Where Did Spirou Journal Go? [Updated 15 Jan]

Update 4 (15 Jan 2024)

Not only has the Christmas issue never made it to Izneo, neither has the most recent issue, #4473. This is another double-sized issue featuring a tribute to Andre Franquin and Morris on their 100th birthdays. Maybe the issue at Izneo is with double sized issues?!? Do they just not know how to price them?

I found a workaround, thankfully. I bought myself a subscription to Cafeyn.co, which offers all sorts of French magazines, including Spirou Journal. I’ll talk more about that in a future article, I’m sure.

Update 3

The good news is, those missing issues did resolve themselves after the last update.

But —

— we’re back to missing two issues again. Except it’s only one issue, and that’s the double-sized Christmas issue featuring a cover by and an interview with Jordi Lafebre! (They give it both issue numbers when it’s double-sized like this.)

Sigh. I’m sure it’ll come up eventually, but I’d like to read it before Christmas…

Update 2

As of 26 November, we’re almost back to normal. This week’s issue, #4467, came out on time. Also, issue #4464 is now in the catalog. It’s only #4463 that is missing now.

We’re so close to our long international nightmare coming to an end here…

Update 1

As of 16 November, Spirou Journal has returned to Izneo. Sort of.

Issue #4466 is this week’s issue, and here you can see it’s now available for purchase on Izneo.com (both the website and the app):

The problem is that issues #4463 – #4465 are still all missing. And will #4467 show up next week?

Stay tuned…

The Original Article:

Has Spirou Journal left Izneo.com?!?

Given the way this year has gone, I wouldn’t be surprised that the year could end with another speed bump thrown in my way.

The Back Story

One of my favorite things in the world of bandes dessinees is Spirou Journal.

Each weekly installment brings a cross-section of comics, from simple gag strips to multiple-page, multi-part adventure strips, and more. Plus, there are games, interviews, and text pieces here and there.

It’s the home of Lucky Luke, The Smurfs, Dad, Spirou (obviously), The Bluecoats, and a ton more.

It’s aimed at a slightly younger reader, which generally means the language in it is fairly approachable for someone just learning French. During my admittedly slow learning process with DuoLingo, I’ve used Spirou Journal as a real world test.

Every time I pick up an issue, I find new phrases I’ve recently learned. It also helps me find common words that I can go look up for myself to add to my French vocabulary.

Spirou Journal has been a great companion to my French learning process.

The price is also right. Izneo.com sells the weekly issues for a mere $2.29. It’s a mere pittance.

Roughly three years’ worth of issues are available at any time.

Three Issues Missing In Action: Is This The End?

After not reading it for a couple of weeks, I looked for it on Izneo the other day, expecting a new issue or two to be out. Issues are released on Wednesdays right after midnight as the day begins. That means I can see it here on the East Coast of the U.S. on Tuesday nights.

Issue #4462 is the most recent issue on sale at Izneo, but it was published back on October 18!

That means we’re missing issues #4463 (October 25), #4464 (November 1), and #4465 (November 8) already. I was looking forward to #4465, in particular, which features a Christmas story with the Grémillet Sisters, the series drawn by Ekho’s Alessandro Barbucci.

None of those issues are available on Izneo.

They’re missing.

Where’d They Go?

Is this the end of Spirou Journal online?

Nothing would surprise me anymore. Izneo’s been cutting back this year. Did they lose Spirou Journal, too? It also wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a glitch in their system and the issues never showed up but are supposed to be there. (That’s happened before.)

Unfortunately, I don’t have any contacts left over there to ask.

Am I the only one reading Spirou Journal online? Or am I just one of the few, to the point where it isn’t worth the effort to list it anymore?

There is a digital edition of the magazine that Dupuis offers if you subscribe to the print edition through them. I’ve searched on their website and don’t see any signs of a digital-only subscription. But it IS also possible that they don’t want the competition of offering it through anyone else, especially at a lower cover price.

Subscribe Today! (Crazy Workarounds)

If all else fails, I can subscribe to the print edition from here in the States.

Unipresse.com offers subscriptions to a large number of French publications to customers all around the world. (Hint: In the “Country of Delivery” dropdown, search for “Etats Unis” if you’re in America.)

I ran Spirou Journal through it and it’s about $250 per year. That sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t. That’s $5 an issue to be mailed across the Atlantic Ocean. The cover price is 3.20 euros, or $3.41 USD. $1.60 per week to ship a magazine to me? That’s not bad.

I wish they had an offer to ship them monthly, instead, for a little cost savings, but that’s probably more logistics than they want to deal with. Still, imagine a monthly package with four issues of Spirou Journal at your front door. I’d love it.

The wild thing is, all I need is the digital edition. Dupuis offers that, but only with your physical issue subscription. It’s half the price to subscribe directly through Dupuis to the print edition and have them mail the issue to someone in Belgium or France every week so you can read the digital edition from overseas.

That’s almost tempting, though still out of the budget of this website…

Let’s keep things simple and hope this is just a glitch and things will return to normal soon.  🤞