Umpah-pah

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Umpah-Pah is the Indian title character in a comic series created by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny in 1951 .

History of the series

The comic was to appear with bilingual text in the USA - where Goscinny lived from 1945 to 1950 - in a television magazine. However, since there was no publication, the project was discontinued after a few drafts.

It was not until 1958 that a revised version was published in the Belgian comic magazine Tintin . By 1961 a total of five adventures loosely connected in terms of content had appeared. Then the series was discontinued, because Uderzo stopped his work on all projects except Asterix and so with a heavy heart parted with the series Umpah-Pah, which had done poorly in reader surveys. Goscinny also devoted himself to the much more successful Asterix, but also worked with other people on other projects (see René Goscinny ); Above all, his work as an editor for pilots took up more and more of his time.

In Germany the volumes appeared for the first time in 1972/73 in the comic magazine Zack . There was a re-release. a. in Yps .

Umpah-Pah is considered a prototype for Asterix because the stories contain many elements that can later also be found in Asterix. Umpah-Pah also appears briefly in the film Asterix Conquers Rome in the javelin throwing scene.

content

In the original version, Umpah-Pah is a young, tall and strong Indian who has amazing talents in archery , but has a soft heart. He is confronted with the achievements of modern technology: washing machines, televisions, automobiles and record players lead to humorous confrontations.

The later version takes place during the first colonization of America, when France built the first forts in North America. A newly arrived French cadet ("Brother Doppelskalp") is captured by Umpah-Pah and, after acquiring his friendship, has some adventures with him in the New World , and later also in the Old World .

Figures of the series

Umpah-Pah is the main character in these stories. He is a great muscular Indian and the best warrior of the Wascha-Wascha tribe. In his first story he still belonged to the tribe of flat feet, who in later stories became the arch enemies of the Wascha-Wascha. Umpah-Pah's blood brother is the French cadet Hubert von Täne, whom he also accompanies on a trip to Europe to buy horses for his tribe. His war cry is “Yakyakyak!”, Which very often has embarrassing side effects. Umpah-Pah's favorite saying is "By the Puma (my totem )!", Which he actually uses on every occasion. It is considered to be the predecessor of Obelix's saying "They're crazy, the Romans!"

Hubert von Täne is Umpah-Pah's blood brother. However, when they first met he was struck down by Umpah-Pah and taken to his tribe as a prisoner. But after he had helped Umpah-Pah with a tribal examination, Umpah-Pah made him his brother “double scalp”, a nickname that he owes to his wig. Although the two are very good, the company Oumpah-Pah as the war with cannons for Hubert often embarrassed because Oumpah-pah understands many customs of the Europeans wrong ( "We only papooses throw balls!") Or Behavior of the steward before the French king ("Look, double scalp, now he's walking backwards too!").

Fat buffalo is the chief of the Wascha-Wascha and served as a model for Majestix . He always strives for peace in his tribe and often has to worry about his wife. A running gag in the stories is that Dicker Buffalo always forgets where he buried the hatchet. He ends each of his sentences with: "Hough, Big Buffalo has spoken!"

Keinzahn , formerly Einzahn , is the oldest of the Wascha-Wascha and served as a predecessor for Methusalix and Automatix . In the first story he is eager to kill Hubert von Täne, but his assassinations fail again and again in hilarious ways. No tooth often has friction with the tribe's medicine man, Immer-Regen. In a conflict with him, he lost his last tooth. Keinzahn loves to get Always-Rain out of sync with his conjuring dances ("Always-Rain dances wrong! Always-Rain dances the rain dance!" Or "Keep the beat! One, two! One, two!").

Immer-Regen is the medicine man of the Wascha-Wascha and the predecessor of Troubadix and Verleihnix . He always messes up his dances and therefore lets it rain very often. In the first story he allied himself with Keinzahn against Hubert von Täne. This alliance came to an abrupt end, however, when Immer-Rain blew up Keinzahn's tent during an incantation dance. In the following brawl, Keinzahn lost his last tooth. During his incantation dances, Always-Rain frequently kicks his feet in thorns, which is another running gag in the stories.

Mama-Pah and Papa-Pah are Umpah-Pah's parents who couldn't be more different. Mama-Pah is very tall and fat, while Papa-Pah is short and skinny. The two only make tiny appearances during the stories and have no particular character traits.

The general and commander in chief of the French forces in North America is the chief boss of Fort Ort. He's fat and has a calm personality. Umpah-Pah calls him "Big Belly Brother". His Prussian likeness is the general of the Prussian troops and superior of the officer Eitel Friedrich von und zu Guterletzt in the band chief sick liver .

The commander of the Fort Ort Guard is a very noble and distinguished person and the general's right-hand man who is not often made to get emotional unless Umpah-Pah is involved. Once he lets himself be carried away to a “Yakyakyak!” When it comes to the fight against the blue eyes and the Prussians . He is called "brother noble" by Umpah-Pah.

Low Forehead is the best warrior of the Flat Feet tribe. As big and strong as Umpah-Pah is, so small and puny is Low Forehead. It looks similar to Asterix . Low forehead has a lot of influence on the flatfeet chief, Fat Toad, and thus also brings him to war against the Vasha-Vasha.

Fat Toad is the chief of the flat feet. Completely different from Fat Buffalo, he is very choleric and easily influenced.

Cataracts are the medicine man of flat feet. When Hubert von Täne was captured by his flat feet, he wanted to burn him immediately, like Keinzahn. However, he was prevented from doing so by Low Forehead, with whom he often collides. Like rain and rain, cataracts are not a good dancer and repeatedly misinterpret smoke signals, which often causes confusion under the flat feet and repeatedly annoys Fat Toad.

The captain of the royal ship Arrogance is called "Brother Long Nose" by Umpah-Pah. At first the captain is not very enthusiastic about the Indian and his habits such as eating pemmican or swimming faster than arrogance . But after Umpah-Pah succeeded in defeating the pirate fall-breaker and capturing him, he won the sympathies of the captain and his crew.

The fall breaker and his gang of pirates make the trip to France difficult for Umpah-Pah and Hubert von Täne. Fallbreaker is a feared pirate who likes to plunder French ships. The captain of arrogance describes fall breakers as "wild as the sea" and as a person even his own crew is afraid of, and as so ugly that he has to shave his back to the mirror. Sturzebrecher's favorite dish is a complete, fried shark that "smells a lot". His only problem is that he cannot swim. Thanks to this shortcoming, it can ultimately be put in chains. Fallbreaker and his gang of pirates are the predecessors of the Asterix pirates . The parrot Jasmin from Uderzo's Pitt-Pistol stories has a cameo in this volume. Sturzebrecher is based on the historical personality Klaus Störtebeker .

The King of France can be seen in the tape On a Secret Mission . He is the ruler of the royal palace and his court and a very noble personality. After Hubert von Täne came to France with his friend Umpah-Pah, he had received orders to report to the king in Paris. In the palace the king presented Hubert von Täne with the secret document for the general and commander-in-chief of the French troops in North America. As can be read in the volume Chief Sick Liver , the King of France and the King of Prussia had declared war. However, they later made peace again after the Prussian king apologized for saying that the King of France had betrayed him while playing cards.

August the Spy is lackey to the King of France. But he secretly works as a spy for the enemies of France out of profit-seeking. The volume In a Secret Mission shows how the lackey overhears the conversation between the king and Hubert von Täne. The next morning, disguised in a hat and coat and hiding his face, he travels to Seeburg in the carriage, in which Umpah-Pah and Hubert von Täne are also sitting. During the night, the spy steals the secret message and a horse from the carriage and makes his way to the next village, where he exchanges the horse for a white horse from a farmer. He succeeds in tricking Umpah-Pah and Hubert von Täne and stealing their horses. The next day the spy noticed that Hubert von Täne was chasing him alone, whereupon he told some robbers in the nearby forest that von Täne was very rich, whereupon the robbers take him prisoner. Umpah-Pah managed to catch the spy and free his friend Hubert from Täne. Then he asked the spy for the stolen paper and secretly exchanged it for the plan of the robbers' hut drawn by the spy and shot an arrow together with the plan into the forest. While Umpah-Pah and Hubert von Täne ride the white horse to Seeburg, the spy is chased through the forest by an angry lumberjack.

Eitel Friedrich Ritter von und zu Guterletzt is a Prussian officer who appears in the last Umpah-Pah story. Eitel Friedrich reports to a general (who has a certain resemblance to the commanding officer of Fort Ort) who is supposed to conquer the French colonies for the Prussian king. For this purpose Eitel Friedrich should buy the Indians as allies with glass beads. Since he has no luck with the Wascha-Wascha, the Prussians join forces with the blue eyes , another hostile tribe. However, Eitel Friedrich prevents Umpah-Pah and Hubert von Täne from being tortured by them and takes them to the holding cell of the Prussian fort. However, the Prussians do not manage to hold them both for very long. Shortly before the battle between the Prussian and French troops, the commanders received a letter that the two kings had signed a peace treaty. And so this adventure ends with a big party in the Prussian base, where beer and pork knuckles are of course not missing. Eitel Friedrich, like the other Prussians, speaks a strong German accent in the French original. In the German translation, this is replaced by Berlinerisch. By the way, in the original Eitel Friedrich bears the name "Katznblummerrswishundwagenplaftembomm" and thus has the longest name that a cartoon character has ever been given. René Goscinny boasted that he could pronounce the name of this character in one go without getting tangled up.

Sick Liver is the ruthless and devious chief of the blue eyes. In order to "wipe out" the Wascha-Wascha, he allies himself with the Prussians. Sick liver loves the customs of Europeans and imitates them in everything. His pow-wows resemble a council meeting, and he replaced his medicine man with an accountant. To support the Prussians, Sick Liver demands “thunder sticks” and “water that carries courage into the heart”. When Umpah-Pah and Hubert von Täne go to the blue eyes as mediators, Sick Liver sneakily captures them and wants them to be tortured. However, this is prevented by Eitel Friedrich and other Prussians. After the war between Prussia and France was stopped, the blue eyes have to return the rifles to the Prussians, which they do only very reluctantly. There is still a final battle between the Wascha-Wascha and the blue eyes (which has a bit of a resemblance to the "Roman brawls" in Asterix ), which the latter naturally lose miserably and in which the reconciled armies look on happily united.

Comic books

Each of these stories has 30 pages.

  1. Oumpah-Pah le Peau-Rouge , 1958; German: Umpah-Pah, the red skin ( Zack 17-20 / 1972)
  2. Oumpah-Pah sur le sentier de la guerre , 1958; German: The flat feet attack (Zack 27–30 / 1972)
  3. Oumpah-Pah et les pirates , 1959; German: The horror of the seas (Zack 39–43 / 1972)
  4. Oumpah-Pah et la mission secrète , 1960; German: On a secret mission (Zack 5-10 / 1973)
  5. Oumpah-Pah contre Foie-Malade , 1962; German: Chief Sick Liver (Zack 43–48 / 1973)

In 2006 all five Umpah-Pah adventures were published in one volume by Ehapa Verlag .

literature

  • Albert Uderzo: The long way to Asterix. 1st edition. Ehapa Verlag, 1985, ISBN 3-7704-0700-8 .

Web links