{"id":35012,"date":"2026-02-27T17:58:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T17:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=35012"},"modified":"2026-02-27T17:58:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T17:58:54","slug":"spirou-and-fantasio-volume-11-the-wrong-head-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/02\/27\/spirou-and-fantasio-volume-11-the-wrong-head-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirou and Fantasio volume 11: The Wrong Head"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Andr\u00e9 Franquin<\/strong>, translated by Jerome Saincantin<\/strong> (Cinebook)
\nISBN: 978-1-84918-313-0 (Album PB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times. This book also contains Discriminatory Content<\/strong> included for comedic effect.<\/em><\/p>\n

Andr\u00e9 Franquin was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on January 3rd<\/sup> 1924 and died on January 5th<\/sup> 1997. In between there were good times and bad, which he offset by creating the most incredible characters and stories, and by making people laugh and think – but mostly laugh. This is one of the very best you can find translated into English.<\/p>\n

Adventure-seeking Spirou<\/strong> headlined the magazine he was named for from the first issue (dated April 21st<\/sup> 1938). He was created by French cartoonist Fran\u00e7oise Robert Velter using his pen-name Rob-Vel for Belgian publisher \u00c9ditions Dupuis. This was in direct response to the success of Herg\u00e9\u2019s Tintin<\/strong> for rival outfit Casterman.<\/p>\n

Originally a plucky bellboy\/lift operator employed by the Moustique Hotel<\/em> (a sly reference to the publisher\u2019s premier periodical Le Moustique<\/em><\/strong>), his improbable exploits with pet squirrel Spip<\/em> gradually grew into high-flying, far-reaching, surreal comedy dramas. That evolution was mainly thanks to Velter\u2019s wife Blanche \u201cDavine\u201d Dumoulin who took over the strip when her husband enlisted in 1939 and Belgian artist\/assistant Luc Lafnet\u2026 at least until 1943 when Dupuis purchased all rights to the property, after which comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (Jij\u00e9<\/em>) took the helm.<\/p>\n

Our interest really begins when Jij\u00e9 handed his own trainee assistant complete responsibility for the flagship strip part-way through Spirou et la maison pr\u00e9fabriqu\u00e9<\/em> (Le Journal de Spirou<\/em><\/strong> #427, June 20th<\/sup> 1946). Andr\u00e9 Franquin ran with it for two decades; enlarging the scope and horizons until it became purely his own. Almost every week fans would meet startling new characters such as comrade\/rival Fantasio<\/em> or crackpot inventor and Merlin of mushroom mechanics the Count of Champignac<\/em>. Spirou and Fantasio<\/strong> became globe-trotting journalists, travelling to exotic places, uncovering crimes, exploring the fantastic and clashing with a coterie of exotic arch-enemies such as Zorglub<\/em> and Fantasio\u2019s unsavoury cousin Zantafio.<\/em><\/p>\n

Franquin, plagued in later life by bouts of depression, passed away in 1997 but his legacy remains; a vast body of work which reshaped the landscape of European comics.<\/p>\n

Here then as originally serialised in LJdS<\/em><\/strong> #840-869 in 1954 and subsequently released on the continent in 1957 as hardcover album Spirou et Fantasio 8<\/em><\/strong> – La Mauvaise T\u00eate<\/em><\/strong>, this sinister yarn begins as Spirou visits short-tempered pal Fantasio and finds the house a shambles. The intrepid investigator has ransacked his own home in search of missing passport photos with his insensate fury only abating (a bit!) after Spirou convinces him to come play paddleball.<\/p>\n

Later, whilst looking for a lost ball in the woods, Spirou finds one of the missing photos but thinks nothing of it…
\n\"\"
\nThat evening strange events begin: Spirou sees Fantasio acting oddly in town and when a jeweller is robbed, the brutalised merchant identifies Fantasio as the smash-and-grab thief…<\/p>\n

More seeds of suspicion are sown and Spirou doesn\u2019t know what to think when a solid gold Egyptian mask is stolen on live TV. The bandit is clearly seen to be his best pal…<\/p>\n

Spirou is still seeking to reason with Fantasio when the cops arrive and, with nobody believing the reporter\u2019s ridiculous story of being in Paris on a spurious tip, watches with helpless astonishment as the accused makes a bold escape bid…<\/p>\n

Still astounded, Spirou wanders to the ramshackle house where he found the missing photo and finds a strange set-up: a plaster cast of Fantasio and weird plastic goo in a mixing bowl…<\/p>\n

His snooping is suddenly disturbed by screams and sounds of a struggle. Chasing the cacophony, he finds one man holding the stolen gold mask and another on the floor. The standing man is too quick to catch and drives away with a third stranger, but as Spirou questions the beaten victim he learns that the loser of the fight is a sculptor who was hired to make astounding life-like masks of some journalist…
\n\"\"
\nSoon Spirou is hot on the trail of the criminal confederates, uncovering a diabolical scheme to destroy Fantasio by an old enemy they had both discounted and almost forgotten. He has not forgotten them, however, and soon everything is up in the air and beyond belief. Even the nation\u2019s sacrosanct sport of cycle racing is not beyond the scope of the vile manipulator\u2019s brazen scheming…<\/p>\n

Fast-paced, compellingly convoluted and perfectly blending helter-skelter excitement with keen suspense and outrageous slapstick humour, the search for The Wrong Head<\/strong> is an utterly compelling romp to delight devotees of easy-going adventure.
\n\"\"
\nAs if criminal capers and a spectacular courtroom drama climax is not enough, this tome also includes a sweet early solo outing for the marvellous Marsupilami<\/strong> as \u2018Paws off the Robins\u2019<\/em> finds the plastic pro-simian electing himself guardian of a nest of newborn hatchlings in Count Champignac\u2019s copious gardens, and resolved to defend the chicks from a marauding cat at all costs…
\n\"\"
\nStuffed with fabulously fun, riotous chases and gallons of gags, this exuberant tome is a joyous example of angst-free action, thrills and spills. Readily accessible to readers of all ages and drawn with beguiling style and seductively wholesome \u00e9lan, this is pure cartoon gold: an enduring comics treat, destined to be as much a British household name as that other kid reporter and his dog…
\nOriginal edition \u00a9 Dupuis, 1957 by Franquin. All rights reserved. English translation 2016 \u00a9 Cinebook Ltd.<\/p>\n

Today in 1897 British illustrator and cartoonist Edgar Henry Banger<\/strong> was born, as was our graphic comedy god Dudley D. Watkins<\/strong> in 1907. In the US, Norm<\/strong> (Batman<\/strong>) Breyfogle<\/strong> and Jeff<\/strong> (Bone<\/strong>) Smith<\/strong> arrived in 1960, and Andy Kubert<\/strong> in 1962.<\/p>\n

Big day for departures too, with \u201cFather of Turkish Comics\u201d Cemal Nadir<\/strong> leaving in 1947; Bill Everett<\/strong> in 1973; Italy\u2019s Carlo<\/strong> (Sor Pampurio<\/em>) Bisi<\/strong> in 1982 and both Bill<\/strong> (Smokey Stover<\/strong>) Holman<\/strong> and Darrell Craig MacClure<\/strong> (Little Annie Rooney<\/strong>) in 1987.<\/p>\n

Achievement-wise, UK pre-school comic Jack and Jill<\/strong> began its 1600+ week run today in 1954.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Andr\u00e9 Franquin, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook) ISBN: 978-1-84918-313-0 (Album PB\/Digital edition) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also contains Discriminatory Content included for comedic effect. Andr\u00e9 Franquin was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on January 3rd 1924 and died on January 5th 1997. In between there were good … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Spirou and Fantasio volume 11: The Wrong Head”<\/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":[191,357,280,113,75,63,125,97,356,184,210],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-andre-franquin","category-animal-antics","category-comedy","category-crime-comics","category-european-classics","category-humour","category-kids-all-ages","category-marsupilami","category-spirou-fantasio","category-sport"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-96I","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35012","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=35012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35018,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35012\/revisions\/35018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}