Publications update (February 2014)

… plus the start of March. More collected edition books in Danish, several one-shots are moving forward, Spirou.Z is back, and more!

Spirou books back in Denmark

First, good news out of Denmark! Forlaget Zoom announced today that they will be continuing the Spirou collected edition book series. This Danish edition of the intégrale series was canceled one year ago, leaving buyers with a gap in the middle of Fournier’s run. That gap will be filled around the end of July with the publication of the 1972–1975 volume. The series will then presumably continue with the books for Nic & Cauvin and Tome & Janry.

Fetish for Brussels

La femme léopard by Schwartz & Yann has completed its serialized run in the Journal de Spirou, and is set for album publication on 2. May. Along with the 64-page standard edition, there will be an 80-page edition in Brussels dialect (bruxellois) published under the curious title Le fétichke du Kongo. Without offering any spoilers, it is also worth mentioning that the conclusion of the story seems to confirm previous reports that this is only the first part of a multi-album adventure. (Sources: Spirou.com forum, Amazon)

One-Shots by Frank & Zidrou, Conrad & Arleston, and Dany & Yann

Meanwhile, several other artists report progress on their own one-shots.

L’Okapi Blanc (“The White Okapi”) by Frank Pé and Zidrou now has a finished script, and Frank has, by last report, drawn 13 pages. Working at an unusually fast clip for him, the album should be ready by Fall 2015. (Source: Spirou, ami, partout, toujours)

Conrad, having rested up from drawing Asterix, has started work on his one-shot with Christophe Arleston (title previously reported as Mystère de Venise or Aventure à Venise). No date set for completion: Only the first part is written, and Conrad is in no particular hurry with it, doing it mostly for his own enjoyment. (Source: Spirou, ami, partout, toujours)

Finally, in an interview today, Dany confirms that he’s in the preliminary stages of work for a one-shot with Yann, getting a grip on drawing the characters in his own style rather than just imitating Franquin. He also says he’s never been more enthusiastic about tackling a new album. Not surprisingly, given the creators, Seccotine will feature in a major role in the adventure. (Dany & Yann made the short Jokarira bien qui jokarira le dernier for the 75th anniversary issue last year.)

Spirou V.O.s to continue in 2015

With no 2014 Spirou titles announced for the series of Franquin V.O. (Version Originale) books, artist editions which collect facsimile reproductions of the original art for Franquin’s various series in their original format, and with the Gaston material reaching its end soon, some had worried that the series from what was formerly Marsu Productions would be shut down. However, in an email response posted to the BD Gest forums, a spokesperson for Dupuis says that there will be at least one (unnamed) Spirou book in the series in 2015. Nine of Franquin’s 24 albums have been released in the format so far (although Le nid des Marsupilamis, “The Marsupilamis’ Nest”, merely reproduces the proof sheets with the line art, not the original drawings).

Return of the Z

After a lengthy delay, Spirou.com this week posted an update about Spirou.Z on Facebook. While there’s still no news on when the digital magazine (which was originally supposed to launch in October 2013) will see regular publication, there is now an Android version of the free test issue. According to the post, technical issues with getting the app to run on the wide variety of Android devices required them to redesign the concept and ditch some features. If the test is successful, we may not have long to wait for the app’s “turbo media” digital comics, which are supposed to include La théorie des dominos (“The Domino Theory”), a Spirou adventure in seven parts by a bunch of Pixar artists. (Unfortunately, in my experience the Android version is still rather buggy, with the turbo media comics not rendering properly. This no doubt varies depending on your tablet model and Android version.)

That Jijé book

The Jijé book Quand Gillain raconte Jijé (“Jijé: As Told by Gillain”) came out at the end of February, and turns out to mainly be an art book featuring high-quality reproductions of Jijé’s work. 30 pages are devoted to Spirou, with reproductions of a few originals, mostly from his last stories – La maison préfabriqée (“The Prefab House”) from 1946, Comme une mouche au plafond (“Like a Fly on the Ceiling”) from 1949, and Les hommes-grenouilles (“The Frog-Men”) from 1951 (several of these pages were exhibited at the Spirou passed from hand to hand exhibition in Brussels last year) – and otherwise facsimiles of illustrations for the magazine. The material is nicely presented, and there’s a wealth of other Jijé stuff in there, but strictly from a Spirou point of view this book is not an essential purchase.