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This week’s Journal de Spirou brings the ending to the latest Spirou & Fantasio adventure by Yoann & Vehlmann, Le Groom de Sniper Alley (Spirou #54, “The Sniper Alley Bellhop”). And that means another cliffhanger/teaser for the album to follow. This one is of particular interest, and has already generated a great deal of discussion and speculation. At the same time, giving away the ending is obviously a MAJOR SPOILER, so consider carefully whether you want to peek!
After their adventure in Aswana, Spirou and Fantasio report back to Don Cortizone’s prison-bound Uncle Tony. At the end of their conversation, he tells them, “Oh, I forgot: I also wanted to give you these photos, which I happened to stumble across during my research.”
What could it mean? We will have to wait for the next adventure by Yoann & Vehlmann to find out. Meanwhile, feel free to discuss in the comments!
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okay it might just me but this brings me a big hope about Zantafio’s return in the next album ?!?!?!
In album 4: Spirou et les héritiers (Spirou and the Heirs), Spirou and Fantasio had to get the Marsupilami out of the jungle in order to win an inheritance. Don Cortizone has photos of them kidnapping the Marsupilami and he’s going to use it for blackmail. That’s what I think.
Interesting idea. A couple of things, though…
It’s not Don Cortizone who has the pictures, it’s his uncle, Don Tonio Contralto. And he doesn’t seem to want to use them to blackmail them (they kept their side of the deal, so they’re square), he’s just giving them to them.
Anyway, it’s [url=https://spiroureporter.net/2013/11/24/scanlation-sunday-marsupilami-thieves-teaser/]not a secret[/url] that Spirou and Fantasio captured the Marsupilami in the jungles of Palombia and brought it to Europe, and I think we can assume it wasn’t illegal to do so at the time. Later on (after the zoo had closed), in [i]Le Dictateur et le champignon[/i], they tried to bring it home to Palombia, but it followed them back out of the jungle. So it’s hard to see how any photos [i]could[/i] be used to blackmail them.
I think almost certainly the photos are the key to the mystery of how the Marsupilami disappeared after Fournier’s first album, [i]Le Faiseur d’or[/i]. They seem to show that it was Spirou and Fantasio who took him away, in a cage! And apparently they don’t remember it? So there are various possible explanations: That’s not Spirou and Fantasio in the photos, but two impostors (perhaps wearing masks like in [i]La Mauvaise tête[/i]), robots or clones. The fact that the Marsupilami is holding Spirou’s cap and crying, as if he misses him, even though Spirou is standing right nearby, might support this guess. Or it [i]was[/i] them, but they were hypnotized somehow, maybe with the zor-rays. Their eyes do seem to have a certain blank stare…
You’re right, but I don’t think the zor-rays have to do with it. At the end of ‘La face cachée du Z’, the Count of Champignac is worried about what Zorglub will do next. The narrator then says: ‘Don’t worry, Pacôme, Zorglub won’t return in the upcoming albums.’ So that’s why I think Zorglub isn’t the cause of this.
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I like the suggestion that this scene chronologically takes place during Fournier’s run and shows Spirou and Fantasio inadvertently sending away the Marsupilami for whatever reason. The zorglonde seems the logical cause here, but on a meta level I do wonder about its likelihood. The zorglonde is tied to Zorglub and how likely is that Y&V are already bringing back Zorglub at this stage? As it is, this makes Sasa’s idea that it might signal the reappearance of Zantafio rather appealing to me, as he at least is tied to Palombia and has used the zorglonde. If we want a particularly nasty turn of events, the use of the zorglonde could also be by the Count!
My first take on the situation was that it showed the Marsupilami being forcibly returned to the wild. However, it’s just as much possible and may even be more likely that it is being held captive and has been retconned into presumably been held captive somewhere ever since its disappearance from the series. If so, who could the captor be, if anyone we have ever met before?
Last but not least, how ‘aware’ can we consider Spirou and Fantasio to have been of the Marsupilami’s absence in-universe? As far as I know, only ‘La Valée des Bannis’ had an instance where Spirou thinks/talks about having had adventures that involved the Marsupilami. Does the deleted appearance in ‘Aux sources du Z’ count?
No reading, reblogs or spoilers for me… But I’m desperate to get the album and read it! November is so far away!!
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