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The Belgian Comics (6)
MARSUPILAMI
Marsupilami: the fabulous animal (in 1963)
ONE OF THE CUTEST...
When in January 1952, in the darkest Palombian forest, appeared a very strange animal in the story: 'Spirou et les Hétitiers' (Spirou and the heirs) Comics in Europe will never be the same after...
The Marsupilami conquered reader's attention in the Spirou Magazine first and later in the albums (books) of the Spirou character. He was clever, he was ssstroong, he was resourceful and most of all... cute!!!
Marsupilami was created by the Belgian artist André Franquin for the Spirou series, originally as a 'gag engine'. It was also a kind of parody of all animals of the comics kingdom having special powers or unusual talents. Franquin being himself under the spell of this fabulous animal and put him in many later adventures of Spirou. A riot!
After a few stories it was granted that Marsupilami could swim, was even amphibian, could fly, could run fast and even could defeat any opponent!!! And he could also speak a little...
^The first apparition of Marsupilami: in the Palombian forest
SPIROU AND FANTASIO GOT A NEW PAL
Marsupilami became a companion to Spirou and Fantasio and besides a happy 'family' life, he was giving a hand to these two heros in their agitated adventures. But this Marsupilami character was also in a world of itself and very quickly Franquin developed short stories and strips of gags only for the cute and flexible animal.
His very long tail that could act as a lasso and as a spring, his temper going bad under certain circumstances were all elements well exploited by Franquin. There was also a kind of ecologic mood going with this animal, at ease in nature landscapes, woods and green surroundings.
In an early story in the Spirou series there was a long tale centered around a family of marsupilamis, some kind of cousins of the original one.
Titled:'Le Nid des Marsupilamis' - The marsupilamis' nest.
The first story with the Marsupilami alone- Marsupilami goes to town (1955)>>
This 'nest' story of 1956 centered on the marsupilamis having babies is a wonderful ecological tale with poetry and colorful jungle scenes. All due to Franquin's talent. This set-up made also clear that Marsupilami was a comics character completely developed, able to be the central hero of his own adventures.
THE ADVENTURES OF MARSUPILAMI? ALL BY HIMSELF...
On a earlier stage Franquin already made a short story showing the possibilities of a Marsupilami adventure: 'Le Marsupilami descend sur la Ville'- Marsupilami goes to town (1955). He made also some very short strips for Marsupilami alone and a lot of illustrations for the Spirou Magazine showing Marsupilami in action or presenting other series.
Mainly by lack of time, as he was controlling the Spirou and Gaston series, Franquin could never develop an independent series for this amazing character. But even without his own series Marsupilami was an incredible success of popularity through his presence in the Spirou series.
MARSUPILAMI ON HOLD AND... SOLD TO A PUBLISHER
When Franquin ceased to draw the Spirou series, he kept all the rights to the use of the Marsupilami character. He lent Marsupilami to some of the following artists taking care of the new Spirou stories, and in some cases insisted to draw the animal himself in the strips of his young colleagues.
But Franquin was badly hit by the 50 years blues making him to recenter his professional activities in the early 1970's. He masterfully explored other side of humor (noir, acid and ferocious...) that was more appealing for adults and older teen-agers. He lost professional interest for Marsupilami and others from his Spirou series.
However he kept a real love for Marsupilami as a character and developed quite later two albums of adventures of the 'cousins' of Marsupilami but besides the page set-up and some 'continuation' all the artwork was made by others.
Franquin finally sold the rights for future use of the Marsupilami character to a French publisher and the drawings are now made by Batem in a series devoted only to Marsupilami.
The appeal of the Marsupilami character is so great that today youngsters and adults are still avid fans of the fabulous animal, making it one of the best-known comics character in Europe!
INTERESTING MARSUPILAMI LINKS
OFFICIAL WEB PAGES
Marsupilami - pages mainly dedicated to the Marsupilami continuation by Batem in stories where he is the central character.
To more comics! >>>>
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Most recent revision: 20 January, 1998 and 5 April, 2000