Schwartz & Yann in two weeks

Journal de Spirou 3947-3948 dans deux semaines (ill. Schwartz; (c) Dupuis and the artist) — “In two weeks: Can you guess WHO has emptied Moustic Hotel’s stock of whisky?”

This week, the Journal de Spirou has a teaser for a series that will begin in the next issue. It’s Le fétiche des Marolles (“The Marolles Fetish”) by Schwartz & Yann, which thereby just barely manages to make its first appearance in the Year of Spirou.

The reason the announcement says “in two weeks” is that this week is a special double issue (on the theme of Père Fouettard, the whip-wielding companion of Santa Claus who punishes naughty French and Belgian children), and for the first time in the history of the magazine, it’s been given a double numbering (so it counts as both #3947 and #3948) and will be skipping next week. This cost-saving measure is not uncommon for many European comics weeklies, but it’s a bit of an ominous sign for a magazine that, as far as I am aware, hasn’t missed a week since WWII.