Mausi and Paul

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Mausi and Paul (Modeste et Pompon) is a Belgian comic series that mainly consists of one-sided humorous short stories about a spirited young man (Paul) and his girlfriend (Mausi).

background

The series was created in 1955 after a dispute between the comic artist André Franquin and his publisher Dupuis , the editor of Spirou magazine. Out of annoyance with Dupuis, Franquin had hired at short notice from the competitor Tintin , where a five-year contract was immediately signed with him.

In collaboration with the then still relatively unknown scenarioists René Goscinny (the author of Asterix ), Peyo (creator of the Smurfs ), Greg (later author of Andy Morgan , Comanche , Bruno Brazil , Luc Orient ) and Tibet (known through Rick Master ) The result was a cheerful family gag strip, which has recognizable references to American role models such as Donald Duck or Blondie .

The dispute with Dupuis was resolved shortly afterwards and Franquin returned to Spirou. Since the five-year contract with Tintin still had to be fulfilled, the unique situation arose that Franquin worked for both of the leading Belgian comic magazines at the same time. Franquin drew a total of 183 episodes by Mausi and Paul. But after his contract expired in 1959, he sold the rights to the characters to the publishers of Tintin magazine, where Dino Attanasio was responsible for the series .

Later artists in the series, which continued until 1988, were Mittéï (1968–1975), Griffo (1975), Du Pont (1976–1984), Thomas Eric (1981) and Wally (1980–1988).

main characters

  • Paul (Modeste) is an imaginative but excitable young suburbanite who quickly loses his temper when things don't go as intended. Paul is the only main character in the series who is the focus of every episode. His character is reminiscent of Franquin's Fantasio , but also of Donald Duck. He dreams of rest and humble happiness, but something always gets in his way. If it is not Felix and his inventions, his nephews or the bad neighbors, he will - like Donald Duck - reliably fail because of the problem of the object or his own inadequacy.
  • Mausi (Pompon) is Paul's girlfriend. Her distinguishing marks are a ponytail, which is held by two black (on special occasions white) pompoms, as well as her red (sometimes also yellow) dress with a white collar, white belt and attached white pockets. Although the series also bears her first name, she only has a supporting role. She limits herself to pleasing Paul and calming him down during his regular outbursts. While she initially appears in at least one picture in each episode, she later has to increasingly share her supporting role with other characters:
  • A recurring cause of the countless outbursts of anger from Paul is his cousin Felix . He is a pesky sales rep / salesman who tries again and again to sell supposedly groundbreaking inventions like super glue, stain removers, quick stains, remote controls etc. Paul is said to be his first customer on a regular basis and his sales presentations inevitably lead to disaster. Felix is ​​in many ways reminiscent of Franquin's later masterpiece, the inventive office messenger Gaston Lagaffe .
  • Another parallel to Donald Duck are the three nephews . Félix is ​​actually her uncle, but you can often be found at Paul, whom they drive to despair with their stupidities and jokes. When they first appeared, there were still five of them and were introduced as Felix's smaller cousins ​​rather than his nephews. Then their number was reduced to four and finally to three. With one exception (Dédé / Amadeus) they have no first names, but you can tell them apart by the hair on their heads and the color of their shirts (blue, white and red).
  • The amusing subject of many episodes is Paul's relationship with his neighbors. His left neighbor is the pot -bellied parasite Mr. Meier (Monsieur Dubruit; Du Bruit = French for "noises") with his noisy family. Meier is a creation by René Goscinny, from whose pen all the gags with Meier come. As his name suggests in the original, Meier is a pain in the ass and is a burden to Paul because of his insolence.
  • Paul's relationship with his neighbor on the right, Mr. Mayer (Monsieur Ducrin), Mayer comes from Greg's pen, is burdened in a completely different way . He is an irascible and eternally bad-tempered misanthropist, with whom Paul is constantly feuding. Although the arguments with his neighbors are a constant in the series, Meier and Mayer do not meet once during the entire duration of the series.

The albums

Between 1985 and 1989 a total of 9 albums were released by Comicplus + in Germany:

  • 1 when baby cries (Franquin)
  • 2 the sales cannon (Franquin)
  • 3 darned and welded shut (Franquin)
  • 4 It's not that wild (Franquin)
  • 5 a fat dog (Dino Attanasio)
  • 6 By line and thread (Dino Attanasio)
  • 7 kidding aside (Dino Attanasio)
  • 8 mastery is everything (Dino Attanasio)
  • 9 As won, so melted away (Dino Attanasio)

supporting documents

This article was produced using material from the Modeste et Pompon sites on www.franquin.com and www.bdcouvertes.com , among others . Mention should also be made of the publisher's information on the Comicplus + series, which is printed in the first volume, "Wenn Baby Schreit".