by 
Dany and Yann’s “The Better Player” (originally Jokarira bien qui jokarira le dernier, untranslatable wordplay on the game Jokari and having the last laugh) comes from last year’s anniversary issue, and has been discussed a number of times before on this site. So here it is, for you to make up your own minds…
In a short accompanying comment, Yann says: “For the almost thirty years that we have known each other, Dany and I have only worked together once, on a short Uncle Paul story about the terrifying “Beast of Gévaudan”; this short anniversary story finally gave us the opportunity to collaborate again… before a new, top secret project!” (Probably the one-shot proposal Dany later revealed.)
Jokari, or paddleball, is a game that was popular in the mid-twentieth century. Spirou and Fantasio play it in La Mauvaise tête (“Wrong-Headed”), and it turns up in a number of Gaston gags.
… or should that be “playa”?
Oh, that Spirou! Always perving on his friends. Rock solid characterization there, guys!
On the topic of puns, “Zizi Coincoin” looks like it might be one: It literally means “Pee-Pee Quack-Quack,” which, I don’t even…
I was also in doubt over whether to stick with “Seccotine” or use Cinebook’s English version, “Cellophine,” but since we’ve mostly used the French name here on Spirou Reporter, I decided to maintain that.
Helge Kvingedal liked this on Facebook.
Charlie Aabø liked this on Facebook.
Another reason for me to ship Spirou with Seccotine. ^_^
Amélie Christophe liked this on Facebook.
Sass Tseng liked this on Facebook.
Eurocomics USA Invasion liked this on Facebook.
tbh sometimes i don’t get the humors in spirou
The “joke” is simply that Spirou wasn’t trying to win at jokari, he was just hitting in ways that would let him look up Seccotine’s skirt. ‘Cause that’s the kind of guy Spirou is, according to Yann and Dany. >:(
Juanjo Rodríguez liked this on Facebook.
‘La Mauvaise tête’ is currently being scanlated [deleted] as ‘The wrong face’, so maybe it would be nice to use that translation for the title.
Sorry, but no links to scanlations of full albums, please. Scanlations of short stories, rarities and things that would almost certainly never be published in English are one thing, but I try to avoid anything that might damage the publishers.
As for the title, well, it was already published in English as A Head for Crime (by Euro Book India), which is actually rather clever, and when Cinebook get to it they might use yet another title. So in the absence of a definite English translation I’ll stick with my own version, which I think works both literally and idiomatically.
Yes, you’re right, sorry for that link (although it didn’t link to a full album but only a few pages).
María Remersaro García liked this on Facebook.
Les Amis de Spirou liked this on Facebook.
Joan Ventalló Givanel liked this on Facebook.
So Fantasio and Noisette don’t get to play at all. I figured Fantasio was meant to be the player of the two, but he’s too moping and stingy to notice that Noisette’s quite zaftig…
To clarify, “zizi” as “pee-pee”, as kiddy language, doesn’t refer to urination, but the penis. “Coin” also means “corner”, but “Quack corner” isn’t much of a pun…
Yeesh. Yann and Dany have taken Seccotine, a thoughtful, spunky, fun character, and turned her into a softcore porn cartoon. This along with turning the thoughtful and industrious Spirou into a little pervert. It’s sad to see.
Hmm, this kinda comes across as an alternative timeline of Spirou, where Le Petit Spirou has grown up to adult age, but not reached the level of emotional maturity as his main timeline counterpart…
These three pages should probably suffice for the foreseeable future…