By Franquin
Publisher: Cinebook
ISBN: 9781849181679
When you visit continental Europe there’s a good chance you’ll come across a distinct looking cartoon character; in looks sitting somewhere between a large monkey and a leopard, with large emotive eyes, small floppy ears, and a tail that just goes on and on and on. I’ve never really known who or what he was until a visit to the Belgium Comic Strip Centre a couple of years ago where I learned he was the Marsupilami and he has a rich and lengthy history upon the printed page.
So I was rather pleased to see that the latest Spirou and Fantasio book was a story where the Marsupilami took centre stage. I was finally going to find out what all the fuss was about.
The Marsupilami Thieves is a very early Spirou and Fantasio story, but considering it’s 60 years old you wouldn’t credit it for its lively pace and madcap shenanigans. What’s immediately clear is that this isn’t even the first appearance of the Marsupilami as the heroes continuously reference an earlier adventure, but within the context of the tale (or tail) that’s really neither here nor there. Since discovering the Marsupilami it has resided in the zoo, a fact that breaks the hearts of Spriou and Fantasio and is something they are determined to rectify. After visiting him behind his bars they return home only to learn the distressing news that in the interim the Marsupilami has died. They race back to the zoo but nobody can find a trace of the body, so a thorough search of the zoo grounds is launched until, late into the evening, a mysterious figure makes a break for it under the cover of darkness and a somewhat crazed pursuit takes place. Although the body thief escapes, a clue is left behind as to his location.
However, when Spirou and Fantasio arrive they discover a struggling mother and her children. She acknowledges that the thief could well have been her husband but they are under hard times. They take pity on her, but are still determined to track him and the Marsupilami down, so with fresh evidence they depart for Magnana and a month long search. Eventually they find him, and learn that the Marsupilami is not dead at all, but has been taken by a despicable circus owner as his latest attraction. The Marsupilami’s extraordinary tail allows it to perform some outrageous stunts, and it soon wows the crowd, but despite the roaring success of the performance it is as much a prisoner at the circus as it was at the zoo. All Spirou and Fantasio need to do is break him out – no small task.
This really is a brilliant little book, jammed to the gunnels with humour and adventure. Not as anarchic as the recent Tome and Janry offerings, and certainly not as anarchic as Franquin’s later work, but it’s still a well-paced, well executed page turner. The icing on the cake, though, is the Marsupilami. An absolute gift for a cartoonist, here’s a creature that’s both loveable and utterly different, and with a tail that offers endless opportunities for the storyteller. It’s strange that a character of this strength has made such little impact in the English-speaking world, so maybe that can now be rectified.
I was already enjoying the Spirou and Fantasio books, but if we can have some more Marsupilami too then that would be just perfect.
And if you liked that: More Spirou and Fantasio on the way very soon
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