Spike and Suzy
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Spike and Suzy (U.K.) or Bob and Bobette (UK and France) or Willy and Wanda (U.S.) is a series of comic books, originally written in Dutch under the title Suske en Wiske. Willy Vandersteen (1913-1990) created the series in the 1940s. They are drawn in the Ligne claire style, pioneered by Hergé, though the earlier books are not. They fall under the Franco-Belgian comics group. New books are still being created, and remain popular among children in the Netherlands and Belgium. As of 2005, more than 250 books have been published. Many Flemish and Dutch adults consider the older books to be classics of the comic book genre. Actually it may be argued that the series created by Vandersteen himself, prior to about 1972, belong to a somewhat different genre of comics than those made after he handed over the production to his assistants.
Each episode is first published as a comic strip in the newspaper De Standaard (among others) and then collected in comic book format.
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[edit] Main characters
The main characters are a group of friends. In the first regular comic, Suzy and her Aunt Sidonia meet the orphan Spike and unrelated Professor Barnabas. In the next comic, they also meet Ambrose. Later, in De dolle musketiers (book 89, 1953), Jerom (called Jethro in the UK version), the self-proclaimed "strongest man in the western hemisphere", was introduced[1]. Apart from Suzy and Aunt Sidonia, none of them are related, and most don't seem to have any other family.
- Spike: originally called Suske (Flemish diminutive of Francis), and in English also known as Willy or Bob, is a young orphan who becomes friends with Suzy and Aunt Sidonia in the first album, "An Island called Hoboken", from 1946. Spike is about ten to twelve years old and usually a well-behaved, brave and curious boy who is always willing to defend the poor and helpless, and of course his friends. He has black hair with a small spike, and wears a red shirt and black shorts.
- Suzy: originally called Wiske (Flemish diminutive of Louise) , and in English also known as Wanda or Bobette, is the young heroine. Slightly younger than Spike, she seems to be an orphan as well. In the out-of-series prequel "Rikki en Wiske" from 1945, she has an older brother Rikki, but he disappears after that story to be replaced by Spike. She lives with her aunt Sidonia (as does Spike after the first story). Strong-headed, curious and slightly foolish, she is a brave girl as well, quite similar to Spike in many aspects. She is dressed in a white skirt with a red stripe, and has a red band in her fair hair.
- Muffin, originally called Schalulleke, later in Dutch renamed to Schanulleke, in English also known as Sawdust, is the puppet of Suzy. A small human (probably female) figure, she is inanimate. She has a major role in a few stories when she gets stolen (album 6, "Prinses Zagemeel") or is turned into a mindless giant.
- Aunt Sidonia, originally called tante Sidonie, later renamed to tante Sidonia, is the aunt of Suzy. Long and extremely thin with gigantic feet, a large protruding chin, and fair hair, she is often portrayed as the housewife but very often joins the heroes on their adventures. She is known for her hysterical fits and her crush on Ambrose.
- Professor Barabas, also known as Professor Barnabas, is a long-time friend of Suzy and Aunt Sidnoia. They first met him in "An Island called Hoboken". He is the archetypical distracted professor, but contrary to many mad scientists he is entirely benevolent. His main inventions are the Teletime machine (which enables them to travel through time and space), the Gyronef (a helicopter which was quite advanced for its time), the Terranef (a subterranean vehicle), and the Klankentapper, which enables you to talk with plants. Contrary to most other main characters, he does not appear in all comics.
- Ambrose, originally called Lambik, is a bald man of about forty. He is first encountered in album 3, "The Zincshrinker", as a rather stupid plumber. He is intended as the comic relief of the series, considering himself the main hero but often ruining the plans of the others by his pompous behaviour and his short temper. He is usually the only one of the main characters who gets tempted by evil, like in album 67, "De Poenschepper", but in the end he has a good character and cares about his friends. He lives together with Jethro.
- Jethro, originally known as Jerom, is an extremely strong man, brought from prehistory to the Middle Ages by an alchemist in album 18, "The merry musketeers" as a mindless weapon. He falls in love with Muffin and turns into a caring man instead of a wild beast, and is subsequently taken along by the friends to the present. Initially he is dressed in a loincloth only and speaks in grunts and monosyllables, but soon he becomes a smart, sophisticated man, although he still speaks in a particular shorthand. He is often used as a deus ex machina solution for the troubles the friends and especially Ambrose get in, but he is equally often drugged or away on a trip as to avoid the easy solution for the story.
[edit] Other characters
[edit] Krimson
Principal bad guy, Krimson was introduced in Het rijmende paard (96, 1969). Later in the series, after having been in prison, he is forced to start over as a petty criminal. Growing stronger again, he manages to overthrow the Belgian government (De Krimson Crisis, book 215, 1988). In De Kwaaie Kwieten (book 209, 1987) he even constructs a top-secret military base capable of fighting extraterrestrials. For reasons unknown he often suffers from mental breakdowns, throwing fits until his butler force feeds him a large quantity of pills. Despite his name there is no connection between him and the colour crimson, other than that both often have sinister connotations.
[edit] Arthur
Arthur is Ambrose’s younger brother who grew up in the jungle and gained the ability to fly from the juice of a plant. He is more primitive than his brother, but substantially smarter. He dresses in animal skins and wears a beard, though it is unknown if he, unlike Ambrose, has much hair on his head as he always sports a bowler hat. He spends more time in the air and in trees than on the ground, and therefore has acquired some bird characteristics, such as standing on his hands instead of his feet and chirping while speaking. His favorite food is birdseed.
[edit] Spike and Suzy's world
In the earliest stories, Willy Vandersteen used fictional countries like "Chokowakije" (a fictional Eastern European country) and "Amoras" (a tropical island, "Hoboken" in the English language version). He dropped the use of those after a few stories, although some later stories revisit Amoras.
Most of the current adventures of Spike and Suzy happen in real countries all over the world, with Belgium (their home country) and the Netherlands as main focus for many stories.
While in the early stories most trips were done by the Gyronef, the experimental helicopter devised by professor Barabas, since the 1960s all travelling by plane is done with KLM, the Dutch national airline, making it an early and prominent example of product placement in European comics. Vandersteen chose KLM over the Belgian national airline SABENA because of his friendship with Ron Winderink, PR manager of KLM.[2]
[edit] Worldview expressed in Vandersteen's albums
Willy Vandersteen's pre-1972 Spike and Suzy albums create their own universe, with its own laws and elements. It is this universe, and its worldview, that readers may be attracted to in the albums.
- A total lack of limitations of the earthly kind: money, distances, languages, borders, or even time barriers, none of these are ever a real limitation to the protagonists. They can speak with anyone anywhere, always find some kind of newly invented equipment to fly somewhere far, including Barabas' time machine, or they encounter the occasional magic carpet, supernatural giant or the like to take them where they have to go.
- The motives the protagonists always have, making them do whatever they do in a given adventure (often a classical quest), is to do the right thing, which is usually to help someone out: a friend in trouble, or a total stranger just met.
- The protagonists are essentially "good guys". However, they can be bad too: greed, curiosity, vanity and seduction create additional obstacles on the way. If one of the protagonists causes trouble in the first place, it seems that this person is not really him/herself. In the end, there is always reconciliation, and the confused troublemaker regains his own, genuine, goodness. In fact, the theme of a "good me" and "bad me" being present in one person, constantly struggling for domination, is occasionally explicitly employed.
- "Bad guys", once defeated, often repent, and are then completely forgiven by the protagonists. In this case, no matter how much terrible affliction they caused, in the end they understand how bad they have been behaving and gladly accept their, usually mild, punishment, devoting themselves to the service of those they once oppressed.
- Things are as they are, and improvements are slow; they need to come from within. Revolutions of any kind are usually dangerous, but specific, identifiable sources of injustice are addressed. The protagonists, themselves of a rather unclear background, easily move in elite circles: kings, the rich and famous, brilliant scientists, etc. Structures such as governments, laws, taxes, the bureaucracy are often mocked, maybe because the protagonists hardly ever need them. Jokes about paying taxes and the job of politician abound.
[edit] History
[edit] Character evolution
Over the course of the series, characters are added and changed, and stories become more didactic. Ambrose and Jethro change significantly: in the beginning, Ambrose was just an amusing fool, in current stories he is a cynical and sceptical man. In early stories, Jethro was portrayed as an ignorant strong man, but by now he is a wise man, although one of few words. In most stories Muffin is just a puppet, but one very special to Suzy, and they are inseparable. In some stories Muffin comes to life and plays an important role.
[edit] Authors
Willy Vandersteen created "Suske en Wiske". He also created several other series, like De Rode Ridder (Lit. "The Red Knight"). To have time for these series, he gave Paul Geerts the job of creating new albums of "Suske en Wiske" in 1968. Geerts did this until 2001, when he gave this task to Marc Verhaegen. From 2005 on, a team of writers and cartoonists makes the new series, led by Luc Morjeau.
These authors were helped by Studio Vandersteen.
[edit] Albums
[edit] Newspaper and Magazine First publications
Before "Suske en Wiske" appeared as albums, they were published in many newspapers and magazines, such as:
- 1.De Standaard (daily newspaper) (1945-...)
- 2.Tintin/Kuifje magazine (1948-1959) (Tintin is the French version, Kuifje is the Dutch version)
- 3.TV Ekspres (weekly TV magazine) (1972-2001)
- 4.Suske en Wiske weekblad (weekly comics magazine) (1993-2003)
[edit] The Red Series and The Blue Series
The books are generally divided into two groups - The Red Series, and The Blue series. The Red Series contains the vast majority of the books, and is so called because all of the books in this series have a red colour. There are only a few books in the blue series, and they are so called because of their blue colour. The blue series encompasses all those originally published in Tintin Magazine. The Red series is everything published before or after. The following album series exist:
- 1.The Flemish non-coloured series (1946-1959): 1-35
- 2.The Dutch non-coloured series(1953-1959): 1-23
- 3.The Flemish two-coloured series (1959-1964): 7,19,20,32-50
- 4.The Dutch two-coloured series (1959-1964): 1,8,10,11,21-50
- 5.The uniform Flemish-Dutch (two-coloured)series (1964-1966): 51-66
- 6.The (uniform) four-coloured series (1967-...): 67-... ; the first 66 albums and the blue series have been reedited in this series.
- 2.The Blue Series (1952-1957)
[edit] Special Editions
Other stories or editions have been published, such as:
- 1.The collector's editions (1958-...)
- 2.Advertisement editions (1965-...)
- 3.Various collections (1972-...)
- 4.Holiday editions (1973-...)
- 5.Luxury editions (1977-...)
- 6.Suske en Wiske Classics (1993-1999)
[edit] Other Languages
All albums have been translated into French. Translations in other languages are plentiful but often exist as short-lived series only.
[edit] Albums in English
Main article List of Spike and Suzy books in English
In English, the books have had three publishings. The first was in the U.S., under the name of Willy and Wanda. It was then published in the U.K. in the 1990s under the name Bob and Bobette - a copy of the French names. The final print run was in the U.K. under the name Spike and Suzy.
[edit] Spin-off series
There have been various spin-off comic series from Spike and Suzy:
- In 1960, a series called Jerom was started. It was based on the character Jerom (Jethro) from the Spike and Suzy stories and focused on his adventures as a modern day knight.
- In the 1950s, Lambik (Ambrose), had his own strip in the newspaper, De Bond. These were then put into the albums called De Grappen van Lambik (meaning The jokes of Ambrose). The series was ended in 1962, but in 2004, it began again, with new stories. 7 books in the new series have been released.
- In 2002, a series called Klein Suske en Wiske (meaning Small Spike and Suzy) was started, appearing in the magazine Suske en Wiske weekblad. It charts the adventures of the children when they were very small, along with their pet dog. So far 9 albums have been released, containing short sketches.
[edit] Film and Musicals
The books have made it onto the cinema and stage:
- In 1994, a musical was started by the Royal Youth Theatre of Antwerp. It ran for several years, touring the country.
- In 2004 a Spike and Suzy live action film was released in French and Dutch called The Dark Diamond.
- Another film, 3D-animated this time, is in the making called The Texas Rangers. It is scheduled for 2008. The film will be the first made of 10 films. It will be produced by Skyline Entertaiment in conjunction with CoToon.
[edit] References
- ^ De dolle musketiers. Retrieved August 27 2005 from http://suskeenwiske.ophetwww.net/albums/4kl/089.html.
- ^ Van SABENA tot SN Brussels Airlines (Dutch). GVA (1997-11-04). Retrieved on 2007-02-27.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
