Review by Frank Plowright

The marsupilami has been a much loved character all across Europe ever since its 1955 introduction by André Franquin in a Spirou and Fantasio adventure. It’s an extremely smart animal, a sort of cross between a big cat and a monkey with an impossibly long tail that builds nests as a home and is native to the jungles of South America. Crucially, it’s very adaptable, so an extremely useful companion for Spirou and Fantasio. In all previous appearances the marsupilami has been a comedy cartoon character, but what if it were a real creature, one that turned up in 1950s Belgium?

Writer Zidrou’s approach is to systematically dismantle the feature. The marsupilami arrived in comics bringing rays of sunshine to a Belgium still suffering the effects of World War II, yet Zidrou deposits it into the reality away from the comics of 1955. He sucks all joy from the marsupilami’s personality, while brilliant artist Frank Pé reflects the shabby decaying industrialism of Belgium’s cities and draws a feral and haunted marsupilami.

The joyless reflection of the times extends to the social status of schoolboy François, the product of his mother’s union with a Nazi occupier during World War II, then just ten years in the past. She’s still villified a decade later, and he’s bullied for the circumstances of his birth. He does, though, have an affinity for animals, keeping quite the menagerie in the house. Also playing a part is Boniface, a kindly and progressive teacher.

Pé delivers the necessary squalor and realism in the surroundings, but he’s a cartoonist at heart, and his people are excellently drawn exaggerations with real emotions. It’s his marsupilami that really counts, though, and it’s a magnificently realised beast, drawn with the reality of everything else in its vicinity, yet still able to use its tail for comic effect. Yes, some humour remains in Zidrou’s new world for the marsupilami, but it’s darkly formed.

Because this is a such a radical departure, fans of the marsupilami may automatically react with distaste, but it’s not a character greatly known to English language audiences, and what they’re getting is a superbly drawn and captivating period drama starring a strange creature. On that basis it’s haunting and memorable, with a downbeat ending finely arrived at to set up Part 2.