User:Murgh/Gaston early publication

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[edit] Early publication

From the first appearance in issue #985 of Le Journal de Spirou, published February 28, 1957, a single uncoloured image below unrelated text, Gaston became subtly associated with the blunder of leaving footprints from stepping in wet paint.^[1][2] Similar drawings appeared over several months while Franquin, Delporte and Jidéhem developed the ideas. For the 1000th anniversary issue cover Franquin drew 999 heads of Spirou, and discretely inserted one of Gaston, and the first full-page gag was featured in a supplement.^[3][4][5] Continuing from issue #1001 and until the next step in Gaston's evolution, the single frame drawings continued to appear in every issue.

The Gaston single frame cartoon ceased, and starting with issue #1025, the Gaston strips began running at bottom of the editor's pages, with the signatures of Jidéhem and Franquin.^[6][7] This set a tradition that lasted until 1959 when Gaston gags evolved to a half-page format (from issue #1119), which became the standard until full-page gags became more frequent during the mid-60s.^[8]

[edit] Spirou adventure appearances

Gaston's first cameo in a Spirou adventure took place in issue #1014, as he graced two frames of Le voyageur du Mésozoïque. He is first seen "on the streets of the capital", riding his bicycle while reading a newspaper, obliviously littering papers, and then seen two frames later, bruised and presumably the victim of police brutality.^[9]

His second cameo, this time bicycling with a goose, running a red light and very nearly getting hit by Spirou and Fantasio's speeding Turbot I occurred in the early panels of the Spirou adventure Vacances sans histoires (later included in the album Le gorille a bonne mine), and then in the final panels, getting hit by a Turbot II and announcing his new job at Spirou.^[10]

Gaston was given a larger, speaking part in the following Spirou adventure, La foire aux gangsters (included in Le nid des Marsupilamis). Here, Gaston acts naïvely foolish and chooses some bad company, which leads him to spend time in a jail cell. In the story's final frame he is released from a police station, to scornful glances by the nearby public.^[11][12]

Gaston would not be seen in a Spirou adventure again until his appearances in the two final stories of Franquin's Spirou authorship, in Panade à Champignac. He is featured in the opening pages of the title story, and plays a central role in Bravo les Brothers.^[11][12]

[edit] References