QRN calls Bretzelburg
QRN ruft Bretzelburg (OT: QRN sur Bretzelburg ) is a comic from the Spirou and Fantasio series , which was created 1961–1963 by the illustrator André Franquin and the copywriter Greg . In this story, the two main characters travel to a German-speaking fantasy land.
Designations (in the original and in the translations)
| category | original | Translation of Rolf Kauka | Translation Carlsen-Verlag | Brief information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| people | Marsupilami | Kokomiko | Marsupilami | Wonder animal from the jungle of Palumbia |
| Marcelin Switch | Robert Wanninger | Bruno Ukaweh | Radio amateur | |
| Roi Ladislas de Bretzelburg | Stavo / Chairman of the State Council / Comrade Goatee | King Ladislaus of Bretzelburg | ||
| Fantasio | Pit | Fantasio | ||
| Spirou | Piccolo | Spirou | ||
| General butterfly | Marshal Ivan Sownjet | General butterfly | ||
| Dr. Kilikil | Dr. Kilikil | Dr. Kilikil | ||
| Farfalla | Marshal Musketeer | Prince Farfalla | ||
| Adolf | gorilla | Tobias | Dr. Kilikil | |
| princess | APO-Lina | President von Wichtenstein | ||
| Places, buildings | Bretzelburg | Bretzelburg | Bretzelburg | a German-speaking country |
| Krollstadt | Berlin O | Krollstadt | City in Bretzelburg | |
| Schnapsfürmich fortress | Bretzelburg Castle | Castle Hohenstein | ||
| Maquebasta | Bonhalla | Wichtenstein | Neighboring country of Bretzelburg | |
| other | Train Paris-Brussels-Zurich-Krollstadt | Train Bonhalla-Berlin O | Train Paris-Brussels-Zurich-Krollstadt |
Table of contents of the original French version
The Marsupilami swallows a transistor radio, which disrupts the radio communication between the radio amateur Marcelin Switch and the '' Roi Ladislas de Bretzelburg '' (this is referred to by the Q-Group QRM in the operating language, see below). While Spirou and Marcelin bring the Marsupilami to a veterinary clinic, where the radio will be removed, Fantasio, while he is in Marcelin's house, is mistaken for Marcelin by two militant agents of a foreign power and kidnapped instead. Spirou and Marcelin attribute this to Bretzelburg and take the Paris-Brussels-Zurich-Krollstadt train to the German-speaking region of Bretzelburg. Fantasio is being held there in the fortress Schnapsfürmich (Hohenstein Castle) and at the instigation of General Schmetterling by Dr. Kilikil tortured in different ways.
Having arrived in Krollstadt, a town in Bretzelburg with pedal-powered buses and passers-by clad in newspaper, Spirou and Marcelin receive help from the well-functioning underground movement of the population. The Marsupilami escapes from the clinic and also makes its way to Bretzelburg. Finally, the evil machinations of the general butterfly, who controls the king and is therefore the actual ruler of the country, are exposed. He also appears disguised as Farfalla ( Italian for butterfly ) in the neighboring kingdom of Maquebasta and sells completely outdated weapons and fake weapons to Bretzelburg and to the neighboring kingdom ruled by the princess as president.
French album edition from 1966
The story drawn intermittently by André Franquin from 1961 onwards is a maximum of 65 pages and one strip long. For the current Belgian album edition at Dupuis it had to be reduced to 61 pages. The first eight pages were shortened to four pages, and a strip in which Fantasio was tortured with shoes that were too small was removed. The last stripe on the last page shows a pretzel burger sweeping away superfluous helmets and badges of honor. In the original version, the fans of Schmetterling repeatedly speak a few words in German. Details in the drawings suggest allusions to the Third Reich .
Kauka translation from 1969 (QRN calls Bretzelburg)
In the German adaptation by Rolf Kauka (1969), the political allusions already created by the authors to the situation between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR in the 1960s were changed. The original version and the Kauka translation thus provide an ample basis for interpretations of political satire .
Kauka had already received a political comic with an allusion to a German state from the authors (and not, as is often claimed, changed to that effect). However, Kauka seized the opportunity and made the French and German empires of the original version an allusion to two German states, Bonhalla and Berlin O. He also moved the plot to the time domain and, from the point of view of 1969, left it in the future around 1975 (with German daily politics from around 1968/69). The Bretzelburger celebrating on the last page anticipate the reunification of the two German states. So Kauka was 20 years ahead of his time, not six.
He received the unabridged version for editing and published the story in a modified paperback format (in FF-Extra 2, 1969). He also left out a few drawings, but the torture scene remained. On some speech bubbles - with German words - he even left the original print unchanged. When speaking of Caucasus' very free German adaptation of Franco-Belgian comics, Siggi and Babarras (Caucasus Asterix version) and QRN calls Bretzelburg are almost always mentioned. In the latter case, something that goes back to Franquin and Greg (such as the pretzel burgers clad in newspaper) is assumed to be Kauka.
Carlsen editions from 1987 and 2003 (QRN calls Bretzelburg)
In the German version from 1987, the translators stuck to the original more closely. Some names have been Germanized. Farfalla became a prince in 1987 - probably by mistake. The contrast that a few words in German evoke in the otherwise French text was inevitably lost in the German version. The shortened drawings at the beginning of the story were reinserted, but not the strip with the torture scene. The latter may have been due to the fact that one did not want to remount 33 pages because of a strip. In the 2003 edition, this montage remained, but in the explanations following the story, the stripes were shown in a slightly smaller size with German text.
Other aspects
- In the album Le dictateur et le champignon (Eng. Mushrooms for the dictator ) from 1953, Franquin satirized a South American military dictatorship and already shows the role of the armaments industry . In a short strip, Zantafio appears like Adolf Hitler . Status symbols are also used.
- The original title was QRM sur Bretzelburg . In radio communication, QRM stands for interference from other stations , QRN for atmospheric interference .
- When Marcelin talks to Spirou about comic book heroes, Spirou reacts angrily and with wrong answers (in the drawing and in the original text). Kauka used the spot for self-praise and his characters, Piccolo doesn't give wrong answers. At Carlsen, the translation corresponds dramaturgically to the original (but in some cases with name changes).
- The king is disturbed by the general while watching television, in the original he wants to watch Roquet-belles-oreilles ( The Huckleberry Hound Show , 1958–1961), with Kauka he is interested in “ Bonanza ” (1959–1973), with Carlsen in “ Denver ”and“ Alexis ”( Dynasty , 1981–1989; the text is probably not as resistant to the future as the drawing, in Franquin's picture it remains a story from the early 1960s).
- A pretzel burger is dressed in an old newspaper (from better times). In the original and in Carlsen, it only refers to a “d'avant / before”. Kauka quantifies this content, the newspaper was published by Kauka in 1969 and is 35 years old in the 1975 comic.
Publications (primary literature) and networking
- QRN sur Bretzelburg (Dupuis comic album, copyrights 1966, printed in 1989, length 61 pages).
- FF-Extra 2 (Kauka-Verlag, 1969, length of the story QRN calls Bretzelburg in TB format: 125 pages).
- QRN calls Bretzelburg (Carlsen, 1987, length 65 pages).
- QRN calls Bretzelburg ( ISBN 3-551-77216-9 ); Carlsen, 2003, length 67 (+ 5 explanatory) pages.