Le Petit Spirou

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Young Spirou on the cover of Spanish magazine Yo y Yo. He's shown hitting himself on the head with a bat so that he can be treated by the attractive nurse in the background.

Le Petit Spirou ("Young Spirou") is a popular Belgian comic strip created by Tome & Janry in 1987. The series developed from La jeunesse de Spirou (1987), a Spirou et Fantasio album in which Tome and Janry (at the time the authors of the series) set to imagine Spirou's youth. It was later developed into this new creation, on which the authors concentrated after the controversy created by their last Spirou et Fantasio album, Machine qui rêve (1998).

This series details the antics of the character as an elementary school boy. A lot of the gags center around the character's interest in the opposite sex, while others concern topics like religion and the contradictions and absurdities of the adult world. It is generally acknowledged that, psychologically speaking, the character in Le Petit Spirou doesn't have very much in common with the adult he's supposed to become.

1 Characters
- 1.1 The children
- 1.2 The adults
2 Albums
3 International editions
4 External links

[edit] Characters

[edit] The children

Spirou - The main character, already wearing his trademark red outfit.
Antoine Vertignasse "Vert" - Spirou's best friend and companion in his adventures.
Suzanne Berlingot "Suzette" - Spirou's girlfriend.
Nicolas Ponchelot - Spirou's second best friend, with a good appetite and a few extra pounds.
Cyprien Futu "Cassius" - Another friend of Spirou, of African origins. The son of the school's cook. His nickname is a reference to Cassius Clay as he is very good at boxing.
Masseur - Another friend, big but not very intelligent. In French "Masseur" sounds like "ma soeur", "My sister". This allows Spirou to trade photos of the naked Masseur for treats, as people understand "Je te donnerai une photo de masseur nue" ("I'll give you a nude photo of Masseur") as "Je te donnerai une photo de ma sœur nue" "I'll give you a nude photo of my sister".
André-Baptiste Depérinconu - The secret son of the abbot? In any case, he copies him in everything. Word play on French "de père inconnu", "of unknown father".

[edit] The adults

Mr. Mégot - The gym teacher, always trying to organize original sporting events that always end in disaster. Drinks and smokes a lot. "Mégot" is French for a cigarette butt.
Abbot Langelusse - He always has ideas to pray God's glory and save the souls of his flock, which usually also end in disaster. A word play on angelus.
Miss Claudia Chiffre - The math teacher. "Chiffre" is French for digit, and an obvious play on the name Claudia Schiffer.
Melchior Dugenou - A timid teacher with big glasses and the boyfriend of Miss Chiffre, which nobody understands. He is a good head shorter than his girlfriend, Miss Chiffre.
Pépé Spirou - Spirou's grandfather and his favourite adult. At his age, he is not a lot more wise that his grandson. He also wears the family's trademark red outfit.
Mrs. Gourmandine - Pépé's girlfriend.
Mrs. Spirou - Spirou's mother, dressed in a female version of her son's red outfit.
Mr. Spirou - Spirou's Father, dressed in the standard bellboy outfit. His face is never seen, and he appears seldom in the series.

[edit] Albums

Like the main series, these albums are published by Dupuis.

Dis bonjour à la dame (Say good morning to the lady, 1990)
Tu veux mon doigt? (Do you want my finger?, 1991)
Mais qu'est-ce que tu fabriques? (What are you doing?, 1992)
C'est pour ton bien (It's for your own good, 1994)
"Merci" qui? ("Thanks" to whom?, 1994)
N'oublie pas ta capuche! (Don't forget your hood!, 1996)
Demande à ton père! (Ask your father!) (1997)
T'as qu'à t'retenir! (Just hold it [pee] in) (1999)
C'est pas de ton âge! (That's not something for your age!, 2000)
Tu comprendras quand tu s'ras grand! (You'll understand when you'll grow up, 2001)
Tu ne s'ras jamais grand! (You'll never be an adult!, 2003)
C'est du joli! (That's pretty!, 2005)

[edit] International editions

Le Petit Spirou has been edited in languages other than French as well. In Dutch it is known as De Kleine Robbe and is distributed by Dupuis in Flanders and the Netherlands. In Spanish it is known as El Pequeño Spirou and is edited by Ediciones Kraken.