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Last week brought no updates on the publication front, but there are a few things to report from this week. A special edition is released, a one-shot is delayed, and there are details on the Gaston box set and a book about Jijé.
The special gold edition of Dans les griffes de la vipère (Spirou #53, “In the Clutches of the Viper”) was published on Friday, 8. November. This edition contains a special section of annotated sketches from the album as well as Yoann & Vehlmann’s two previous ones, mainly devoted to the contributions of Fred Blanchard as designer of many of the environments and vehicles. (There’s an extensive preview available on Amazon.)
Dupuis have announced their upcoming program for the next few months (though Spirou Reporter is sadly not on the distribution list). We learn via InediSpirou that the one-shot by Schwartz & Yann, Le fétiche des Marolles (“The Marolles Fetish”, previously La femme-léopard: “The Leopard Woman”), which last we heard was pushed back from October to January, is still not to be found on the schedule for either January, February or March. It has been postponed again. The reason is rumored to be that Schwartz had been overworked and was forced to take a break or reduce his workload.
The schedule does however include a previously announced book on Jijé, now with the title Quand Gillain raconte Jijé (my loose attempt at a translation: “Jijé: As Told by Gillain”), on 7. February 2014. Described as part anthology, part monograph and part biography, it will include unpublished and rare art by Gillain. (Via BD Gest and Le Petit Écho de Champignac)
Also, according to InediSpirou, the book Franquin et le design (“Franquin and the Design”) is currently scheduled for 7. March 2014, having most recently been pushed back from January, and originally from last June.
Finally, Dupuis posted photos of the upcoming complete Gaston box set to Facebook. The box is still set for release on 22. November.
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Is Panique en Atlantique still the last to be published in the one-shot-series?
According to Bedetheque, it’d appear so.
http://www.bedetheque.com/serie-12999-BD-Spirou-et-Fantasio-Une-aventure-de.html
Although Yann and Olivier Schwartz would apparently be working on a sequel to “Le groom vert-de-gris” at the moment.
I think Spirou reporter has mentioned several projects.
Yep, there are a bunch of them that have been announced or rumored. Some are more definite than others, some are probably canceled (or will be), but a list of the ones that might come out would include:
– Schwartz & Yann: Le fétiche des Marolles (last reported on here)
– Bravo: Sequel to Le journal d’un ingénu in two volumes
– Conrad & Arleston: Mystère à Venise
– Téhem, Makyo, Toldac: La grosse tête
– Various Pixar artists (Christopher, Pressing, etc.): La théorie des dominos
– Dany: Rumored to be working on a One-Shot after his short story with Yann
Then you have the ones featured at the Belgian Comic Strip Center exhibition:
– Frank Pé & Zidrou: L’Okapi blanc
– Marc Hardy & Zidrou: Soumaya
– Féroumont : Spirou et les femmes
– Lebeaut & Filippi : Fondation Z
So, is Le fétiche des Marolles still the most likely to be the seventh album in the “Le Spirou de…”-series?
Yes, that’s practically certain. It’s the only one that has actually been scheduled for publication, and although it’s been pushed back, I’d count on a 2014 release.
It will most probably be followed by La grosse tête or La théorie des dominos, assuming they’re not canceled. The Bravo sequels seem safe, but it’s hard to say when they’ll be finished, so it’s possible that one or more of the others might be done first.
For the others, I wouldn’t hold my breath. I think we’ll be lucky if even 2-3 of them are ever finished and published. It’s like with movies: a lot more projects are developed than are ultimately released. On the other hand, there might be others that we haven’t heard about.
I have just ordered the Danish edition of the first story by Bravo. Looking forward to read it!
And after “Le fétiche des Marolles”, I’d heard that Yann and Schwartz would go back to a sequel to “Gringos Locos” (“Crazy Belgians”) – where Jijé and Morris finally find their way to New York to make an important encounter.
Schwartz apparently liked to submerge himself in the zeit-geist and mindframe for the time period, for the series he was involved in, so he didn’t really like to jump between projects and reset his outlook too often.