{"id":35019,"date":"2026-02-28T09:00:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T09:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=35019"},"modified":"2026-02-27T18:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:10:24","slug":"gomer-goof-volume-1-mind-the-goof-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/02\/28\/gomer-goof-volume-1-mind-the-goof-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Gomer Goof volume 1: Mind the Goof!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Andr\u00e9 Franquin<\/strong>, Delporte<\/strong> & Jid\u00e9hem<\/strong>: translated by Jerome Saincantin<\/strong> (Cinebook)
\nISBN: 978-1-84918-358-1 (Album TPB\/digital edition)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced during less enlightened times and some used for dramatic and comedic effect.<\/em><\/p>\n

Born in Etterbeek, Belgium on January 3rd<\/sup> 1924, Andr\u00e9 Franquin began his astounding career in the golden age of European cartooning. In 1946, as assistant to Joseph \u201cJij\u00e9\u201d Gillain on top strip Spirou<\/strong>, he inherited sole control of the keynote feature, and creating countless unforgettable characters like Fantasio<\/strong> and The Marsupilami<\/strong>. Over two decades Franquin made the strip purely his, expanding its scope and horizons, as co-stars Spirou & Fantasio<\/em> – with hairy Greek Chorus Spip<\/em> the squirrel – became globetrotting troubleshooters visiting exotic places, exposing crimes, exploring the incredible and clashing with bizarre, eccentric arch-enemies. Throughout all that, Fantasio remained a full-fledged – albeit entirely fictional – reporter for Le Journal de<\/em><\/strong> Spirou<\/strong><\/em>, popping back to base between assignments. Regrettably, ensconced there like a splinter under a fingernail was an arrogant, accident-prone office junior. He was Gaston Lagaffe<\/strong>; Franquin\u2019s other immortal – or peut-\u00eatre<\/em> unkillable? – conception…<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a hoary tradition of comics personalising fictitiously back-office creatives and the arcane processes they indulge in, whether it\u2019s Marvel\u2019s Bullpen or DC Thomson\u2019s lugubrious Editor and underlings at The<\/strong> Beano <\/strong>and Dandy<\/strong>; it\u2019s a truly international practise. Somehow though, after debuting in LJdS<\/strong> #985 (February 28th<\/sup> 1957), the affable dimwit grew – like one of his own monstrous DIY projects – beyond all control. Whether guesting in Spirou\u2019s sagas or his own strips\/faux reports for the editorial pages, Lagaffe became one of the most popular and ubiquitous components of the comic he was supposed to paste up.<\/p>\n

In initial cameos or occasional asides on text pages, well-meaning foul-up and ostensible studio gofer Gaston lurked and lounged amidst a crowd of diligent toilers until the workshy slacker employed as a general assistant at LJdS<\/strong>\u2019s head office became a solid immovable fixture. Ultimately the scruffy bit-player shambled into his own star feature\u2026<\/p>\n

In terms of schtick and delivery, older readers will recognise favourite beats and elements of well-intentioned helpfulness wedded to irrepressible self-delusion as seen in Benny Hill<\/strong> or Jacques Tati<\/strong> vehicles and recognise recurring riffs from Only Fools and Horses <\/strong>and Mr Bean<\/strong>. It\u2019s blunt-force slapstick, using paralysing puns, fantastic ingenuity and inspired invention to mug smugness, puncture pomposity, lampoon the status quoi?<\/em> (and that\u2019s British punning, see?) and ensure no good deed goes noticed, rewarded or unpunished\u2026<\/p>\n

As previously stated, Gaston\/Gomer can be seen (if you\u2019re very quick or extremely patient) toiling at Le Journal de<\/em><\/strong> Spirou<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s<\/em> editorial offices. At first he reported to Fantasio, but as pressure of work took the hero away, the Goof instead complicated the lives of office manager L\u00e9on Prunelle<\/em> and other harassed and bewildered staffers, all whilst effectively ignoring any tasks he\u2019s paid to actually handle. These notionally include page paste-up, posting packages, filing, clean-up, collecting stuff inbound from off-site and editing readers\u2019 letters – the reason why fans\u2019 requests\/suggestions are never acknowledged or answered…<\/p>\n

Gomer is lazy, hyperkinetic, opinionated, ever-ravenous, impetuous, underfed, forgetful and eternally hungry: a passionate sports fan, self-proclaimed musician maestro and animal lover whose most manic moments all stem from cutting work corners, stashing or consuming contraband nosh in the office or inventing the Next Big Thing. This situation leads to constant clashes with colleagues and draws in notionally unaffiliated bystanders like increasingly manic traffic cop Longsnoot<\/em> and fireman Captain Morwater<\/em>, plus ordinary passers-by who should know by now to keep away from this street.<\/p>\n

Through it all, the obtuse office oaf remains affable, easy-going and incorrigible. Only three questions matter: why everyone keeps giving him one last chance, what does gentle, lovelorn Miss Jeanne<\/em> see in the self-opinionated idiot, and will perpetually-outraged and accidentally abused capitalist financier De Mesmaeker<\/em> ever get his perennial, pestiferous contracts signed?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re old, new to this and yet experiencing a dose of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu, it might be because the big idiot appeared in a 1970s Thunderbirds<\/strong> annual, rechristened Cranky Franky<\/em>. Perhaps they should have kept the original title…
\n\"\"
\nThis premier compilation consists of half-page shorts and comedic text story \u201creports\u201d from the LJdS<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s editorial page before ultimately unleashing full episodes of madcap buffoonery. As previously stated Gomer is employed (let\u2019s not dignify his position by calling it \u201cwork\u201d) at the Spirou offices, reporting to go-getting Fantasio and foolishly left in charge of minor design jobs like paste-up and reading readers\u2019 letters and general dogs-bodying. He\u2019s lazy, opinionated, forgetful and eternally hungry. Many of his most catastrophic actions revolve around cutting corners and caching illicit food in the office…<\/p>\n

Following 26 short, sharp two-tier gag episodes – involving Gomer\u2019s office innovations, his hunt for food, assorted pets and livestock, sporting snafus and his appallingly decrepit and dilapidated Fiat 509 auto(barely)mobile – the first of numerous prose vignettes \u2018On the Line\u2019<\/em> exposes the fool\u2019s many delusional attempts to become an inventor. Other text forays – punctuated by more pint-sized gag-strips – follow. These comedy briefs include \u2018More Than One String to his Bow\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Police Report\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Open Letter to Mr De Mesmaeker\u2019 <\/em>(Jean De Mesmaeker being the real name of collaborator and background artist Jid\u00e9hem and taken for the self-important businessman who became Gomer\u2019s ultimate foil), \u2018Winter Stalactites\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Red vs Blue\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Noise Pollution\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Presence of Mind\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Gomer\u2019s stethoscope\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Firebug Fireman\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Gas-powered bicycle\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Definitely-not-surreptitious advertising\u2019<\/em>.
\n\"\"
\nThe print then gives way to a long-running procession of half-page strips with our editorial idiot causing a cataclysm of cartoon chaos.<\/p>\n

Further prose pieces slip into extended continuity when Fantasio embargoes all canned food (potentially explosive and always a bio-hazard) and Gomer applies all his dubious ingenuity to beating the ban in \u2018The tin wars\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Ticking tin bombs\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Diary of a War correspondent\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Blockade\u2019<\/em> before one final strip flurry brings the hilarity to temporary pause…
\n\"\"
\nFar better enjoyed than pr\u00e9cised or described, these strips allowed Franquin, fellow scenarist Yvan Delporte and Jid\u00e9hem to flex their whimsical muscles and subversively sneak in some satirical support for their political beliefs in pacifism and environmentalism, but at their core remain supreme examples of all-ages comedy: wholesome, barbed, daft and incrementally funnier with every re-reading.<\/p>\n

So why not start now?
\n\u00a9 Dupuis, Dargaud-Lombard s.a. 2017 by Franquin. All rights reserved. English translation \u00a9 2017 Cinebook Ltd.<\/p>\n

Today in 1907, comic strip god Milton Caniff<\/strong> was born, as was – in 1913 – John Carter of Mars<\/strong> illustrator John Coleman Burroughs<\/strong>. Ditto Japanese teacher\/political cartoonist Taizo Yokoyama<\/strong> (Pu-san<\/em>, Eheh<\/em><\/strong>) in1917. Reading wise, Andr\u00e9<\/strong> Franquin<\/strong>\u2019s Gaston Lagaffe<\/em><\/strong> debuted in 1957.<\/p>\n

If there was a February 29th<\/sup> this year, tomorrow we\u2019d be commemorating the birth of Italian superstar Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri<\/strong> (Druuna<\/strong>) in 1944 and the launch of Bil Keane<\/strong>\u2019s The Family Circus<\/strong> in 1960… but we don\u2019t so we ain\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Andr\u00e9 Franquin, Delporte & Jid\u00e9hem: translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook) ISBN: 978-1-84918-358-1 (Album TPB\/digital edition) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times and some used for dramatic and comedic effect. Born in Etterbeek, Belgium on January 3rd 1924, Andr\u00e9 Franquin began his astounding career in the golden age of European cartooning. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Gomer Goof volume 1: Mind the Goof!”<\/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":[335,357,280,113,255,63,341,125,97,328,127,148,184,210,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-andre-franquin","category-animal-antics","category-comedy","category-environmentalism","category-european-classics","category-food-drink","category-humour","category-kids-all-ages","category-music","category-nostalgia","category-romance","category-spirou-fantasio","category-sport","category-war-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-96P","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35019","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=35019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35024,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35019\/revisions\/35024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}