Marolles Fetish begins

As mentioned in seemingly every post for the last several weeks, Le fétiche des Marolles by Schwartz & Yann begins serialization in this week’s issue of the Journal de Spirou (#3949). The adventure is set to run in 12 installments, bringing it to conclusion not too long before the album publication in April. Part one presents the first nine pages, three of which have already been seen. (Some spoilers below the cut!)

The story begins in 1946, two years after the end of Le groom vert-de-gris. Despite being a decorated war veteran, Spirou still works as a bellhop at the Moustic Hotel. Or rather, he’s back to working there, having first quit but then found that there were no other jobs available for a kid whose only reference was the hotel that served as the Nazi HQ.

His conscience tormented by the memory of Audrey, the Jewish girl he failed to save, he has become a drunk, and the laughingstock of the hotel. But his path is seemingly about to cross with a colonel from the Congo, a mysterious leopard-woman seeking something from him, and the strange gorilla robots chasing her…

From 'Le fétiche des Marolles' p. 9 (ill. Schwartz & Yann; (c) Dupuis and the artists) — “Damn, it’s too tempting!” – “No, Spirou!”

The first few pages of “The Marolles Fetish” shows Schwartz and Yann continuing to gleefully break taboos, scatter references to classic Franco-Belgian comics in every background detail, and mix absurd comic-book hijinx with their own (somewhat awkward, I would say) take on serious subjects. We’ll have to see what it adds up to over the course of an album (or two).