Spirou & Fantasio (in English)

[Spirou Reporter]

I apologize for resurrecting the thread and for writing in English, but I came across the original article, and just wanted to check that my understanding of it based on Google Translate was correct: http://spiroureporter.net/2013/05/10/friday-fanart-2/

[Curtvile]

Yes that is correct.
Pun itself is quite untranslateable, but Anssi Rauhala is a great artist (and far too humble gentleman himself to admit that particular truth).

[J Lehto]

It is a Finnish (originally Swedish?) idiom to exclaim "eat herring and drink muddy water" after having succesfully fooled someone on 1st of April.

[Spirou Reporter]

Thanks! That's what I thought, but you can never be quite sure with Google Translate, especially when it misses some words.

The French also associate April Fools with fish (poisson d'avril), for some reason:



(Apparently attaching a fish to someone's back is a traditional 1st of April prank.)

[EO]

(Apparently attaching a fish to someone's back is a traditional 1st of April prank.)

We did seen this tradition in a Scrooge McDuck story in Roope-Setä -magazine. I'm not sure when the story was made, but I think it was published in last year or year before that. Scrooge was the only one who had never got fish on his back.

[Anssi Rauhala]

Oh. I thought I had slipped away unnoticed.

[Spirou Reporter]

If you'll excuse another post in English...

I'm curious about the status of Spirou & Fantasio (Piko ja Fantasio) in Finland. Reading through this thread with Google Translate, I get the impression that many people are only discovering the series in recent years. But at the same time, it seems like practically every album has been published in Finland (with the main exception of a few Fournier titles): Finland has been getting all the "one shot" albums, most of which are otherwise only available in Denmark among Nordic countries; and at about twice the price. You even got Le journal d'un ingénu ("Nuoren sankarin päiväkirja") years ago!

I'm also curious about the publication format and quality. I've seen some complaints over wrong colors, etc. So are the Finnish editions well done or shoddy? Hardcover or softcover? Also, the new German editions from Carlsen Comics always include extra pages with editorial material, sketches, related short stories etc. (As well as an Asterix-style page at the beginning introducing the main characters.) You don't happen to get those in Finland, do you?

[Curtvile]

There are few gaps in Spirou & Fantasio published in Finland.
After being published in first in Ruutu magazine(Ruutu =Panel) in early 1970s and then in Non stop magazine in mid to late seventies with two albums under  Non stop albums imprint Kuplamiehet(Spirou et les hommes-bulles) and Bretzelburgin radioamatööri(QRN sur Bretzelburg)

In late 1980s Semic (predecessor of EGMONT in Finland) began publishing series as well as Marsupilami stories and Gaston La Gaffe albums in softcoverformat.
Production values have been quite high through out.
( sketches and editiorial extras are more of a rarity than the norm)

As of late the change has been to hardcovers only.

Those following the series currently in finnish might have better information than me as I stopped collecting in finnish due to format change.

Even though I am fan of the characters and have been since late seventies.

[Lurker]

Here you can find all the Finnish editions of Spirou albums:
http://koti.welho.com/z14/sarjakuvat/piko_ja_fantasio.html

[Sampsa Kuukasjärvi]

Curtvile mentioned the format change, meaning probably new hard covers.

I think that Finnish checklist linked above should definitively include also the formats, but unfortunately it doesn’t do it.

In my understanding Piko and Fantasio is not very well-known nor popular among children and young people in Finland. I guess many readers are old nostalgists. I believe that many albums are published here due to common printing with other Egmont countries.

EDIT: Typos.

[Clavia Z]

I've seen some complaints over wrong colors, etc. So are the Finnish editions well done or shoddy?

Yes, a while ago I expressed my curiosity about the colours in the Finnish edition of Le tombeau des Champignac (=Sieninevan sukuhauta) in this thread, but that seems to be an exception... Generally the Finnish editions are very well done, and I've collected nearly all of them except some of the most recent ones.

13 classic Spirou albums by Franquin were published in their entirety in the weekly magazine Ruutu (1973-1975) and its follow-up NonStop (1975-1979). Since 1987 most of the Spirou adventures have been published in album format except all the earliest ones by Rob-Vel, seven albums by Fournier and two by Tome & Janry. Only a few albums, however, have seen a second issue, and many albums - particularly the ones published here in 1987-1993 and 1998-1999 demand high asking prices nowadays and are very sought after by collectors. On the other hand, I'm a little doubtful if there are that many Spirou collectors in Finland, particularly young ones. Someone might correct me on that if I'm wrong.

EDIT: Oh yes, Sampsa seems to confirm my doubts in his latest post.

[Spirou Reporter]

Thanks for the answers! I'd seen the site linked, so I was broadly aware of what had been published; I was more looking for the kind of context you've offered.

It sounds like Spirou is somewhat less well-known in Finland than in Norway, where I'm from. There the series first appeared in 1973. The publishers were first "Forlaget for Alle" and Interpresse, later Semic and Egmont. Under the title "Sprint" it was published in albums at a rate of about 2 per year all the way up to the mid-nineties, at which point it had caught up to the present and almost everything had been released. There were also frequent reprints of earlier albums, and Semic/Egmont's comics book club "Seriesamlerklubben" collected the whole series (or practically all of it).

Due to the lack of new material (as I'm sure you know, after 1995 there was only one new album for almost ten years, 'Kone joka näki unia,' as Tome & Janry focused on Le Petit Spirou), the album series then practically ceased, but they started to run reprints in 'The Phantom' magazine (Fantomet) instead, so it didn't totally disappear.

After Morvan & Munuera relaunched the comic in 2004, the album series resumed, and they even put out the few albums that had been missing so far (Nic & Cauvin's three entries, and the one with 4 early Franquin stories). But we only got two of the "one-shots" (Yoann & Vehlmann's and Tarrin & Yann's), and Egmont seems to have given up on them. The Norwegian album market has shrunk a lot, and nowadays you can't find them in most supermarkets or newsagents', the way you used to. The main series still comes out (in hardcover as of the last album), but it's one of the few remaining album series, and I don't know how long it will last.

Instead, Egmont released a version of the French intégrale book series, collected volumes of Franquin's Spirou + a little bit of Rob-Vel and Jijé (in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish). Did you get that in Finland? Unfortunately, they decided not to continue with Fournier or the later authors.

So that's what I thought was a bit strange: Spirou is historically one of the most popular and well-known European comics in Norway, but its current status is marginal. It doesn't seem like it was ever quite as big in Finland, yet now it seems to be doing better in your country. Maybe your comics market is just in better shape generally?

Anyway, I don't think co-printing can explain why you've got albums such as 'Nuoren sankarin päiväkirja,' 'Tummanvihreä pikkolopoika' or 'Paniikki Atlantilla,' since to my knowledge Egmont hasn't published them anywhere else.

[Clavia Z]

Instead, Egmont released a version of the French intégrale book series, collected volumes of Franquin's Spirou + a little bit of Rob-Vel and Jijé (in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish). Did you get that in Finland?

I assume you mean these books?

http://comicwiki.dk/wiki/Splint_%26_Co._1938-1946

http://comicwiki.dk/wiki/Splint_%26_Co._1946-1950

Those are the Danish editions - I couldn't find any mention of the Norwegian ones. They look really interesting - plenty of insightful articles and other extra material along with all the Spirou adventures in chronological order. No, we Finns haven't seen those books at all, and I'm doubtful if we ever will have them here. I don't think Finnish Egmont is willing to take any risks and publish expensive collections that will only appeal to a stray few dedicated collectors.

[Sampsa Kuukasjärvi]

Anyway, I don't think co-printing can explain why you've got albums such as 'Nuoren sankarin päiväkirja,' 'Tummanvihreä pikkolopoika' or 'Paniikki Atlantilla,' since to my knowledge Egmont hasn't published them anywhere else.

Ok, I’m sure that you know about the publishers. As I googled, I found out that nowadays, indeed, in Denmark Cobolt (not Egmont) is publishing Splint & Co. It has published two of those three albums, which you mentioned.

It is true that compared to many other European countries and even Egmont countries, the Finnish Egmont has a surprisingly many-sided and broad (more "mature") publishing programme.

[tertsi]

In Egmont they read the Kvaak-forum. They know what buyers want.