{"id":35992,"date":"2026-07-17T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=35992"},"modified":"2026-07-16T17:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T17:20:16","slug":"benny-breakiron-volume-2-madame-adolphine-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/07\/17\/benny-breakiron-volume-2-madame-adolphine-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Benny Breakiron volume 2: Madame Adolphine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Peyo<\/strong>, with backgrounds by Will<\/strong>, translated by Joe Johnson <\/strong>(Papercutz\/NBM)
\nISBN: 978-1-59707-436-0 (HB Album\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

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

In anticipation of 2028\u2019s proposed CG animation version (which cannot possibly match the style and charm of these scribbled pages!) here\u2019s a quick look back at how the Europeans handled superheroes and kids in crisis from a master of our artform…<\/em><\/p>\n

Pierre Culliford was born in Belgium in 1928 to a family of British origin living in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels. An admirer of the works of Herg\u00e9 and US comics licensed to Le Journal de Mickey<\/em><\/strong>, Robinson<\/em><\/strong> and Hurrah!<\/em><\/strong>, he refined his artistic skills, and developed his storytelling abilities but the war and family bereavement forced him to forgo further education and find work. After time toiling as a cinema projectionist, in 1945 Culliford joined C.B.A. animation studios, where he met Andr\u00e9 Franquin, Morris & Eddy Paape. When the studio closed, he briefly studied at the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts before moving full-time into graphic advertising. In his spare time, he began submitting comic strips to the burgeoning flock of post-war comics publishers.<\/p>\n

His first sale came in April 1946: Pied-Tendre<\/em>, a tale of American Indians in Riquet<\/em><\/strong>, the comics supplement to the daily L\u2019Occident<\/em><\/strong> newspaper. Further sales to other venues followed and in 1952 his knight Johan<\/em> found a permanent spot in Le Journal de Spirou<\/em><\/strong>. Retitled Johan et Pirlout<\/em>, the strip prospered and in 1958 introduced a strange bunch of blue woodland gnomes called Les Schtroumpfs<\/em><\/strong>. Culliford – who now used the nom de plume Peyo – would turn those adorable little mites (known to us and most of the world as The Smurfs<\/strong>) into an all-encompassing global empire, but before being sucked onto that relentless treadmill, he still found time to create a few other noteworthy strips such as the titanic tyke on view here today.<\/p>\n

In 1960 Beno\u00eet Brisefer<\/em><\/strong> – AKA Benedict Ironbreaker <\/em>or in Dutch Steven Sterk –<\/em> debuted in Le Journal de Spirou<\/em><\/strong> #1183 (December 1960). With a few slyly added tips of the hat to Siegel & Shuster\u2019s Superman<\/strong>, the wryly bucolic adventures celebrated a small town small boy with superhuman strength living in a generally quiet and unassuming little Belgian city.<\/p>\n

Quiet, well-mannered, gentle and a bit lonely, Benny just happens to be the mightiest boy on Earth: able to crush steel or stone in his tiny hands, leap vast distances and run faster than a racing car. He is also pretty much immune to all physical harm, but his fatal, somewhat ubiquitous weakness is that all his strength deserts him whenever he catches a cold…<\/p>\n

Benny never tries to conceal his abilities but somehow no adults ever catch on. They generally think he\u2019s telling fibs or boasting, and whenever he tries to prove he can bend steel in his hands, the unlucky lad gets another dose of the galloping sniffles…<\/p>\n

Most kids avoid him. It\u2019s hard to make friends or play games when a minor kick can pop a football like a balloon and a shrug can topple trees.<\/p>\n

Well-past-it Brits of my age and vintage might remember the character from weekly comics in the 1960\u2019s. As Tammy Tuff – The Strongest Boy on Earth<\/em>, and later as Benny Breakiron <\/em>and Steven Strong<\/em>, our beret-wearing blockbuster appeared in Giggle<\/strong> and other periodicals from 1967 onwards.<\/p>\n

With Peyo\u2019s little blue cash-cows taking up ever larger amounts of his concentration and time, other members of his studio assumed greater responsibilities for Beno\u00eet as years passed. Willy \u201cWill\u201d Maltaite, Gos, Yvan Delporte, Fran\u00e7oise Walth\u00e9ry and Albert Blesteau all pitched in. and Jean Roba created many eye-catching Le Journal de Spirou<\/em><\/strong> covers, but by 1978 the demands of the Smurfs were all-consuming and all the studio\u2019s other strips were retired.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t keep a good super-junior down, though, and after Peyo\u2019s death in 1992, his son Thierry Culliford and cartoonist Pascal Garray revived the strip, adding six more volumes to the eight generated by Peyo and his team between 1960 and 1978. Thanks to the efforts of US publisher Papercutz, the first four of those gloriously genteel and outrageously engaging power fantasies are still available to English-language readers again – both as robust full-colour hardbacks and as all-purpose eBooks – and this second translated exploit begins in the sedate city of Vivejoie-la-Grande<\/em>, where the kid goes about his rather solitary life, doing good deeds in secret and being as good a boy as he can…<\/p>\n

After another day of being shunned by everyone around, disconsolate Benny heads for the park and is befriended by a sweet old lady named Adolphine<\/em>. No respecter of advanced age or graceful retirement, the old dear romps boisterously and disgracefully with the lad – to the disgust of the other park patrons. Eventually, Benny escorts her to his home where she has a strange fit and collapses.\"\"
\nWhen even a doctor refuses to help, Benny finds a phone number in her bag and acts as any good boy should. Soon a rather strange gentleman comes to collect her, but he\u2019s none too gentle in his behaviour and throws the old lady in the boot of his car! Far more distressingly, when Benny sees her in the street next day, Madame Adolphine says she has never met him before!<\/p>\n

Baffled but unwilling to let the matter go, Benny tracks her down to a toyshop run by seedy inventor Serge Vladlavodka <\/em>and finds her standing over the tinkerer\u2019s unconscious body with a massive mallet in her hand. Moreover, Madame\u2019s manner is brusque and almost callous and the belligerent biddy bustles off whilst Benny is trying to revive her prone victim. When Serge at last recovers, he also rushes away, fearing the harm she might cause. Accompanying him, Benny learns a startling secret…
\n\"\"
\nThere are two Adolphines – and one is indeed a sweet old lady. The other is an increasingly unstable, aggressive and just plain mean robot doppelganger who soon begins robbing banks and terrorising the public, so guess which one the police subsequently arrest?<\/p>\n

As indignant Benny singlehandedly busts the organic pensioner out of prison, amok automaton Adolphine recruits a gang of nasty professional thugs and embarks on a crime spree the cops are utterly helpless to handle. Good thing Benny is made of sterner stuff…
\n\"\"
\nThis superbly surreal spoof has delicious echoes of classic Ealing Comedies like The Ladykillers <\/strong>or The Lavender Hill Mob<\/strong> as it follows the little wonder boy\u2019s resolute, dynamic and spectacular campaign to save his friend: blending deft wit with bombastic and hilarious slapstick. Madame Adolphine <\/strong>is a fabulously winning fantasy about childhood validation and agency, offering a distinctly Old-World spin to the concept of superheroes and providing a wealth of action, thrills and chortles for lovers of incredible adventure and comics excellence.
\n\u00a9 Peyo \u2122 & \u00a92013 – licensed through Lafig Belgium. English translation \u00a9 2013 by Papercutz. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Today in 1871 pioneering cartoonist Lyonel Feininger<\/strong> (The Kin-der-Kids<\/strong>) was born, followed in 1913 by Golden Age creator Marc Swayze<\/strong> (Mary Marvel<\/strong>, Captain Marvel<\/strong>, The Phantom Eagle<\/strong>, Flyin\u2019 Jenny<\/strong>) and in 1917, animator-turned-cartoonist Gustavo<\/strong> \u201cGus<\/em><\/strong>\u201d Arriola<\/strong> (Krazy Kat<\/em>, Tom and Jerry<\/em>, Gordo<\/strong>). In 1932 Argentinian satirist & cartoonist Joaqu\u00edn Salvador Lavado Tej\u00f3n<\/strong> AKA \u201cQuino<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (Mafalda<\/em>) was born, with master raconteur Hermann Huppen<\/strong> (Jeremiah<\/em><\/strong>, Les Tours de Bois-Maury<\/em><\/strong>, Bernard Prince<\/em><\/strong>, Comanche<\/strong>) arriving in 1938, and comic book artist\/animator Jimmy Janes<\/strong> (Legion of Super-Heroes<\/strong>, Moon Knight<\/strong>, Xanadu<\/strong>) in 1947; writer\/editor\/comics historian Mike Tiefenbacher<\/strong> in 1952; writer J. Michael Straczynski<\/strong> (Babylon 5<\/strong>, Spider-Man<\/strong>, Fantastic Four<\/strong>, Rising Stars<\/strong>, Superman: Earth One<\/strong>, Captain America<\/strong>) in 1954; all-rounder Richard Moore<\/strong> (Boneyard<\/strong>, D\u00e9j\u00e0 Vu<\/strong>, Far West<\/strong>) in 1966; letterer Liz Agraphiotis<\/strong> in 1970; illustrator Pete Woods<\/strong> (Archie<\/strong>, Deadpool<\/strong>, Superman<\/strong>, Harley Quinn<\/strong>) in 1971 and writer Brian K. Vaughan<\/strong> (Pride of Baghdad<\/strong>, Batman<\/strong>, X-Men<\/strong>, Y: The Last Man<\/strong>, Ex Machina<\/strong>, Runaways<\/strong>, Saga<\/strong>, Paper Girls<\/strong>) in 1976.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Peyo, with backgrounds by Will, translated by Joe Johnson (Papercutz\/NBM) ISBN: 978-1-59707-436-0 (HB Album\/Digital edition) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. In anticipation of 2028\u2019s proposed CG animation version (which cannot possibly match the style and charm of these scribbled pages!) here\u2019s a quick look back at how the Europeans … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Benny Breakiron volume 2: Madame Adolphine”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[191,113,75,63,125,97,108,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-comedy","category-crime-comics","category-european-classics","category-humour","category-kids-all-ages","category-miscellaneous-superhero","category-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-9mw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35992","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=35992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35997,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35992\/revisions\/35997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}