Spirou et les héritiers

Graphicnovelbox| title= Spirou et Fantasio #4 Spirou et les héritiers
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caption=Cover of the Belgian edition
publisher=Dupuis
date=1952
series="Spirou et Fantasio"
origlanguage=French
origpublication="Le Journal de Spirou"
origissues= #693 - #726
origdate=1951 - 1952
origisbn= 2-8001-0006-0
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transseriestitle=
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writers=Franquin
artists=Franquin
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previssue= "Les chapeaux noirs", 1952
nextissue= "Les voleurs du Marsupilami", 1954

"Spirou et les héritiers", written and drawn by Franquin, is the fourth album of the "Spirou et Fantasio" series, and a great leap in the expansion of the Spirou universe. After serial publication in "Spirou", it was released as a complete hardcover album in 1952.

tory

In "Spirou and the Heirs", Fantasio is told he must compete against his cousin Zantafio to inherit from a long-absent uncle. The deceased has devised three trials for the two men: creating an original and useful invention, achieving a top 6 Grand Prix race position, and finally capturing a mysterious animal, the Marsupilami in the Palombian jungle. The dishonest Zantafio uses extreme tactics to win, and the two cousins are tied after the second task.

The third task proves the hardest, as the creature's prodigious reflexes and abilities make it impossible to capture, until it accidentally drinks a gallon of heating oil. Spirou and Fantasio nurse it and put it in a cage. On their way back, they are ambushed by hostile natives, but Zantafio, who has seen the errors of his ways and decided to drop out of the race, rescues them. Back home, Fantasio is declared the winner but learns that his impoverished uncle devised the race because he had nothing to leave his young relatives. The inheritance is the lessons in life learnt in the course of the competition. Fantasio declares himself satisfied, and decides to take the Marsupilami back from the zoo it has been donated to, and release it into the wild. While the Marsupilami is pleased to go back to its natural habitat, it starts missing Spirou and Fantasio and the end of the album sees him following the two friends while they bemuse about ever seeing it again.

Background

In "Spirou" issue #720, published January 31, 1952, the Marsupilami made its first appearance.Cite web|last=BDoubliées|title=Spirou année 1952|url=http://bdoubliees.com/journalspirou/annees/1952.htm|language=French] Franquin told that the ideas leading to its creation stem from the period Franquin lived in Jijé's household with Will and Morris, from a joke concerning a very active tramway driver with too many duties, in need of a long, agile rat's tail to help with the tasks, and how this core idea allowed the Marsupilami character to grow.cite web | last = André Franquin from "Cahier de la BD" n° 47-48 (1980) | title = Franquin-Une Vie-1952 | url = http://www.franquin.com/bio/1952.php fr_icon] Another influence was Pilou Pilou, a character that made an impression during Franquin's youth. He later expressed regret at having bound the Marsupilami species to a South American jungle, considering marsupials are found in Australia.

With "Les Heritiérs", Franquin also reveals his passion for automobile sports.

References

* [http://bdoubliees.com/journalspirou/auteurs2/franquin.htm Franquin publications in "Spirou"] BDoubliées fr_icon

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.spirou.com/spirou/albums.shtml Spirou official site album index] fr_icon
* [http://www.franquin.com/spirou_fantasio/albums_spirou.php Franquin site album index] fr_icon