Forever Marsupilami

“The Marsupilami Thieves” is a comic album in the series “The Adventures of Spirou and Fantasio”. For those interested in continuity, it's actually the sequel to “Spirou et les heritiers”, which I haven't seen in any English translation. Spirou and Fantasio are two Tintin-like (but more fanciful) characters mostly associated with Belgian comics creator Franquin. They are introduced as reporters, and are surrounded by a host of more or less believable characters, including the intelligent squirrel Spip (Spirou's alternative to Tintin's dog Snowy) and the fantasy animal Marsupilami, said to be an egg-laying monkey from South America. Ironically, the Marsupilami became the most popular character of the Spirou universe, eventually getting its own spin off. The strange creature is introduced in “Spirou et les heritiers”, in which Spirou and Fantasio captures a specimen in the jungles of the Amazon.

In “The Marsupilami Thieves”, Marsupilami is stolen from the zoo where Spirou and Fantasio have left it for safe-keeping. Our two heroes set out on an eventful quest to retrieve the unique animal. The trail leads them to the fictitious European nation of Magnana, where the unscrupulous circus director Zabaglione turns out to be the kidnapper. Infiltrating Zabaglione's circus, teeming with brutal giants, paranoid midgets and hungry leopards, turns out to be easier said than done. As usual, Spirou and Fantasio get help from their “mad scientist” friend, the Count of Champignac (a less distracted version of Calculus in Tintin's adventures).

The next installment in the Marsupilami story arc is “The Dictator and the Mushroom”, due to be published in English later this year, in which the brave reporters return to South America in an attempt to return the yellow monkey to its native habitat.

“The Marsupilami Thieves” is pretty good as comics go, so I therefore give it four stars.

Interestingly, Franquin later created a dystopian and bizarre comic, known as “Idées Noires”. The contrast between the constant optimism of Spirou and the dark atmosphere of the later comic couldn't be greater. In fact, I was almost shocked when I saw “Idées Noires” in a Swedish magazine circa 1988. I wondered whether poor Franquin had snapped! Indeed, Wikipedia does suggest that he may have suffered a nervous breakdown before embarking on his noire project with its apocalyptic undertones.

Somehow, I prefer the youthful and upbeat sensations I get from reading about Marsupilami…