Spirou & Fantasio Book 1: Adventure Down Under
Spirou & Fantasio Book 1: Adventure Down Under, by Tome & Janry, Cinebook
WITH A vivid brush stroke cartooning style reminiscent to Franquin and a storyline that turns from innocent coincidences to persistent adventure falling into Tintin territory with a slight Enid Blyton's Famous Five feel too I must admit, this falls neatly into the French-Belgian school of comics, and has been doing so since 1938.
Spirou and Fantasio are journalists and although this is the first book brought out in English by Cinebook it is actually the 34th collection of the series and itself originated as long ago as 1985. There have been many foreign translations and a few tried in English, though never quite with success.
In this book the pair receive a telegram from an old friend, the Count of Champignac, who's out on a dig in Australia where there's the promise of buried treasure. This sets the pair off, followed in hot pursuit a pretty blond rival called Cellphine.
Camels for sale to travel across the Australian bush, men dressed up as kangaroos, Aussie miners on the take, the Count possibly dead, and aborigines trying to reclaim back their tribal land, plus slapstick humour in between. There's an awful lot going on. Possibly too much for me as a grown-up reader as I was asking a lot of background questions to myself that a kid wouldn't necessarily bore themselves with.
For more information Spirou & Fantasio visit Cinebook.
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