By: Rob-Vel (Robert Velter), Jijé (Joseph Gillain) and André Franquin
Language: Swedish (French)
224 pages, colour, softcover
Egmont Kärnan, 2009
ISBN: 978-91-7405-271-8
I have always been an avid fan of Spirou and Fantasio, even more so than of the more famous and popular Adventures of Tintin. So it comes as no surprise that I have been applauding the new chronological edition, published in Sweden by Egmont Kärnan. These are beautiful editions, and in addition to good design, print etc., they contain many articles, biographies etc. which enhance the reading of this classic.
Egmont's plan is to print all of the stories drawn by the master of Spirou, André Franquin, and they have been doing this for a while. So far, seven volumes, collecting comics from 1946 up to 1960, have been published. These stories have almost all of them been published before in Swedish, but the added bonus of all the articles etc. makes this collection invaluable.
This volume is different, though. It contains the Spirou comics which were made before Franquin took over the responsibility in 1946, and have never been publsihed in Sweden before. Add to that, lots of articles about the creator of Spirou, Rob-Vel (Robert Velter) and his successor Jijé (Joseph Gillain) and you realize that publishing this book is nothing short of a cultural and historical feat.
But is it funny, interesting, entertaining? Well, the comics are 60 to 70 years old, and that is of course noticeable. Many are more interesting as samples of the sense of humour and the drawing styles of the time, than as pure reading experiences. But the editors have wisely decided not to go for a complete, chronological edition and have focused on the period where the artists change Spriou from a gag-a-day one-page comic to a longer adventure story.
Well, I enjoyed this tome enormously, and I hope you will too. And I especially hope that sales for the collected Spirou keeps it going so that the comics created after Franquin left it can also be given this royal treatment.
I really liked this volume and would also have loved to see the post-Franquin albums collected in this series. I think that the decision has already been made to end the series with the final Franquin volume, though...
ReplyDeleteI recognize Spirou & Fantasio, Tif & Tondu and Red Ryder, but who are the two kids on the front cover?
ReplyDeleteThe front cover looks nice, though. Jijé seems rather unknown both in Sweden and the Anglosphere, but more and more I've come to realize the massive impact he had on the development of a particular Franco-Belgian comics scene.
I agree. For ten years now, when I reach the classic period of French comics history in my teachings at the Comic Art School, I have tried to show just how influential Jijé really was, and have the students draw the same panel in a realistic style, in the Marcinelle style and in the clair ligne style of Tintin, the three major styles of French comics, all of whom he more or less fathered.
ReplyDeleteI recognise the two kids, but I can't name them though. Anyone?
The girl looks like Little Annie Rooney.
ReplyDeleteOkay, and Annie Rooney was apparently published in the magazine 1945-1946, Red Ryder wasn't published in 1945, so it seems the cover would be from spring or summer 1946.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it seems the boy is Caramel from Sirius' comic series Caramel et Romulus, ending in 1946 when Sirius moved on to other stuff. Sirius dosn't seem to be very well known outside BD fandom, but he's a veteran who worked on the Spirou mag for several decades.
(BdOubliees.com is a goldmine...)
Okay, and Annie Rooney was apparently published in the magazine 1945-1946, Red Ryder wasn't published in 1945, so it seems the cover would be from spring or summer 1946.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it seems the boy is Caramel from Sirius' comic series Caramel et Romulus, ending in 1946 when Sirius moved on to other stuff. Sirius dosn't seem to be very well known outside BD fandom, but he's a veteran who worked on the Spirou mag for several decades.
(BdOubliees.com is a goldmine...)