by The bad boy of the Spirou universe gets his own album, Spirou’s wartime adventures (in WWII and the present-day) see releases in Scandinavian, Spanish and German, and more… (Updated 11. February)
Zantafio at the center… fio!
First for the big news: According to InediSpirou, citing highly placed sources within Dupuis, a Zantafio-centered album is under development. The album is being written by a well-known (but unidentified) comics writer, and will deal with Zantafio’s adventures between his exit at the end of Spirou et les Héritiers (Spirou #3, “The Heirs”) in 1952 and his reappearance in Le Dictateur et le champignon (Spirou #7, “The Dictator and the Mushroom”) the year after. It is said that it will be a story that delves into the psychology of the character, more like the recent album Choc (which explored the origins of Monsieur Choc, the villain of the classic Tif & Tondu series) than a traditional Spirou adventure.
As you may know, Zantafio exits his first adventure as a seemingly reformed man, only to return as a ruthless dictator, later turning into a recurring villain. How did it come to that? This album will attempt to answer that question. And given the subject, it would seem that Spirou and Fantasio cannot appear, apart from perhaps in flashbacks and to bookend the story.
Swedish BatOps
Another book by Cobolt’s Swedish branch has turned up for preorder in various online stores, namely “Operation Fladdermus,” a Swedish edition of Le Groom vert-de-gris, expected in April. This follows their edition of Journal d’un ingénu (“Spirou: Porträtt av hjälten som oskuldsfull ung man”) last year. Egmont still publishes the regular albums in the series, most recently Le Groom de Sniper Alley (Spirou #54, “The Sniper Alley Bellhop”) as “Skatten i Alexandria.”
Titles, titles, titles!
T
wo upcoming releases now have title. The Danish edition of La Grosse tête (“The Big Head”) from Cobolt will be called “Det glatte ansigt” (“The Smooth/Trustworthy Face”?), and is set for publication on 24. April. Meanwhile, the German title of Le Groom de Sniper Alley (Spirou #54, “The Sniper Alley Bellhop”) sticks to the original, with “Der Page der Sniper Alley.” It will be published by Carlsen on 24. February.
Release reminders
The Danish edition of Le Groom de Sniper Alley (Spirou #54, “The Sniper Alley Bellhop”), “Piccoloen på Sniper Alley,” is out today. The French special collector’s edition came out a couple of weeks ago. Meanwhile, the Spanish edition of Le Groom vert-de-gris (“The Field-Gray Bellhop”), “El Botones de Verde Caqui,” came out in the last week or so. Finally, the German collected edition continues on, with the second volume now available and the third expected in June.
Yoann Sketchbook
Oh, and Le Petit Écho de Champignac also mentions another relevant publication, namely the Yoann Sketchbook, featuring art by the Spirou illustrator. While not exclusively focused on Spirou, the samples (available on the publisher’s website) show plenty of sketches of the characters. The book is available now.
Hopefully it will not be too long before the Norwegian edition of Spirou 54 will also be out on the market.
i’m so pleased to see this news ;;;w;;;
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Will the Zantafios story be part of the one-shot-series?
I don’t think anyone knows. I’ll keep you updated when we learn more (including the identity of the writer and who will do the art). And of course, there’s always a chance that the project will fall through.