by The coming months offer a number of new releases for Spirou fans in many different languages. The French publications are numerous enough to require their own list. Here I’ve tried to compile a list of releases in other languages (excluding Dutch) that is as complete as possible; additions and corrections are more than welcome!
English
Valley of the Exiles (Spirou #40)
2. May, Cinebook
Cinebook’s fourth Spirou album concludes the adventure begun in Running Scared, and is widely considered one of Tome & Janry’s best.
Franquin’s Last Laugh (Idées noires)
June, Fantagraphics
While not directly Spirou-related, this is one of the classic Spirou artist’s other masterpieces, available in English for the first time.
German
In den Fängen der Viper (“In the clutches of the Viper”; Spirou #53)
29. May, Carlsen
Number 51 in the German ordering, this is the latest Spirou adventure by Yoann & Vehlmann. At a projected 64 pages, this edition appears to include additional material beyond the 46-page story.
Das Wunderpferd (“The wonder horse”; Rob-Vel album 4)
30. July, Carlsen
Number 16 in the Spirou + Fantasio Spezial series is Carlsen’s fourth collecting the early Rob-Vel pages. This album will continue with the page from 20. March, 1941 (when Rob-Vel returned to the series after Jijé’s first run filling in).
Danish
Gringos Locos
May, Cobolt
The story of the comic book legends Jijé, Franquin and Morris’ travels through the US and Mexico in 1948, as told by Schwartz & Yann. The Danish edition of this controversial album (held back from its French release for months because of objections by family members of the people depicted) includes the response by Jijé’s family as an integrated part of the book.
Le journal d’un ingénu (“The diary of a naive young man”) in Danish
Late 2013 or early 2014, Cobolt (source)
According to Carsten Søndergaard at Cobolt, Émile Bravo’s and Yves Chaland’s versions of Spirou are next in line for Danish publication, although the order of the two releases hasn’t been determined. The award-winning Journal d’un ingénu returns to Spirou’s origin as a bell boy at a Brussels hotel just before WWII.
Le Spirou de Chaland (“Chaland’s Spirou”) in Danish
Late 2013 or early 2014, Cobolt (source)
The other of Cobolt’s planned releases is another long-awaited classic. Yves Chaland’s short-lived and troubled reimagining of Spirou as a weekly mock-retro adventure strip was poorly received at the time, but has become legendary after the fact. This collection is also rumored to include additional material that was never widely published.
La femme-léopard (“The leopard woman”) in Danish
2014 (?), Cobolt (source)
Apparently pushed back by the above planned releases, Schwartz & Yann’s follow-up to Le groom vert-de-gris (“The field-gray bellhop”; Operation Flagermus in Danish, or “Operation Bat”) is fairly certain to be published relatively soon by Cobolt, given how well received the first album was.
Norwegian
Spirou #53 in Norwegian
17. June, Egmont (source)
The regular Spirou albums are not just the only Spirou publications regularly released in Norway, they’re among the only remaining comic book albums still published. Because special albums (and even some of Le Petit Spirou) have been folded into the main series, this will be number 60 in the Norwegian album order.
Swedish
Spirou #53 in Swedish
August (?), Egmont (source)
Sweden gets this album last among Scandinavian countries. As in Norway, the classic Franco-Belgian album releases in Swedish have been reduced to a small handful: Spirou and Asterix are the only ones expected for this year. In the Swedish album order, this is number 52.
Helge Kvingedal liked this on Facebook.
Du verkar ha missat danska #53, eller har den redan kommit ut?
http://comicwiki.dk/wiki/I_hugormens_kl%C3%B8er
Avundsjuk på alla grymma grejer Cobolt ger ut i Danmark, annars… Svenska Egmont verkar tyvärr måttligt intresserade…
Yeah, Spirou #53 was already released in Danish (and similarly, [i]Gringos Locos[/i] has already been published in German). I should have made that clear in the post.
Cobolt’s plans (and their track record with Spirou) are very exciting. It’s an ambitious program, and if successful I suspect it might give the series a whole new profile in Denmark. It would certainly be nice if they could find a way to make versions in other Scandinavian languages while they’re at it, but since that’s probably off the table, I hope all Scandinavian fans support their effort.
Oh yeah, I should have written in English, to begin with. Translating it for the benefit of an international audience.
You seemed to have missed Danish #53, or has it already been released?
http://comicwiki.dk/wiki/I_hugormens_kl%C3%B8er
Jealous on all the awesome stuff Cobolt is releasing in Denmark, otherwise… Alas, Swedish Egmont shows scarce interest…
Andreas Eriksson liked this on Facebook.
Does the English version of Idées noires include all Franquin made in this series? I have already bought the first three Rob-Vel albums in German. It is a good way to repeat my German knowledge from high school, I read and use the dictionary when necessary. My brother says that reading comics with a dictionary is a sign of a true nerd 😉 I will buy all the Danish publications mentioned. Reading Danish is easy for me as a Norwegian. And of course I will buy the Norwegian edition of the most recent regular Spirou album.
Odd Eivind Koppang Torp liked this on Facebook.
Yes, The English Fantagraphics edition should be an extra thick compilation of all material. (Unlike the French edition, which apparently consists of a regular #1 and a very thin #2.)
For the completists, there’s also the Gaston Amnesty ad, featuring Gaston Lagaffe, but drawn in the Idées Noires drawing style.
It seems like Gringos Locos is also available in German: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gringos-Locos-Yann/dp/3551729670/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1369469305&sr=8-2&keywords=gringos+locos
By the way, what is the best way to buy a copy of the Danish edition? I live in Bergen, Norway. I searched the web site of the book shop Tronsmo (in Oslo), but at least so far it seems like they do not have it (although they have many other comics in Danish). I have been told that it is cheaper to buy Danish comics in Norway as the value added tax is higher in Denmark than in Norway.
Seems like they have changed their mind about the order of the publishings. Earlier it was announced that the story by Schwartz and Yann would be published before the stories by Chaland and Bravo. A wise choice in my opinion. I am particularly looking forward to read the story by Bravo in Scandinavian. It will also be nice to read the stories by Chaland and Schwartz and Yann. Has the new story by Schwartz and Yann been released in French yet?
It doesn’t appear so, unless Bedetheque has missed it (which it doubt).
http://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-5249-BD-Schwartz-Olivier.html
Looks like Cobolt has cancelled their plans to release a translation of Chaland’s Spirou, at least for the moment: http://dansketegneserieskabere.dk/debat/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=15899&p=149540#p149540
Sorry, but why are you excluding Dutch? I feel discriminated :'(
Just because as far as I could tell, practically everything published in French comes out in Dutch as well, so [url=https://spiroureporter.net/2013/06/06/french-spirou-releases-2013/]this article[/url] should pretty much cover it. But I guess there are a few exceptions: the collected books, the VO editions, “Spirou Under the Counter” …
If there are Dutch readers who want to stay informed in English, I’ll be more inclusive in the future.
Miriam. Would you know any good sites to keep up-to-date with Dutch releases?
Well, yes. For example: http://www.stripspeciaalzaak.be/index.php and http://www.robbedoesenkwabbernoot.nl/