{"id":30654,"date":"2024-10-05T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T08:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30654"},"modified":"2024-10-04T17:55:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T17:55:14","slug":"melusine-volume-4-love-potions-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/10\/05\/melusine-volume-4-love-potions-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Melusine volume 4: Love Potions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Version 1.0.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nBy Clarke<\/strong> (Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Seron<\/strong>) & Gilson<\/strong>, coloured by Cerise<\/strong> and translated by Jerome Saincantin<\/strong> (Cinebook)
\nISBN: 978-1-84918-005-4 (album PB)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Like most things in life, this ideal keepsake for Love\u2019s Labours Ludicrously Lost comes far too late to be the perfect St. Valentine\u2019s Day recommendation, but let\u2019s face it: if you want to read a comic rather than romance a paramour – imagined, potential, fairly won or even abducted (wow, that got dark!) or any otherwise – there\u2019s little hope for you anyway…<\/p>\n

And Nether Gods forbid if you think buying one for him\/her\/they\/it counts as a Romantic Gesture. You deserve everything you get. Anyway every fule knoes it\u2019s all candies and pumpkin spice this time of year…<\/p>\n

Witches – especially cute and sassy teenaged ones – have a long and distinguished pedigree in fiction and one of the most seductively engaging first appeared in venerable Belgian magazine Le Journal de S<\/em><\/strong>pirou<\/em><\/strong> in 1992. M\u00e9lusine<\/strong> is actually a sprightly 119-year-old, diligently studying to perfect her craft at Witches\u2019 School. To make ends meet she spends her days – and far too many nights – working as au pair and general dogsbody to a most disgraceful family of haunts and horrors who inhabit\/infest a vast, monster-packed, ghost-afflicted chateau somewhat chronologically adrift and anachronistically awry around the time in the Middle(ish) Ages…<\/p>\n

The long-lived, much-loved feature comes in every format from one-page gag strips to full-length comedy tales, all riffing wickedly on supernatural themes and detailing the winsome witch\u2019s rather fraught existence: filled with the daily indignities of the day-job, college studies, the appallingly trivial domestic demands of the castle\u2019s master and mistress and even our magic maid\u2019s large circle of exceedingly peculiar family and friends.<\/p>\n

The strip was devised by writer Fran\u00e7ois Gilson (Rebecca<\/strong>, Cactus Club<\/strong>, Garage Isidore<\/em><\/strong>) and cartoon humorist Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Seron – AKA Clarke – whose numerous features for all-ages Spirou<\/em><\/strong> and acerbic adult humour publication Fluide Glacial<\/em><\/strong> include Rebecca<\/strong>, Les Cambrioleurs<\/em><\/strong>, Durant les Travaux<\/em><\/strong>, l\u2019Exposition Continue…<\/em><\/strong> and Le Miracle de la Vie<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Under the pseudonym Valda, Seron also created Les Babysitters<\/em><\/strong> and as \u201cBluttwurst\u201d Les Enqu\u00eates <\/em><\/strong>de l\u2019Inspecteur Archibaldo Massicotti<\/em><\/strong>, Ch\u00e2teau<\/em><\/strong> Montrachet<\/em><\/strong>, Mister President<\/em><\/strong> and P.38 et Bas Nylo<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A former fashion illustrator and nephew of comics veteran Pierre Seron, Clarke is one of those insufferable guys who just draws non-stop and is unremittingly funny. He also doubles up as a creator of historical and genre pieces like Cosa Nostra<\/strong>, Les Histoires de France<\/em><\/strong>, Luna Almaden<\/em><\/strong> and Nocturnes<\/strong>. Apparently, he is free of the curse of having to sleep…<\/p>\n

Collected M\u00e9lusine<\/strong> editions began appearing annually or better from 1995 onwards, with 27 published thus far. Sadly only a handful (yes, five) of those made it into English translations before Cinebook paused the project, but hope springs eternal\u2026<\/p>\n

Originally released in 1998, Philtres d\u2019amour<\/em><\/strong> was Continentally the fifth fantabulous folio of mystic mirth and is most welcoming to the casual eye: primarily comprised of 1 & 2 page gags which delightfully eschew continuity for the sake of new readers\u2019 instant approbation…<\/p>\n

As the translated title suggests, Love Potions<\/strong> devotes the majority of attention to affairs of the heart – and lower regions – demonstrating how to alchemically stack the deck in the dance of romance…<\/p>\n

When brittle, moody Melusine isn\u2019t being bullied for inept cleaning skills by the matriarchal ghost-duchess who runs the chateau, ducking cat-eating monster Winston<\/em>, dodging frisky vampire The Count<\/em> or avoiding the unwelcome and often hostile attentions of horny peasants and over-zealous witch-hunting priests, our \u201csaucy sorceress\u201d can usually be found practising spells or consoling\/coaching inept, un-improvable and lethally unskilled classmate Cancrelune<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Unlike Mel, this sorry enchantress-in-training is a real basket case. Her transformation spells go awfully awry, she can\u2019t remember incantations and her broomstick-riding makes her a menace to herself, any unfortunate observers and even the terrain and buildings around her…<\/p>\n

This tantalising tome features a melange of slick sight gags and pun-ishing pranks, highlighting how every bug, beast, brute and blundering mortal suffers pangs of longing and occasionally needs a little Covenly charisma to kick romance into action. Whether that means changing looks, attitudes or minds already firmly made up, poor harassed student Mel is bombarded with requests to give Eros a hand…<\/p>\n

Her admittedly impatiently administered, often rather tetchy aid is pretty hit-or-miss, whether working for peasants, rabbits, tortoises or even other witches, and helping poor Cancrelune is an endless, thankless and frequently risky venture. Moreover, the castle master & mistress have obviously never had an ounce of romance in them, even when they were alive…<\/p>\n

At least daunting dowager Aunt Adrezelle<\/em> is always around to supply the novice with advice, a wrinkly shoulder to cry on and, when necessary, a few real remedies…<\/p>\n

This turbulent tome also includes a longer jocular jaunt exploring the dull verities of housework, anti-aging elixirs and the selfish ingratitude of property-speculators, before wrapping up the thaumaturgical hearts-&-flowers with eponymous extended epic \u2018Love Potions\u2019<\/em>. This portrays Melusine\u2019s patience pushed to the limits after another attempt by the local priest to \u201cburn the witch\u201d leads to her helping the locale\u2019s latest scourging saurian marauder find the dragon of his fiery dreams…<\/p>\n

Wry, sly, fast-paced and uproariously funny, this compendium of arcane antics is a great taste of the magic of European comics, and a beguiling delight for all lovers of the cartoonist\u2019s art. Read before bedtime and share with your loved ones – but only after asking politely first and maybe sharing our sweets too…
\nOriginal edition \u00a9 Dupuis, 1998 by Clarke & Gilson. All rights reserved. English translation 2009 \u00a9 Cinebook Ltd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Clarke (Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Seron) & Gilson, coloured by Cerise and translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook) ISBN: 978-1-84918-005-4 (album PB) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. Like most things in life, this ideal keepsake for Love\u2019s Labours Ludicrously Lost comes far too late to be the perfect St. Valentine\u2019s Day recommendation, but … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Melusine volume 4: Love Potions”<\/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":[113,63,66,125,148,254],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedy","category-european-classics","category-horror-stories","category-humour","category-romance","category-young-adult"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7Yq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30654","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=30654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30656,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30654\/revisions\/30656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}