Iznogoud Book 7: Iznogoud the Infamous
Iznogoud Book 7: Iznogoud the Infamous, by Rene Goscinny & Jean Tabary, Cinebook
HAVING BEEN a big fan of Asterix the Gaul I’d often wondered how many of Goscinny’s wordplay puns and double entendres were the down to his English translators, a lot I’m sure and done well, but Iznogoud’s appear to be playing in the same ballpark, so obviously all are derived from the great late writer’s original works.
Goscinny’s game plan for Iznogoud was to have his grand vizier of Baghdad hit upon a scheme “to be the caliph instead of the caliph!” and then watch that dream fall apart, piece by piece, with a corny punchline being pummelled time and time again and then stopping abruptly before the joke wore too thin.
The result of this is that strips tend to be off differing lengths and its works better for it, Tabary’s cartooning adding both literally, and sometimes as subtext, in a clear bigfoot styled manner.
Tales of magic run high on themes for this collection not least in The Sinister Liquidator, about a demonic djinn who lives in a swamp, being taught how to make things turn invisible and then how to really vanish – through a bill poster!
Iznogoud has also appeared as a successful TV animation series watched internationally, and was made into a 2005 live-action French movie.
For more information on Iznogoud visit Cinebook.
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