Scanlation Sunday: The Spirou Code of Honor 1

I thought to round off 2014 with one final scanlation in honor of the Jijé centennial.

The “Friends of Spirou” (Amis de Spirou, AdS) was the Spirou fan club, which was founded by the magazine in 1938 and became quite active as a sort of boyscout-style organization. Members received a membership card with the “Code of Honor” and a key to decode “secret messages” in the magazine. The code of honor was written by Jean Doisy, editor of the Journal de Spirou. In 1941, he asked Jijé to make a series of comic strips illustrating each point in the code, which ran in the Moustique magazine and were printed as a poster, presumably to hang in AdS club houses!

In order to properly absorb and reflect on each point, let’s have them one at a time. Here’s the first:

Edit: There was also a Flemish branch of the Amis de Spirou, namely Robbedoes Club (“Spirou Club”). As in French, members were called Robbedoesvrienden (“Spirou-friends”), but also sometimes Robbedoesrakkers/ -rakkeressen (“Spirou Rascals and Rascalettes”). The Code of Honor strips were included in the Robbedoes Almanak 1944, the Dutch-language version of the Spirou Almanach, published towards the end of 1943 in a format designed to get around Nazi restrictions (presumably calendars and almanacs were considered indispensable, and hence exempt from publishing bans). On this occasion, each strip was accompanied by a short text (see here).

From 'Robbedoes Almanak 1944' (ill. Jijé; (c) Dupuis and the artist; image from catawiki.com)) — *Robbedoes Almanak* 1944, from Catawiki.

These texts have been kindly translated into English by Miriam (with help from Daniel, Lieju and Raax, and some edits by Spirou Reporter), and the first is given here:

Do you remember what we agreed last month? Ha! Some of you are shaking your heads? What? Am I wrong? Come on, let’s be honest. Someone who isn’t honest, is not a man. Maybe we’re not always honest – let’s be frank enough to admit that – but, darn and blast, we are going to be! Because we are Spirou Rascals! That’s why this month, as our guiding rule, we choose the first point of The Spirou Code of Honor. (Not too much all at once!) The helpful Jijé has drawn it for you, as you can see below!

So this is the deal: This month, every Spirou Rascal and Rascalette will make a particular effort at honesty and sincerity. No false modesty can hold us back. We know no fear, and we don’t want to learn any! This is how we become men, you brave boys. Honestly and sincerity is the first virtue of being a Friend of Spirou. So, never forget: Forthrightness is a Spirou duty!