Spirou is 80!

 Anniversary, News, Reblog, Sample  9 Responses »
Apr 212018
 
Journal de Spirou #4175 cover (ill. Bravo; Copyright (c) 2018 Dupuis and the artist; image from https://emile-bravo.blogspot.com/)

“Hey, isn’t this your birthday? We must have a big party with lots of nice friends!” “THEY’RE COMIIING!”
‘Journal de Spirou’ #4175, cover by Émile Bravo (2018)

On this day 80 years ago, 21. April 1938 (a Thursday), the first issue of the Journal de Spirou came out, featuring the first appearance of the character Spirou. And five years ago today, as Spirou was celebrating his 75th anniversary, Spirou Reporter had just been launched.

While the 75th Spirou anniversary was celebrated throughout the year in lots of different ways, not as much is being made of the 80th. However, this week’s issue of the Journal (#4175) does feature a pretty major event: the first part of Émile Bravo’s Spirou ou l’espoir malgré tout (“Spirou, or; Hope Despite Everything”), the long-awaited follow-up to Le Journal d’un ingénu from 2008 (another anniversary). This ambitious sequel has grown to over 300 pages, with plans to eventually collect the whole thing in four volumes. The anniversary issue of the Journal includes the first 20 (you can read a sampling of them on Izneo).

Because Spirou Reporter is also celebrating a fairly low-key anniversary/return, there won’t be a translation (of these pages or any other story) right now, but it would be a good time to revisit Bravo’s take on Spirou’s origin story, Woe to the Weak (La Loi du plus fort).

Happy Birthday Munuera!

 Illustration, News  1 Response »
Apr 212018
 
Panel from Zorglub #2 (ill. Munuera, colors by Sergio Sedyas Román; Copyright (c) Dupuis and the artist; image from https://www.facebook.com/jota.munu/)

Zorglub is waiting, by Munuera, 2018 (colors by Sergio Sedyas Román).

Today is the 46th birthday of José Luis Munuera. Happy birthday!

Munuera is currently working on the second album in the Zorglub spin-off series, set to come out 21. September after last year’s well-received La Fille du Z (“Daughter of the Z“), and is posting samples on Facebook:

  • Panel from Zorglub #2 (ill. Munuera; Copyright (c) Dupuis and the artist; image from https://www.facebook.com/jota.munu/)
  • Sketch for Zorglub #2 (ill. Munuera; Copyright (c) Dupuis and the artist; image from https://www.facebook.com/jota.munu/)
  • Sketch for Zorglub #2 (ill. Munuera; Copyright (c) Dupuis and the artist; image from https://www.facebook.com/jota.munu/)
  • Panel from Zorglub #2 (ill. Munuera; Copyright (c) Dupuis and the artist; image from https://www.facebook.com/jota.munu/)
  • Panel from Zorglub #2 (ill. Munuera; Copyright (c) Dupuis and the artist; image from https://www.facebook.com/jota.munu/)

I feel like there’s something else about this day as well… what could it be?

Yoann & Vehlmann to leave Spirou! … or not

 News  6 Responses »
Apr 202018
 
Pencil sketch for Spirou #56 panel (ill. Yoann & Vehlmann; Copyright (c) 2018 Dupuis and the artists; image from https://www.instagram.com/vehlmannfabien/)

“… I’m feeling a bit blah”

And we’re back!

There has been a ton of news to report since the last update, but let’s start with the most recent. Earlier this week, Vehlmann created quite a stir with a comment he posted on Instagram, alongside the picture above:

I’m back to our next (and last) #Spirou adventure, in which our hero “feels a bit blah” – as shown in this beautiful pencil sketch by #Yoann. #longlivevacation

Continue reading »

Silent Sunday: Richard Di Martino

 Reblog, Sample  7 Responses »
Sep 172017
 

While waiting for a time when Spirou Reporter is able to resume scanlations, here’s another untexted Spirou page. This is one from the “Tomb of Rejects“, by French artist Richard Di Martino (Pif, Cléo), who posted it to his blog in 2009. It’s a test page from a few years earlier, when he was applying to succeed Morvan & Munuera on the series. He never heard back from the publisher, and the job of course went to Yoann & Vehlmann.

Spirou test page (ill. Richard Di Martino; Copyright (c) 2009 by the artist; Spirou (c) Dupuis; image from zeveryrichblog.blogspot.com)

Silent Sunday: Spirou Comics Cont’d

 Illustration, Reblog, Sample  8 Responses »
Sep 102017
 

Spirou Comics tryout sample, Spirou vs. gangsters (ill. José María Beroy & Kid Toussaint; Copyright (c) 2017 by the artists; Spirou (c) Dupuis; image from beroyweb.blogspot.com)

In March, Spirou Reporter reposted some samples from an abandoned attempt to make a version of Spirou as an American-style superhero comic, written by Kid Toussaint (Magic 7) and illustrated by a variety of different artists. One of those artists was José María Beroy (Versus, Deadman), who worked with Toussaint on À l’ombre du convoi and did the Fantasio design in the first batch. Beroy responded by posting more samples to his own blog, including more character designs (check out his version of Itoh Kata!) as well as four unlettered comic pages. Continue reading »

Light from Borneo wins Brussels Comic Prize

 News  2 Responses »
Sep 052017
 

Festival Spirou 2017 poster (ill. Franquin etc.; Copyright (c) 2017 Dupuis and the artists; image from dupuis.com)

This weekend was the 8th annual Brussels Comic Strip Festival, which was also the 4th Festival Spirou (with Gaston as the featured character this time around, in honor of his sixtieth anniversary). Among other events, the Festival included a special pre-release screening of Le Petit Spirou the movie (which opens in cinemas 27. September).

Another addition this year was a set of prizes for comics creators, the Prix Atomium, which this year were handed out by former Spirou & Fantasio writer Jean-David Morvan. Sponsored by various organizations, each prize is awarded based on different criteria and comes with a monetary award ranging from 3,000 to 20,000 EUR. The Prix Atomium Spirou (15,000 EUR and publication in the magazine) is sponsored by the Journal and is awarded to a humoristic 44-page adventure in the tradition of the magazine’s classic series. It was won by Pebble’s Adventures by Nols.

Prix Atomium 2017 laureates including Zidrou and Frank Pé, with host Morvan (photo from dupuis.com)

Prix Atomium 2017 laureates. Zidrou second from left, Frank Pé fifth from left. Host Jean-David Morvan third from left.

Meanwhile, the Prix Atomium de Bruxelles (7,500 EUR) is sponsored by the Minister-President of the Brussels region to recognize a comic that showcases Brussels. It was won by the Spirou one-shot La Lumière de Bornéo (“The Light from Borneo”) by Frank Pé and Zidrou, which features the city extensively (the Atomium itself plays an important role in the story). The jury’s decision was unanimous.

Congratulations to all the winners!

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