{"id":36426,"date":"2026-09-04T18:13:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=36426"},"modified":"2026-09-04T18:13:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:13:05","slug":"spirou-and-fantasio-volume-23-the-morays-lair-a-spirou-and-fantasio-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/09\/04\/spirou-and-fantasio-volume-23-the-morays-lair-a-spirou-and-fantasio-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirou and Fantasio volume 23: The Moray\u2019s Lair (A Spirou and Fantasio Adventure)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Andr\u00e9 Franquin<\/strong>, translated by Jerome Saincantin<\/strong> (Cinebook)
\nISBN: 978-1-80044-194-1 (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 handled 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 brave lad Spirou<\/strong> headlined the magazine he was named for from the first issue (dated April 21st<\/sup> 1938). He was devised and realised by French cartoonist Fran\u00e7oise Robert Velter (\u201cRob-Vel\u201d) for Belgian publisher \u00c9ditions Dupuis in direct response to the success of Herg\u00e9\u2019s Tintin<\/strong> over at rival outfit Casterman. 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 but steadily evolved into highflying, 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 – at least until 1943 when Dupuis purchased all rights to the property, after which comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (Jij\u00e9<\/em>) took over.<\/p>\n

When Jij\u00e9 handed his own trainee\/assistant total responsibility for the flagship feature part-way through serial 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 the next 20 years. He enlarged the scope and expanding horizons until the feature was 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 globetrotting 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

Gradually sidelining short, done-in-one gag vignettes in favour of longer epic adventure serials, Franquin\u2019s growing cast of engaging regulars soon included one of the first strong female characters in European comics (rival journalist Seccotine<\/em> AKA Cellophine<\/em> in the current English translation) and ultimately led to the debut of a scene-stealing, phenomenally popular apparently-magic animal. Marsupilami<\/strong> arrived during 1952\u2019s serial Spirou et les h\u00e9ritiers <\/em><\/strong>and never really left\u2026<\/p>\n

Franquin, plagued in later life by bouts of depression, died in 1997 but his legacy remains and still grows; a vast body of work which reshaped the landscape of European comics, and inspiring many others to carry on in his name and manner.<\/p>\n

As Le Repaire de la mur\u00e8ne<\/em> <\/strong>this eccentric epic was Franquin\u2019s ninth solo affair, originally serialised in LJdS <\/em><\/strong>#871-904 from December 23rd<\/sup> 1954 to August 11th<\/sup> 1955. It was eventually collected as an album in 1957. Here, as The Moray\u2019s Lair<\/strong> it directly follows The Wrong Head<\/a><\/strong>, scoping out a soup\u00e7on of nautical naughtiness as the freshly minted investigative reporting team tackle scientific quandary and marine mystery all whilst simply trying to earn extra cash by attempting a scientific challenge.<\/p>\n

Vacationing with mycoprotein mate Pac\u00f4me H\u00e9g\u00e9sippe Ad\u00e9lard Ladislas de Champignac<\/em> at his ramshackle rural estate in Champignac-in-the-Sticks, the idling lads spot a magazine ad offering a startlingly specific engineering exploit with a hefty cash reward for its completion. \u201cFabulously rich ship owner\u201d Xenophon Hamadryas<\/em> seeks someone who can invent a means of descending 650 feet underwater and carry out unspecified tasks at that depth in complete safety, and they are up for it.
\n\"\"
\nPerhaps distracted by the absurd and distressing antics of Spip, local postman Mr. Zenobius<\/em> and the Marsupilami, our heroes\u2019 usual caution is overwhelmed by greed and they soon convince The Count to use mushroom science to (temporarily) boost his own formidable brainpower. The result is detailed plans for scuba diving gear, unique new breathing gases, underwater communications systems and even personal minisubs to reach the required depths whilst allowing freedom of movement under the greatest most unfathomable pressures ever recorded.<\/p>\n

At least it momentarily stops Pac\u00f4me from doing whatever it was he had started to \u201cimprove\u201d the estate\u2019s chickens…<\/p>\n

The brainstorming meets with initial success, but once the team submit their plans and commission construction of the kit, a wave of suspicious accidents and plain sabotage at the factories building Champignac\u2019s innovations put Spirou & Fantasio on high alert, but not as much as when their incredible elastic-tailed anthropoid pal discovers – and brutally chastises – someone closely observing their every move…<\/p>\n

Grudgingly accepting that an over-competitive rival inventor must be behind the campaign, the team continue with enhanced security, which only leads to intimidation, explosions and the destruction of their declared competitors\u2019 efforts. Increasingly wary, Spirou identifies his own stalker after the poor villain is savagely attacked by Marsupilami and convinces the comrades to relocate and continue working in hiding. The plan is actually a trap for watching villains and leads to an epic victory using the Count\u2019s other bizarre science weapons on the spies…
\n\"\"
\nRegarding themselves safe at last, Spirou, Fantasio, the Count and the critters relocate to the shores of the Mediterranean to test their completed prototypes in peace. Barring some minor teething troubles, results are ideal and lead to another amazing discovery in the miraculous Marsu\u2019s biological armoury! Soon they meet competition sponsor Mr. Hamadryas: a most untrustworthy, obnoxious individual who clearly has a secret agenda, plenty of personal goons and lots of unspoken pressures of his own to deal with. Unaware that Spirou has already encountered a mystery sub at the specified subsea location, the shipping magnate claims all other teams have dropped out due to the sabotage campaign, before explaining what he needs… but not really why…
\n\"\"
\nSpouting a ludicrous tale of his best ship (The Discreet<\/em>) and best friend (Captain John Helena<\/em>) both being lost in those cold dark depths, the money Midas wants our adventurers to locate the wreck in Helena\u2019s honour and memory, but although they accept the task, the lads are on the lookout for sinister surprises…<\/p>\n

What follows is epic spectacle as the marine mission trawls up even more deadly traps, a hidden underwater base, lost treasures, what Hamadryas truly needs and the reason why plundering pirate \u201cThe Moray<\/em>\u201d has been plaguing and confounding the entire endeavour all along. That leads to discovering who he actually works for, and what Marsupilami\u2019s newly revealed power means to the bad guys threatening his human friends…
\n\"\"
\nSoaked in sublime slapstick schtick with gallons of gags throughout, this explosively exuberant exploration is packed with cunning crooks coming a-cropper, animal animosity expressed, angst-free action, thrills & spills. It also offers another early ecological message and an always-timely moral regarding the humane treatment of animals. There\u2019s even a fascinating technical overview of nautical facts at time of printing in back-up text feature \u2018A Conference by Mr de Champignac\u2019 <\/em>answering the most telling questions thrown up the mushroom scientist\u2019s apparent flouting of physical law and engineering expertise…<\/p>\n

The Moray\u2019s Lair<\/strong> is the kind of lightly-barbed, comedy romp to delight readers fed up and saturated by adults-only carnage, testosterone-fuelled breast-beating, teen-romance monsters or sickly-sweet fantasy. Easily accessible to readers of all ages, drawn with all the beguiling style and seductive yet wholesome verve and panache which make Asterix<\/strong>, Lucky Luke<\/strong>, and Yakari <\/strong>so compelling, these are enduring landmark tales from a long line of superb exploits, deserving to be a household name as much as those series… and even that other kid with the white dog.
\nOriginal edition \u00a9 Dupuis, 1957 by Franquin. All rights reserved. English translation 2026 \u00a9 Cinebook Ltd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Andr\u00e9 Franquin, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook) ISBN: 978-1-80044-194-1 (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 23: The Moray\u2019s Lair (A Spirou and Fantasio Adventure)”<\/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":[335,191,280,113,75,255,63,125,356,242,107,385,184],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-adventure","category-animal-antics","category-comedy","category-crime-comics","category-environmentalism","category-european-classics","category-humour","category-marsupilami","category-pirates","category-science-fiction","category-sea-stories","category-spirou-fantasio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-9tw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36426","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=36426"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36433,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36426\/revisions\/36433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}