Marsupilami

Marsupilami on the wall of a house in Düsseldorf on Kiefernstrasse

Wall painting in Laeken, Brussels ( Parcours Bande Dessiné)

The Marsupilami is a fantasy creature designed by André Franquin (1924–1997), which originally comes from the comic book series Spirou and Fantasio and which later got its own series. It was first seen in 1952.

Creation and publication

The Marsupilami was conceived and drawn by André Franquin. It had its first appearance on January 31, 1952 in the Belgian-French magazine Spirou and was subsequently part of most of the Spirou and Fantasio adventures drawn by Franquin . When Franquin stopped working as a draftsman for Spirou and Fantasio, he retained the rights to the Marsupilami. Only in the first episode “Die Goldmacher”, drawn by the successor Jean-Claude Fournier, does the Marsupilami make a final appearance with Spirou and Fantasio; The figure of Marsupilamis was drawn by Franquin himself at Fournier's request.

In Germany, comics with Marsupilami appeared in the Kauka publishing house in the 1960s and 1970s, including in Fix and Foxi . There it was named Kokomiko . The comic series Die Abenteuer des Marsupilamis has been published since 1987, drawn by Batem based on scenarios by various authors (including Greg and Yann ).

The Spirou and Fantasio episodes with the Marsupilami have been published as albums by Carlsen Verlag since the 1980s . The solo series Die Abenteuer des Marsupilamis started there in 1988 and was finally taken over by Ehapa from 2001 under the shortened title Marsupilami . In 1993, Disney also produced a cartoon series of the same name . Another series from France under the name Marsupilami: The New Adventures followed in 1999, and another in 2010. The real-life film Sur la piste du Marsupilami was directed by Alain Chabat and opened on April 4, 2012 in French and Belgian cinemas. This was published in Germany on March 8, 2013 with the title In the footsteps of Marsupilami on DVD and Blu-Ray.

In 2014, the Dupuis publishing house, which publishes Spirou and Fantasio, among others, received the rights to Marsupilami. That is why the Marsupilami has appeared again in Spirou and Fantasio since the story Der Zorn des Marsupilamis , which was published in 2015 . At the same time, this has led to the fact that the Marsupilami albums have been published again by Carlsen Verlag since 2015, which has taken over the shortened title Marsupilami from Ehapa . Carlsen no longer adheres to the numbering of the originals and the previous German editions, but publishes the albums in an arbitrary order starting with the number 0 and consecutive numbering. As a result, the same album numbers have now been assigned to different album titles.

figure

The Marsupilami is extremely rare, at the same time very shy and extremely defensive. It is therefore difficult to watch and even harder to catch. Its habitat extends over the jungles of Palumbia (South America). A fully grown Marsupilami is about three feet tall and has fur in either solid yellow or black and yellow with black spots. Its tail is up to eight meters long and, in a tangled shape, serves as a weapon of defense and attack. It can also roll it up into a conical spring . The Marsupilami possesses a tremendous power that appears " superhero-like " for an animal of this size . It lays light-colored, pear-shaped eggs, but still has a navel , the function of which is unclear. It can dive several hundred meters deep and almost indefinitely. Despite Spirou's considerations, it is not an amphibian as it is a warm-blooded animal.

His favorite foods are fruits, ants and fleas, as well as fish (especially piranhas ). It is not only capable of having simple conversations ("Houbi? Houba, houba hopp!"), But can also repeat individual words and entire sentences (similar to a parrot ).

The name Marsupilami is a suitcase word from Marsupialia , the zoological group of marsupials, Pilou-Pilou (French name of the cartoon character Jeep by Elzie Segar , who was one of the inspirations for Marsupilami) and ami (French: friend).

Although the Marsupilami is superior to any other animal (including humans) due to its strength and agility, it has two archenemies in its own comic series: On the one hand, the big game hunter Bring M. Backalive (Bring them back alive) home) who wants to sell the Marsupilami to an animal park out of pure greed for profit. Backalive appears for the first time in The Cage story . The second great adversary of Marsupilamis is a jaguar that tries again and again to eat the three young animals. This predator made its first appearance in the Spirou story Das Nest im Urwald , at the end of which it lost its tail. In later adventures, however, this loss is undone. In addition to these two main adversaries, the Indian tribe of the Chahutas (similar to the Romans at Asterix ) make life difficult for the Marsupilami family.

Marsu kids

Since 2011 new adventures with the Marsupilami appear under the name Marsu Kids . Here, however, the concept of the Franquin stories was slightly changed. The Marsupilami has now had four new young, including one with albinism . The jaguar has had a mate and a son and is no longer trying to kill a Marsupilami. However, there are differences between his young and the little Marsupilamis. The giant anaconda Sinuoso appears as a new antagonist, trying to compete with Marsupilami for the title of King of the Jungle . The geologist Alfred Remington , the archaeologist Poppy Ramides and the hunter Louis Pieta also appear as new antagonists and until now have played the role of Bring M. Backalive. The Chahutas no longer have a strange accent, play tricks on strangers, such as gold prospectors and hunters, rather than massacre them, and have apparently forgotten their conflicts with the Marsupilami. The son of the chief Ptipo even befriends the young Marsupilami Blue Nose . The new stories are based on this friendship. The Splitter Verlag publishes this series since 2012 on the label toonfish.

Further appearances

In 1955, Jijé had an African version of the legendary animal appear in the Blondin and Cirage adventure The Flying Saucer (German 1987 at Heinzelmännchen Verlag). With Uderzo and Goscinny it can be seen in the Asterix volume The Battle of the Chiefs on a poster on which it was originally presented as a fabulous mythical creature from Mars (now a miracle of nature ). Furthermore, left-wing demonstrators like to use the Marsupilami as a symbol on banners. The asteroid (98494) Marsupilami is named after the Marsupilami.

Album editions

The adventures of Marsupilamis / Marsupilami

The dates given refer to the Belgian / French original version as well as to the first edition of the German series. The album numbering in the first Carlsen edition (volumes 1–11) and the Ehapa edition (volumes 12–17 and new editions of the Carlsen edition) corresponded to that of the original editions. The Carlsen edition starting in 2015 mixes new editions and first editions.

0: Capturez un Marsupilami, ( Franquin / Delporte / Will / Peyo / Jidéhem, 2002, 41 pages, Editions Dupuis, new edition of the Spirou of the same name and Fantasio special volume 1 from 1988) - German: Jagd auf das Marsupilami (2015, Carlsen vol . 0)
1: La queue du Marsupilami ( Batem / Franquin / Greg , 1987, 46 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Tumult in Palumbien (1988, Carlsen vol. 1; 2015, Carlsen vol. 1 new)
2: Le bébé du bout du monde (Batem / Franquin / Greg, 1988, 46 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Panda in Panik (1989, Carlsen Vol. 2; 2018, Carlsen Vol. 10 new)
3: Mars le noir (Batem / Franquin / Yann , 1989, 46 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: The black Marsupilami (1989, Carlsen vol. 3; 2018, Carlsen vol. 12 new)
4: Le pollen du Monte Urticando (Batem / Franquin / Yann, 1989, 45 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Der Krater der Kakteen (1990, Carlsen Vol. 4; 2019, Carlsen Vol. 15 new)
5: Baby Prinz (Batem / Franquin / Yann, 1990, 46 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Baby Prinz (1991, Carlsen Vol. 5; 2020, Carlsen Vol. 18 new)
6: Fordlandia (Batem / Franquin / Yann, 1991, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Noah's Ark (1992, Carlsen Vol. 6, Carlsen Vol. 20 new)
7: L'or de Boavista (Batem / Franquin / Yann, 1992, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Die Goldwäscher (1993, Carlsen vol. 7)
8: Le temple de Boavista (Batem / Franquin / Yann, 1994, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: The temple in the jungle (1994, Carlsen vol. 8)
9: Le papillon des cimes (Batem / Franquin / Yann, 1994, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: The Butterfly Hunters (1995, Carlsen Vol. 9)
10: Rififi en Palombie (Batem / Yann, 1996, 44 pages, Marsu Productions, short stories) - German: Rififi in Palumbien (1996, Carlsen vol. 10)
11: Houba banana (Batem / Fauche / Adam, 1997, 44 pages, Marsu Productions, short stories) - German: Huba Banana (1997, Carlsen vol. 11)
12: Trafic à Jollywood (Batem, 2001, 46 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Chaos in Jollywood (2001, Ehapa vol. 12)
13: Le défilé du jaguar (Batem / Kaminka / Marais, 2001, 45 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: The Jaguar foray (2001, Ehapa vol. 13)
14: Un fils en or (Batem / Bourcquardez / Saive, 2002, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Ein Goldjunge (2002, Ehapa vol. 14)
15: C'est quoi ce cirque !? (Batem / Dugomier, 2003, 45 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Such a circus ?! (2003, Ehapa vol. 15)
16: Tous en piste (Batem / Dugomier, 2004, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Manege free! (2004, Ehapa vol. 16)
17: L'orchidée des Chahutas (Batem / Dugomier, 2005, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: The orchid of the Chahutas (2005, Ehapa vol. 17)
18: Robinson Academy (Batem / Dugomier, 2005, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: The Robinson Academy (2015, Carlsen Vol. 2 new)
19: Magie blanche (Batem / Colman, 2006, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: White Magic (2015, Carlsen Vol. 3 new)
20: Viva Palombia! (Batem / Colman, 2007, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Viva Palumbien! (2016, Carlsen Vol. 5 new)
21: Red monster (Batem / Colman, 2008, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Red Monster (2016, Carlsen vol. 6 new)
22: Chiquito paradiso (Batem / Colman, 2009, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Chiquito paradiso (2017, Carlsen vol. 7 new)
23: Croc vert (Batem / Colman, 2010, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: The Wolverine (2017, Carlsen Vol. 8 new)
24: Opération Attila (Batem / Colman, 2011, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Operation Attila (2017, Carlsen Vol. 9 new)
25: Sur la piste du Marsupilami (Batem / Colman / Chabat / Doner, 2012, 60 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: In the footsteps of Marsupilami (2018, Carlsen vol. 11 new)
26: Santa Calamidad (Batem / Colman, 2012, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Santa Calamidad (2018, Carlsen vol. 13 new)
27: Coeur d'étoile (Batem / Colman, 2013, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Sternenherz (2019, Carlsen vol. 14 new)
28: Biba (Batem / Colman, 2014, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Biba (2016, Carlsen Vol. 4 new)
29: Quilzèmhoal (Batem / Colman, 2015, 44 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Kilsemmoahl (2019, Carlsen vol. 16 new)
30: Palombie secrète (Batem / Colman, 2017, 48 pages, Dupuis) - German: Mysterious Palumbia (2019, Carlsen vol. 17 new)
31: Monsieur Xing Yùn (Batem / Colman, 2018, 52 pages, Dupuis) - German: Mister Xing Yun (2020, Carlsen vol. 19 new)

Marsu kids

1 Sorti de l'Oeuf ( Conrad / Wilbur, 2011, 43 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: Freshly hatched (2012, toonfish vol. 1)
2. Un oeuf pour deux (Conrad / Wilbur, 2013, 43 pages, Marsu Productions) - German: An egg for two (2013, toonfish vol. 2)

Single volumes

Spirou and Fantasio special volume 1: The hunt for Marsupilami (Franquin / Delporte / Will / Peyo / Jidéhem, 45 pages, Carlsen, 1988) - in the original Capturez un Marsupilami (Dupuis, 1988)
Everything about the Marsupilami (secondary volume, 45 pages, Carlsen, 1993) - in the original L 'encyclopedie du Marsupilami de Franquin (Marsu Productions, 1991)
The secret of the Marsupilamis . 32 pages (Carlsen, 1994)
Marsupilami . 4 booklets for the television series (Ehapa, 2001)
The new nest of the little Marsupilamis (Carlsen, 2018)
Homage to the Marsupilami (Carlsen, 2018)

Commercial comic

With high C on the traces of the Marsupilamis , 6 pages with 12 pictures to stick in (1993–1994)

Secondary literature

Andreas Mietzsch: Huba Huba. The Marsupilami Book . Verlag Comicplus +, Hamburg 1985, ISBN 3-924623-02-3
Batem, Erik Verhoest, Jean-Luc Cambier: Everything about the Marsupilami . 1st edition Carlsen Verlag, Hamburg 1993, ISBN 3-551-02048-5

Web links

Commons : Marsupilami - collection of images, videos and audio files

Official Homepage (French)