I shall not be defeated!

[nezchan]

So I got a bunch of hate (haaaaaaate!) for my last post from people who inexplicably thought Spirou was a child (WTF?). So I figure that it's largely based on Franquin's art not being full of huge, sharply defined muscles and therefore must not be an adult male (which he actually is).

So therefore, here are a couple of partial pages from Spirou et Fatasio à Tokyo with the more manga-oriented style of Jose-Luis Munuera. And, of course, butt shots.





So there!

Comments

[zemo]

It amuses me how anybody could think that Spirou isn't an adult male :D

...if he wasn't, that would make Fantasio quite the seedy character, always goin on adventures all alone with a little boy...

[nezchan]

Heh, I think Fantasio is way too oblivious of stuff like that to be seedy.

Although in the most recent volume he trades Spirou in for a younger version, which really makes my brain hurt.

[zemo]

Noooooo! Ignore that! It's too confusing!

Mind you, nice art.

[nezchan]

What's confusing about the Spirou universe now having three of him wandering around (even if they deny the Machine Qui Reve version as being canon now)? Surely they've done worse in Marvel/DC?

[zemo]

True. Alas, Spirou and Fantasio are supposed to be GOOD :P (from a quality point of view)

[nezchan]

The weird thing is, as crack as it was, I really liked Aux Sources du Z. old!Spirou at the end explaining how he felt when he saw Ms. Flanners the first time cracked me up, although the pairing seemed a little sudden overall. The art was fantastic as usual, of course. No amount of crack in the writing can take away from Munuera's energetic lines.

[houbanaut]

Do you mean Janry's art style?

I think the confusion comes mainly from the oversized heads and Spirou's boyish features. I imagine him to be early-to-mid twenties or so, but I've heard others argue he's as young as 17-18.

I do remember that the first time I read Julien Boisvert (starting with the second volume), I got really confused because I thought Julien was a kid at first.

I'm scanlating some bits of Spirou in Moscow, by the way. Might post it some time next week, so you can look forward to Fantasio in a ballerina dress.

[nezchan]

Whoops, I forgot that was after the changeover. Franquin had them with even smaller bodies compared to their heads, heh.

And I'm sure Fantasio keeps his. As a souvenier, you understand.

[khamelea]

"I'm scanlating some bits of Spirou in Moscow, by the way."

Is it anything like Tintin in the Land of the Soviets?

I suppose Stalin would be the one wearing the dress, if it was!

[houbanaut]

It's similar in that it takes place in the Soviet Union. It was written just around the fall of communism (by the time it was published, the Berlin wall had already fallen), and reflects the much less hostile view of the USSR of the glasnost/perestroika era. Spirou and Fantasio actually work for the KGB as temporary agents. The two stories would make an interesting compare-and-contrast.

[nezchan]

I love some of the little touches in that volume, like Zantafio's outfit and...well, I'm not gonna say more for fear of spoiling it.

If I had time (HAH!) I'd start working on translations of New York and Luna Fatale. Maybe in May or June, once the school year's done.

[houbanaut]

Cinebook is putting out Spirou in New York later in the year, so I'd wait and just use that translation. The slapstick sequence with the yin/yang curse is a definite must for S_D.

[nezchan]

Really? They're moving faster with their releases that I'd expected, then.

Maybe I'll look at doing Paris Sous Seine instead. I really like that volume, and it has Spirou/shirtless Fantasio bromance in it, which is always a plus. Besides, it's an excuse to look at all the pretty, pretty Munuera art.

[zemo]

I somehow always thought the art from the Zyklotrop comics was the best. Such nice designs and detail too *swoons*

[nezchan]

Ho, em oot!

[khamelea]

"So I got a bunch of hate (haaaaaaate!) for my last post from people who inexplicably thought Spirou was a child (WTF?). "

I blame the uniform.

[nezchan]

Society is to blame.

"Right, we'll arrest them then!"

[zordboy]

Or the fact that the shape of his body sure as heck made him look like he was 15.