21 November, 2024
'Il s'appelait Ptirou' provisional cover ("His Name Was Ptirou"; ill. Verron & Sente; Copyright (c) 2017 Dupuis and the artists; image from dupuis.com)

His Name Was Ptirou

'Il s'appelait Ptirou' provisional cover ("His Name Was Ptirou"; ill. Verron & Sente; Copyright (c) 2017 Dupuis and the artists; image from dupuis.com)

The upcoming graphic novel about the cabin boy who inspired Rob-Vel to create Spirou (which is still, unaccountably, being published as a Spirou one-shot) will start serialization in the Journal de Spirou #4145, 20. September, with the album release set for 3. November.

The comic, written by Yves Sente and drawn by Laurent Verron, is now going by the title Il s’appelait Ptirou (“His Name Was Ptirou”), and Dupuis has released a provisional cover and short preview.

In the sample, Uncle Paul (narrator of many biographical and other “true stories” in the magazine) starts to tell a story from 1929, about Henri de Sainteloi, the director of a transatlantic cruise line who brings his sick daughter with him on a trip from Le Havre to New York. Ptirou himself does not appear in this excerpt, but the blurb talks about a story that deals with poverty and social and economic issues that are again becoming increasingly relevant.

Back in June, Verron created a mural for the comic:

Laurent Verron drawing Ptirou mural (photo from dupuis.com)

Part of Ptirou mural by Verron (photo from dupuis.com)

Spirou Reporter

I grew up reading Spirou in Scandinavian translations. Now I'm learning French and trying to decode the originals.

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3 thoughts on “His Name Was Ptirou

  1. The style seems a lot cleaner than in the earlier samples, which I think had a rougher, grittier feeling to them…

    1. Yeah, it looks like the pages are cleaned up a bit for the final version, maybe in the coloring process. You can also compare this sketch version of the cover, which may be used for a limited edition of the album, to the final version:

      [img]https://spiroureporter.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/spirou-os-12-is-sappelait-ptirou-FR-TT-provi.jpg[/img]

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