{"id":17026,"date":"2017-07-10T07:00:39","date_gmt":"2017-07-10T07:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=17026"},"modified":"2017-07-07T12:38:37","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T12:38:37","slug":"spirou-fantasio-volume-12-who-will-stop-cyanide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2017\/07\/10\/spirou-fantasio-volume-12-who-will-stop-cyanide\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirou & Fantasio volume 12: Who Will Stop Cyanide?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"
\nBy Tome & Janry<\/strong> translated by Jerome Saincantin<\/strong> (Cinebook)
\nISBN: 978-1-84918-355-0<\/p>\n

Spirou<\/em> (which translates as both \u00e2\u20ac\u0153squirrel\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mischievous\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the Walloon language) was created by French cartoonist Fran\u00c3\u00a7ois Robert Velter under his nom-de-plume Rob-Vel. The inspirational invention came at the request of Belgian publisher \u00c3\u2030ditions Dupuis in direct response to the phenomenal success of Herg\u00c3\u00a9’s Tintin<\/em> for competing outfit Casterman.<\/p>\n

Not long after, soon-to-be legendary weekly comic Spirou<\/em><\/strong> launched (on April 21st<\/sup> 1938) with Rob-Vel’s red-headed rascal as the lead of the anthology which bears his name to this day.<\/p>\n

The eponymous star was originally a plucky bellboy\/lift operator employed by the Moustique Hotel<\/em> (a wry reference to the publisher’s premier periodical Le Moustique<\/em><\/strong>) whose improbable adventures with pet squirrel Spip<\/em> gradually grew into high-flying, far-reaching and frequently surreal action-comedy dramas.<\/p>\n

Spirou and his chums have spearheaded the magazine for most of its life, with a phalanx of truly impressive creators carrying on Velter’s work, beginning with his wife Blanche \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Davine\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dumoulin who took over the strip when her husband enlisted in 1939. She was assisted by Belgian artist Luc Lafnet until 1943 when Dupuis purchased all rights to the property, after which comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jij\u00c3\u00a9\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) took the helm.<\/p>\n

In 1946 Jij\u00c3\u00a9’s assistant Andr\u00c3\u00a9 Franquin assumed the creative reins, gradually sidelining the long-established brief, complete gag-vignettes in favour of epic adventure serials, introducing a wide and engaging cast of regulars and eventually creating phenomenally popular magic animal the Marsupilami<\/em> to the mix.<\/p>\n

Franquin continued crafting increasingly fantastic Spirou sagas until his abrupt resignation in 1969, and his tenure is remembered for the wealth of weird and wonderful players and villains he added to the cast. As well as comrade, rival and co-star Fantasio<\/em> or perennial exotic arch-enemies such as Zorglub<\/em> and Fantasio’s unsavoury cousin Zantafio<\/em>, a particular useful favourite was crackpot inventor and modern-day Merlin of mushroom mechanics Pac\u00c3\u00b4me<\/em> H\u00c3\u00a9g\u00c3\u00a9sippe Ad\u00c3\u00a9lard Ladislas<\/em>, the Count of Champignac<\/em> (and sly tribute to an immortal be-whiskered druid dubbed Getafix<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6)<\/p>\n

Franquin was succeeded by Jean-Claude Fournier who updated the feature over the course of nine stirring yarns tapping into the rebellious, relevant zeitgeist of the times: tales of environmental concern, nuclear energy, drug cartels and repressive regimes.<\/p>\n

However, by the 1980s the series was looking a tad outdated and directionless. Three different creative teams then alternated on the feature, until it was at last revitalised by Philippe Vandevelde – writing as Tome – and artist Jean-Richard Geurts AKA Janry, who adapted, referenced and in all the best ways returned to the beloved Franquin era.<\/p>\n

Their sterling efforts began with the tale under review here and quickly revived the floundering feature’s fortunes. They contributed fourteen more wonderful albums to the canon between 1984 and 1998, and allowed the venerable strip to diversify into parallel strands (Spirou’s Childhood\/Little Spirou<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0and guest-creator specials\u00c2\u00a0A Spirou Story By\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Tome & Janry were followed on the core feature by Jean-David Morvan & Jos\u00c3\u00a9-Luis Munuera, and in 2010 Yoann & Vehlmann took over the never-ending procession of astounding escapades\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Cinebook have been publishing Spirou & Fantasio<\/strong>‘s exploits since 2009, alternating between Tome & Janry’s superb reinterpretations of Franquin and earlier triumphs by the great man himself. Who Will Stop Cyanide?<\/strong> is the twelfth English-language release and officially the cartoon crimebusters’ 35th<\/sup> collected collaborative caper; originally published continentally as Qui arr\u00c3\u00aatera Cyanure?<\/em> in Spirou<\/em><\/strong> #2427-2448 in 1984 before being subsequently released as Tome & Janry’s third album a year later.<\/p>\n

Funny, frenetically-paced and potently sinister when most appropriate, the tale leans heavily on science fiction paranoia and opens as photojournalist Fantasio tries to return a defective new camera. After some truly appalling customer service he is fobbed off with a bizarre bucket of bolts which seems to be a semi-sentient little robot that takes polaroid snaps\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The \u00e2\u20ac\u0153screwball gizmo\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a mischief-maker with a mind of its own and finds a kindred spirit in Spirou’s pet squirrel Spip, but that doesn’t stop it making a cunning bid for freedom at the first opportunity. In hot pursuit, the adventuresome lads frantically trail the demented droid out to worryingly familiar territory: the far from peaceful hamlet of Champignac-in-the-Sticks<\/em>. However, this time it’s not the mushroom-mad Count who’s behind an increasingly nerve-wracking situation\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Following a stern warning from the harassed Mayor – already well-acquainted with the kind of chaos that follows in Spiro and Fantasio’s wake – the jaunty journalists find the little gizmo at the dilapidated railway station. A furtive search through dank back rooms soon exposes an horrific scene: a beautiful woman tied to a chair and hooded.<\/p>\n

The outraged heroes free the distressed damsel and are immediately attacked; both by her and a number of ordinary mechanical objects suddenly imbued with terrifying, violent animation\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

After the former captive explosively escapes, the stunned lads meet dowdy Stationmaster Catenaire<\/em> and hear an incredible story\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The little man is something of an unsung scientific tinkerer and when railway cutbacks left him with time on his hands he started dabbling in robotics. Firstly, he built the little droid – dubbed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Telesphore<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d – but eventually, craving a more exotic and comforting companion, moved on to formulate a comely android for his personal use.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the Marilyn Monroe doppelganger he crafted gained instant sentience and an abiding abhorrence for humankind.<\/p>\n

Calling herself Cyanide<\/em> she played vicious jokes on people and even attacked them. When she started possessing machinery, Catenaire was forced to shut her down. Now, thanks to the gallant impulses of Spirou and Fantasio, she’s free and determined to make all meat-things pay\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

And so unfolds a splendidly compelling and frantic game of cat-&-mouse as the lads chase the wicked automaton and she – thanks to the recent unwelcome advent of a huge fully-automated factory in the village – unleashes an army of mechanical monstrosities to crush them before expanding her horizons to encompass the village and eventually the rest of humanity\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Fast-paced and exuberant, Who Will Stop Cyanide?<\/strong> is a funny, thrilling rollercoaster romp easily accessible to readers of all ages and drawn with beguiling style and seductively wholesome \u00c3\u00a9lan. Catch it if you can\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6
\nOriginal edition \u00c2\u00a9 Dupuis, 1985 by Tome & Janry. All rights reserved. English translation 2017 \u00c2\u00a9 Cinebook Ltd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tome & Janry translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook) ISBN: 978-1-84918-355-0 Spirou (which translates as both \u00e2\u20ac\u0153squirrel\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mischievous\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the Walloon language) was created by French cartoonist Fran\u00c3\u00a7ois Robert Velter under his nom-de-plume Rob-Vel. The inspirational invention came at the request of Belgian publisher \u00c3\u2030ditions Dupuis in direct response to the phenomenal success of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Spirou & Fantasio volume 12: Who Will Stop Cyanide?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,113,63,97,184],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-comedy","category-european-classics","category-kids-all-ages","category-spirou-fantasio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-4qC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17026\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}