sound Effect]] for accidental strangling or drowning in Franco-Belgian comics.

* [[Banana Republic]]: Palombia

* [[Beardness Protection Program]]: [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] briefly in ''Machine qui rêve''. The comic opens with a bearded man being pursued by the authories, who shaves his beard off in a bar's bathroom because his image is being broadcasted on the news channels. {{spoiler|It turns out to be a movie that Spirou and Fantasio are watching.}}

* [[Canon Dis Continuity]]: Facilitated by the various creative teams working on the series with their own directions, often ignoring their predecessors' work.

** Due to the lack of reprints, most people think the series started with Franquin's run (Rob-Vel and Jijé's contributions are rarely acknowledged).

* [[Captain Crash]]: Madflying the Australian pilot-for-hire in ''Kodo le Tyran'' and ''Des Haricots Partout''.

* [[Censor Box]]: In ''Le gri-gri du Nikolo-Koba'', the diamond of Koli can make people disappear (they come back when it is placed in its special sheath), but it doesn't affect clothes. When a male villain is returned, the frame includes a narrator box with a pointless line (which reads "this is a white square"), conveniently waist-height.

* [[Crapsack World]]: ''La Vallée des Bannis'' features a [[Lost World]] with [[Everything Trying to Kill You]] (including liberal amounts of [[Schmuck Bait]]). If you manage to survive the initial confusion, the madness mosquitoes will turn most of you into raving maniacs all killing each other.

* [[Creator Breakdown]]: Franquin in the middle of ''QRN sur Bretzelburg''. His "last" album, ''Panade à Champignac'', can either be seen as an affective goodbye to the series... or as a big "Fuck you, I'm going to work on [[Gaston Lagaffe]] instead".

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: a general trend for the series as a whole, and inside nearly each creative run.

** ''Machine qui rêve'', Tome & Janry's last album, tried reinventing the series as an ultra-serious (and decompressed) techno-thriller. It didn't work.

* [[Easy Amnesia]]: Zorglub in ''Panade à Champignac''. {{spoiler|He gets hit over the head and all his memories come back. Then he gets hit over the head another time and they all disappear. And let's not forget the fact that he's acting like an 8 month old in the first place.}}

* [[Everyone Went to School Together]]: Spoofed in ''La Jeunesse de Spirou'' (which has a drunk [[Unreliable Narrator]]), averted in ''Le Petit Spirou'' (which has none of the other regular characters).

* [[Evil Twin]]: Zantafio, although he's actually Fantasio's cousin.

* [[The Faceless]]: Number 2 in ''Du glucose pour Noémie'' and the [[Big Bad]] in Cauvin's stories.

** Also, the Triangle.

* [[Fake Out Make Out]]: Used by Spirou on Ursula in ''Le Groom vert-de-gris'' to avoid a patrol of Nazis.

* [[Femme Fatale]]: Luna.

* [[Fighting Your Friend]]: Spirou is forced to do this after Fantasio becomes infected by a [[Hate Plague]] in ''Vallée des Bannis''.

** Zorglub's descendant from ''Le Réveil du Z'' looks exactly the same as his ancestor, except he's a dwarf.

** {{spoiler|Fantasio and Spirou also have identical family members in ''Le Réveil du Z'', and much to their ancestors' shock, they are Zorglub's descendant's [[Elite Mooks]].}}

* [[Intimidation Demonstration]]: One of the early stories has the Marsupilami meet a gorilla, who starts engaging in threatening behavior (chestbeating, ripping trees out of the ground...). Subverted, however, in that it is quickly too tired to actually fight, and the Marsupilami goes by unharmed.

* [[Intrepid Reporter]]: Spirou and Fantasio themselves, of course. Seccotine is a cross between this and [[Paparazzi]].

* [[Only Sane Employee]]: Fantasio in ''Bravo les Brothers''.

* [[Outdated Outfit]]: Even in the 1970s, Spirou's Bell-boy Elevator Operator uniform was ''painfully'' out of place. Since the 90s, authors have finally decided to do away with it.

* [[Recursive Canon]]: Spirou and particularly Fantasio work for Dupuis, the publishing company that produces the ''Spirou'' comic. Sometimes they are freelance reporters for ''Le Moustique'', Dupuis' real-life entertainment magazine, and sometimes they work on the staff of the ''Spirou'' magazine itself, having to meet deadlines and doing publicity for the comic!

** In the comic stories, Spirou occasionally meets characters who read the comic and recognize him from it:

*** In ''Z is for Zorglub'' (''Z comme Zorglub''), a kid helps Spirou when he's looking for Fantasio, having recognized them both from the comic.

*** In ''Alerte aux Zorkons'', a sniper refuses to fire on a Spirou-shaped advertising balloon the heroes are using to cross a military roadblock, because he used to read the comic as a child.

* [[Robot Girl]]: Cyanure in ''Qui arrêtera Cyanure?''.

* [[Ruritania]]: Bretzelburg is a typical Ruritanian country, with added [[Fatherland]] trappings.

* [[Smug Snake]]: Zantafio.

* [[Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying]]: ''Le Voyageur du Mésozoique'' features a dinosaur with pink and yellow spots.

** Strangely, while Spip has a quasi-human intelligence (and the cynicism that comes with it), the Marsupilami, who ''can'' utter human words like a parrot does, only has animal-level intelligence. He ''is'' clever for an animal, though.

** [[Spinoff Babies]]: ''Le Petit Spirou''

** ''[[Gaston Lagaffe]]''

** There's also a ''Manga Spirou'' project stuck in [[Development Hell]]

* [[Super Serum]]: One of the Count's first inventions is a serum that, when injected, grants superhuman strength for a time.

* [[Temporal Paradox]]: Dear God. The last album made, ''Aux Sources du Z'', erased the ''entire series'' with one of these.

* [[That Poor Plant]]: The Count once experimented a serum on a mushroom, causing it to turn into an ugly, misshapen thing.

** In ''QRN sur Bretzelburg'', Fantasio convinces the king to stop taking the "medicine" his advisors use to keep him docile. He pours it out on a plant, which immediately wilts

* [[Theme Naming]]: Fantasio's relatives include his cousin Zantafio and his uncle Tanzafio. They somehow manage to be serious characters despite the silly names.

* [[Time Travel]]: In ''L'Horloger de la Comète'', ''Le Réveil du Z'' and ''Aux Sources du Z''.

* [[Tomato in The Mirror]]: {{spoiler|Spirou in ''Machine qui rêve''.}}

* [[Villain Exit Stage Left]]: Most of the time.

* [[Weasel Mascot]]: Spip the squirrel.

* [[Would Hit a Girl]]: In ''Paris-Sous-Seine'' Spirou punches Miss Flanners in the face for being the cause of Spip's death, [[Subverted Trope|however]], after discovering that Spip is actually safe and sound he is mortified by his actions even though Flanners had still done enough to deserve the punishment.

* [[The Worst Seat in The House]]: In ''Spirou à New York'' the title characters are supposed to attend a "car ball" (like soccer, but the players are all in cars, and the ball is also a car) finals match to write an article about it. They are late (since they spend the entire comic on wacky mafia hijinx), but a shady guy sells them the last set of seats. Which are inside the "ball".