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While the news has been somewhat overshadowed, this week Feroumont’s Spirou adventure Fantasio se marie (“Fantasio Gets Married”) started its serialization run in the Journal de Spirou #4068. Oh, and the upcoming album version has a new cover: see above! So let’s have a look at a little teaser… (SPOILERS, of course)
These two pages are actually from next week’s installment, available early to subscribers. The first part starts with a flashback to WWII, where we learn that there’s a necklace with magic powers. In the present, that necklace is stolen by a mysterious, female thief from the office of Madame Gallantine, a fashion publisher, right under the noses of Spirou and Fantasio. Fantasio is engaged to be married to Mm. Gallantine’s daugher, Clothilde, and is therefore moving out of the house he has been sharing with Spirou. And that’s where we pick it up:
This apparently means moving in, and to say Spirou isn’t quite used to living with a girl is an understatement… But Seccotine’s investigative talents quickly prove themselves useful. Perhaps Spirou has indeed found his new partner?
It’s less obvious in English, but in French [i]aventure[/i] can also mean an affair, so Seccotine’s last line here is a bit suggestive. I’d say it’s unintentional on her part, but she does seem to enjoy teasing Spirou a bit, so maybe not…
(Incidentally, between the pages, Spirou has apparently put on a sweater under his T-shirt. Odd…)
(As regards the sweater under the T-shirt, it’s not *that* odd. I used to do it back in the early 2000s. In my post-grunge circle, it was quite fashionable back then. :p)
Yeah, I just thought it was weird that right as his friends were leaving, he’d go in and put on a sweater under his T-shirt. But now I notice that he’s actually already wearing it like that in the second and third panel of page 12. So it’s probably just a continuity error. Otherwise we have to assume he popped it off just as he goes over to say goodbye to them, and then popped it back on before they actually leave.
Hey, I wonder if stuff like this is part of the reason so many comics characters always wear the same clothes? If Spirou were always in his standard uniform, slip-ups would be much less likely. (Though there are some panels where e.g. his hat mysteriously disappears.)
Spirou: “Of course! Now get going! Wait, I have to put on a sweater under my shirt first.”
Surely it went like this.
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I think it is terrible since the drawing is really awful. Who did the drawing? It looks different to the previous albums.
It’s Benoît Feroumont. The point of these special one-shots is to give authors the freedom to put their own spin on the characters, art- and storywise.
Btw; “Demenagements Verhuizingen” is French and Dutch respectively for “Moving”.
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While I agree that the drawing is not all that, I have to admit that I seriously like this version of Seccotine! She oozes energy and enthusiasm in every panel she appears in, especially the first one. Fantasio though…he seems far too generic to be Fantasio, to me. I notice he’s somewhat back to his Jijé characterisation in being far taller than Spirou. Regarding homages, is the girl asking Spirou to play football meant to be Ninon? Lastly, I can’t help but think Clothilde’s look owes quite a bit to ‘Scooby-Doo”s Velma, of all people.
So Spirou Reporter, what do you think of this story so far?
Well, first of all I like Feroumont’s style here a lot, with the exception – as you say – of Fantasio, who looks a bit off. (The stretched-out head actually reminds me a lot of [url=https://spiroureporter.net/2016/03/24/frank-from-brussels-to-borneo/#more-6667]Frank’s version[/url], as seen on pages 11 and 13; I didn’t think that was quite successful either.) I really do love seeing these characters and this universe filtered through different artists, and Feroumont manages to make them his own while it still [i]feels[/i] very Spirou, perhaps more so than any of the one-shots to date.
As far as the story, it’s a little too early to tell. The introduction of magic worries me a bit, and I wonder how that will tie in. It’s not something you’d include unless it’s going to play an important part, right? On the other hand, I like how Fantasio’s fiancée and marriage plans are introduced: quickly and with minimal drama. While we haven’t seen too much of Clothilde yet, she seems like a good character, and I’m already rooting for her and Fantasio. (Given that this is [i]Spirou & Fantasio,[/i] it might seem inevitable that the marriage will fall through or end, one way or another, but as an out-of-continuity story it’s not necessary to go that route.) The fact that she’s not some bombshell – though certainly nice-looking! – is refreshing, and Feroumont’s take on Seccotine is also sexy while avoiding the “Barbie doll” comic book cliche. The contrast with Dany or even Tome & Janry attempting something similar is striking.
But really, I think it’s a matter of “so far so good”. It’s looking pretty promising, but the story has hardly got going yet, and there have been a number of other recent albums that have started out well and then not, IMO, quite delivered. I also hope the theme of Spirou’s old-fashioned assumptions and lack of understanding of women is not too heavy-handed throughout. For now, I’m enjoying it and looking forward to the upcoming episodes!
Magic?
I think it was implied that Itoh Kata really had magical powers, but then, the whole character was basically just treated as comic relief (with some cringingly dated ethnic stereotypes to boot).
Fantasio’s stretched-out head, in this comic and in Frank Pe’s, might be a reference to Jijé’s characterisation too, just like Fantasio’s length. I do like that Fantasio is taller than Spirou in this style, but the long face… nope.
i actually quite enjoy Frenk’s version of Fantasio than Feroumont’s myself. Feroumont may be good at drawing ladies and probably young men (like Spirou in this case), but he’s Fantasio seems less likely get less of his attention on his character design (maybe he’s not he’s type or something, but oh well)
Tho to be frank, Feroumont ‘s art is amazing but he’s storyboard is … not so good, a bit mess up really. Which it failed to be on my wanted list of Spirou (which is rare to me)
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