April Fools Day and Journal Spirou

This week’s issue of “Journal Spirou” is the April 1st edition.

I hate April Fools, because so many people do it wrong. They attempt to trick you, make you look silly, and then point and laugh at how dumb you are for falling for their prank.

Does that really sound like fun to you?

Where Journal Spirou Does It Right

You’re in on the gag. They set up their trick, and then run with it as long and as fast as they can. It’s obviously a joke, but it’s one rooted in something that could conceivably happen. It’s a fun take on the current affairs of the comics and entertainment industry, and it’s just a lot of good comics with plenty of inside jokes.

It’s not trying to make you look stupid. It’s trying, instead, to sell a series of gags, taking the magazine in different directions while maintaining the format. We’ll get to that in a minute…

In this case, the gag is that Disney is buying Spirou. It’s right there on page three of the issue, digitally: a text page, done with a straight face, with a picture showing the historic moment when Spirou sold out to Disney (represented by the smartly-named M. Michael McCabotfish).

The text is equally joyous and silly, mentioning how Disney is going to pour massive money into Parc Spirou (the newly opened Spirou theme park in the south of France that could use the money, to be honest), make a Natacha movie with Tim Burton (oh, my), make a Tif and Tondu On Ice show, and more.

Let me show you a few of the highlights. There are a bunch them:

(Warning: There will be spoilers in this overview.)

It Starts With Trondheim and Keramidas

The first page of the issue is one of three single page gags by Lewis Trondheim and Keramidas. Those two previously worked together in the same style on a series of Mickey Mouse one-page gags. I reviewed that book, “Mickey’s Craziest Adventures.”

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Keeping that in mind, you see why they’re a natural fit for the new Disneyfied Spirou magazine world. The pair use their old style to tell new jokes with a similar-looking mouse now referred to as “Mic Mac.”

No relation, of course.

Wink wink, nudge nudge

When I first started to read this issue, I thought that perhaps Trondheim and Keramidas had leftover material from the book they did together and so published it now with a slightly different name to keep the copyright claims clean.

I hadn’t read the text page yet. It makes better sense after that.

Spip the Adventurer: The New Rescue Rangers?!?

The next, level-headed addition to the theme for the issue was the feature story that you saw teased on the cover. Yes, that’s right, Spip gets his own adventure! I thought it was a good idea and about time. I love the little guy, so this made sense.

Only later did I go back to notice the introductory interview with the story’s author/cartoonist, Dav. It continues to sell the story about Disney buying Spirou. He talks about the new owners of Spirou and how they like funny animal cartooning. This story is an idea of how to reboot Spirou. He’s also working on something that looks close to a “Rescue Rangers” reboot for Disney+ that’d include Spip.

What follows is a cute five page story of Spip seeing a fellow squirrel about to be attacked by an aggressive eagle and how he comes to her rescue, even though she doesn’t need it.

It’s a simple story that way, but Dav’s cartooning is such a joy to read. The action on the page, the coloring on top of his art, and even the lettering all combine for a great-looking book. If you like talking animals, you should love this one.

And, of course, follow Dav Le Dessinateur on Instagram. His warmup sketchbook pages are the most amazing things… He even teased this story on Instagram without naming any names… He slipped it right by all of us.

Li’l Fantasio

In an effort to milk the entire cast of Spirou, after Spip got his adventure-filled series, Fantasio was next. Of course, it was Li’l Fantasio that Disney would be interested in, right?

This is a short two page origin story of sorts, showing how the adventurous young Fantasio did everything right to get his degree and travel the world and see amazing things, only to constantly be overlooked in the shadow of the great Spirou. Damn, those Disney folks are brutal!

I know these stories are sort of meant as parodies of the Disney style and all, but I have to admit that I like how they look. In this case, it’s Dalena on art with Lenoble doing the coloring. It has that big-headed cute kid look with a very animated style of coloring. It works.

Spirou survived the manga-fiction of Munuera’s artwork, surely the franchise could survive another alternate take like this with its supporting cast, right?

Bianco’s story picks an interesting angle to tackle Fantasio’s character from — that of the adventurous kid who gets what he dreamed of, but is ultimately frustrated by it. That’s an interesting take, and I’d love to see more stories that explore that tension.

Take away the Disneyfication Of Spirou angle, and it could still work well on its own.

Saint Peter and the Disney Princesses

Next up is a a three page gag in which Saint Peter is visited at the Pearly Gates by three Disney Princesses. This one is written and drawn by Janry, part of the team of “Tome et Janry,” of course, and the co-creator of “Li’l Spirou,” ironically enough.

In the story, the Disney Princesses are super nice to Saint Peter on their way into heaven, and he’s thrilled to have such wonderful and beautiful women up there with him. By “thrilled,” I mean “smitten.”

When Prince Charming shows up, he sends him straight to hell to keep the competition away.

And good, because that Prince is one smug son of a gun, anyway.

Munuera on Zorglub

The great Jose-Luis Munuera, the creator of one of my favorite European comics of all time, “The Campbells,” has been working on Zorglub comics for the last few years. They have yet to be translated into English, sadly.

As usual with Munuera’s comics projects, each one has its own look, with a lot of those differences coming from the coloring by Sedyas. This series has a straightforward, colorful, less saturated look to it. It looks animated to begin with, so it’s a natural fit into the portfolio of Spirou’s new owners. 😉

Munuera gets two pages to deliver the gags for this issue, and makes the most of them, including a look at his new house that closely resembles a certain Disney castle, and some changes to the inner working of his life.

The part that made me laugh out loud is when Zorglub flies his daughter over his house/castel, and his daughter exclaims, “W.T.F.*” That helpful asterisk leads to the explanation at the bottom of the page, “What the Fairy Tale?”

It’s always interesting to me to see where English infiltrates other languages. In the modern era, it feels like the meme-ification of language is happening. Certain catch phrases, cliches, and hot terms du jour are taken in whole as English into conversational French without batting an eye.The purists and the old guard must be driven nuts by this.

What the FRNK?!?

I love “FRNK.” If you’ve never read it before, I suggest checking out the “FRNK” Pipeline Portal I wrote for it that breaks down what the series is all about. The first five books are available in English today, and they’re a lot of fun, plus extremely well drawn in a Franco-manga kind of way.

There’s no way I’d have placed a bet coming into this issue that the series would participate in this issue. It’s set in pre-historic times. It’s in the middle of a storyline. It has its light-hearted moments, to be sure, but it’s not a silly gag-based comedy. It’s a coming-of-age tale and a time travel story and an adventure.

So they busted out into a two page musical number for this issue.

I have to be honest that I haven’t read all the lyrics to the song they’re singing. I don’t know if it’s a specific song they’re parodying here. The opening images look a lot like “The Little Mermaid,” and there’s some talk of being “part of your world,” so it might be a riff on that.

“Who is the strange boy? Where did he come from? What is his name?” doesn’t quite hit home as any particular Disney lyric, but the Disney vibe is right there. This is the “want” song and the one that establishes the world all at the same time, it looks like.

It’s an over-the-top super silly two pages that ends with a panel of FRNK’s two creators in the Disney offices, looking stunned and wide-eyed at what is being suggested they should do with their series.

It’s terrific, even if my French knowledge barely gets me half of the words being used. I’ll keep learning, if only to be able thread comic stories like this one….

Marsupilami and The Best Gag In the Issue

The panel I’m about to show you is the entire reason I wrote this article. I laughed out loud when I read it and had to show it to you.

First, be sure you’ve read the story of how Andre Franquin licensed Marsupilami out to Disney and then sued Disney over Disney’s mishandling of the property. That way, you’ll understand how great it is that Spirou is publishing this story.

Written by Partner and Fred Neidhardt, with art by Partner and Fabrice Tarrin, it’s the story of the day representatives from Disney visit Spirou’s house with an offer to buy Marsupilami. They have big plans for the yellow guy in their next new theme park.

The two Disney representatives are instantly identified as clueless idiots who can’t even say Marsupilami’s names right. But check out that second panel. They want to pay $10 million dollars for Marsupilami.

Does that number ring any bells? Yup, it’s the number Andre Franquin’s company won from their lawsuit against the Walt Disney Corporation in the late 1990s over Disney’s mishandling of the Marsupilami license. (You read my article, right? Or maybe you listened to the podcast version of Marsu v. Walt Disney Corp?)

I laughed so hard when I read that panel. It’s a small detail that I bet not a lot of people would get. I don’t know, maybe the story is better known in France. But the story is still so fresh in my mind that it jumped out at me.

Here’s the final zinger of the one page gag: Spirou doesn’t sell out Marsupilami for that small price. He holds out for $100,000,000. The Disney folks leave with Marsupilami in a cage, muttering under their breath, “They are tough in business, these Belgians.”

Spirou, you bastard!

More Musical Numbers

“Les Nombrils” (“The Bellybuttons”) get a one page musical story that takes shots at Disney. “Dad” even joins in with a one page musical number that has nothing to do with Disney, but just the singing part of it makes it feel like it fits in.

Not In on the Gag

The two new series in “Journal Spirou” don’t lose their momentum for this silliness. If you’re a subscriber who doesn’t like these themed issues and just want the on-going serials, you’ll get that from “Creatures” and “Black Squaw.”

Whoa, just realized the later has an F bomb on the first page. This is definitely not owned by Disney…. I don’t think I’ve seen that word in “Spirou” before, not that I’ve read a lot of them…

April Fools Spirou is a Lot of Fun

This is how an April Fool’s Day prank is best played.

It’s a fun experience pushed to the max, with the reader in on the joke. They planned this out magnificently, getting buy-in from a lot of different creators and series, especially the ones you might not expect, at first.

They kept things short and to the point, had some memorable gags, and everyone had a good time.

Plus, that awesome Marsupilami gag!

Merci, Journal Spirou.

(Journal Spirou #4277 is available through Izneo.com’s French language website.)