28 March, 2024
"The Account of Chompignac" ('Le Conte de Champignap'; ill. Tarrin; (c) Dupuis and the artist; SR scanlation; from JDS #3914)

Scanlation Sunday: The Account of Chompignac

"The Account of Chompignac" ('Le Conte de Champignap'; ill. Tarrin; (c) Dupuis and the artist; SR scanlation; from JDS #3914)

To (belatedly) mark Fabrice Tarrin’s birthday this Sunday, here’s his short story for the 2013 anniversary issue, La Conte de Champignap, or “The Account of Chompignac.”

"The Account of Chompignac" p. 1 ('Le Conte de Champignap'; ill. Tarrin; (c) Dupuis and the artist; SR scanlation; from JDS #3914)"The Account of Chompignac" p. 2 ('Le Conte de Champignap'; ill. Tarrin; (c) Dupuis and the artist; SR scanlation; from JDS #3914)"The Account of Chompignac" p. 3 ('Le Conte de Champignap'; ill. Tarrin; (c) Dupuis and the artist; SR scanlation; from JDS #3914)"The Account of Chompignac" p. 4 ('Le Conte de Champignap'; ill. Tarrin; (c) Dupuis and the artist; SR scanlation; from JDS #3914)

This story was previously scanlated by Mii-riam on tumblr, and I referred to that translation as well as the German one, which helped clear up several confusing points. This second take at least offers the benefit of somewhat better scans.

The title literally means “The Tale of Champignap.” It is, of course, a pun on le comte de Champignac (“The Count of Champignac”), and “gnap!” is the sound the mushrooms make as they eat in the French version. Perhaps not quite coincidentally, it’s also the sound made by black/purple Smurfs. And you might recognize the butler and mansion in the final panels from another famous Belgian comic…

Spirou Reporter

I grew up reading Spirou in Scandinavian translations. Now I'm learning French and trying to decode the originals.

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15 thoughts on “Scanlation Sunday: The Account of Chompignac

    1. Thanks, I do try. The trade-off is speed: you’ve been doing them much faster than I could possibly keep up with. For example, I spent at least half an hour looking up hillbilly dialect for the farmers, after I worked out what they were even saying in their French dialect (the last line is literally something like “Show a chti (hillbilly) dropping mushrooms”). And I kept your translation where I didn’t see any potential for improvement, so it should not be worse, in any case.

    1. That’s interesting. About the Spirou et Fantasio albums, it’s just a hypothesis, I’m not sure if it’s true. We’ll see.

  1. I have been looking forward to read this one. I have the anniversary issue of Spirou from last year, as I happened to visit Paris that week, but as I cannot read French, I have not been able to read it. I love Tarrin´s style of painting.

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