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BM Mag #14 (April–May 2017), the magazine of Dutch comics publisher Ballon Media, features an intriguing teaser ad for an upcoming project on page 27… (Updated 28.4.2017)
According to the commenter kontiki on the BD Gest’ Forum, this is a three-part Spirou story “filled with the spirit of Franquin” both in the writing and drawings, that will be available exclusively in Dutch. Swept in secrecy, the names of the two creators (who have been published in French before) remain under wraps for now.
Very curious. So here’s the challenge: Can anyone identify the artist from these silhouettes?
Update (28.4.2017): As Dion points out in the comments, the team has been revealed as Marc Legendre on script and Charel Cambré on art. This is the team behind the Spike & Suzy (Suske en Wiske, Bob et Bobette) spinoff Amoras. The title of the album will be Happy Family.
Only in Dutch? Not fair ! 🙂
A wild guess: Daan Jippes.
I’m secretly wishing that there’s a plot twist here and that woman is Fantasio in a disguise
Yes.
My guess would be Daan Jippes and Hanco Kolk. The Spirou silhouette reminds me of Jippes’s dapper Ducks for some reasons and Jippes has produced short Spirou stories before. Kolk is my other guess because he has long been rumoured to work on a Spirou album. However, his style has become very stylistic and that’s not quite what we seem to see here. Then, Spirou-as-you’ve-never-seen-him-before would be a near-given, if Kolk is involved. That might have to do more with look than with content though Spirou as a family man would be new too.
Exclusively in Dutch, muhaha…
Where will this story be posted? Maybe I could translate it. I know you can do it too but since I’m a native speaker it should be easier for me. Or perhaps I could send the translation to you and then you can correct the English if you want to publish it on your site.
It is almost definitely not Hanco Kolk. His album (which will be released in French as well), looks [url=https://www.facebook.com/spiroureporter/posts/804939943005994]like this[/url].
And though he’s naturally one of the first to come to mind – particularly with the “filled with the spirit of Franquin” bit – I also have it on good authority that it’s not Daan Jippes.
No word yet on exactly where/how this will be published. If it’s suitable for a Spirou Reporter scanlation, I would certainly appreciate help with that, though as with almost every translation on the site I would want to go over the final wording. In any case it wouldn’t be right away, on the principle that it shouldn’t be a substitute for buying the comic legally.
Hmmm, there are a lot of talented Dutch artists, and most of them are highly aware of the Franco-Belgian school…
My first guess would also probably have been Daan Jippes, but in that case, I’d have to come up with an alternative option. Henk Kuijpers feels a bit stiff, so I think I’ll take a shot at Gerben Valkema…
Also, trying to guesstimate the theme of the story – Spirou and Seccotine having a daughter?… Spiritine?…
Although, realizing that the album is to be published by Balloon Media, I now have another culprit…
Since others have attempted two guesses already, I’ll take a second stab at Philippe Delzenne, the main artist for the Jommeke series.
Delzenne’s main style seems more akin to Hergé or Vandersteen, though, although he’s probably talented enough for some decent Marcinelle, as well.
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/d/delzenne_philippe.htm
I’d say either Gerben Valkema or Jean-Marc Krings…
Is the woman supposed to be Seccotine? It’s hard to tell in silhouette. I just realized that what I had taken for a lock of hair or a head scarf [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambiguous_image]could also be interpreted[/url] as the beak of a Disney-duck head!)
Anyway, [url=https://spiroureporter.net/tag/gerben-valkema/]Gerben Valkema[/url] was my first guess, so I asked him. He says that it’s not him…
[url=https://spiroureporter.net/tag/krings/]Jean-Marc Krings[/url] also makes a lot of sense: the silhouettes look like they might fit his style, he’s done a bunch of Spirou fanart and been [url=https://spiroureporter.net/2014/03/27/upcoming-one-shots/#misc]mentioned as a candidate for a one-shot[/url] before, and he’s already working on a Dutch-language title with the [i]Fanny K.[/i] series. So perhaps a story written by [url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/merho.htm]Merho[/url] and with art by Krings? But as far as I can tell the two of them are associated with the publisher Standaard Uitgeverij rather than with Ballon Media – not that that rules it out absolutely.
Ballon’s original Dutch-language titles seem to be [i]Jommeke[/i], [i]K3[/i] and [i]Flikken[/i] (where [i]K3[/i] is based on a girl group and [i]Flikken[/i] on a TV show). None of them looks to me like the art style shown here.
By the way, Dupuis has [url=http://www.spirou.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=67518#p67518]confirmed the news[/url] without providing any further information.
I wish it was either Gerben Valkema or Daan Jippes, who were also my first guesses, but that seems to be ruled out (except you never know…)
Gerard Lever is another Dutch artist that would be cool for a Spirou project- but the silhouettes don’t match his style at all. Ditto Kuijpers… or Pieter Hogenbirk…
Martin Lodewijk could be a great match, but he doesn’t draw a lot anymore- his last Agent 327 took him years… Maybe a script by him… and then the great surprise- the artist IS Jippes, only moonlighting as Danier! Ha! The old Bernard Vorzichtig team, together after 40+ years… well, that WOULD be cool!
Legendre – Cambré
Thanks!