Mélusine (comics)

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Mélusine is the name of a Belgian comic book series first published by Dupuis back in 1995. It was created by Clarke and Gilson, the first being responsible for the illustrations, the latter providing the scenarios. The albums (14 to date) feature short, humorous comic strips that centre around the life of Mélusine, a young witch living as an au pair in a castle and studying at a witches’ school.

Contents 1 Characters 1.1 Characters appearing from the first album onwards 1.2 Later additions to the ensemble 2 Albums 3 Trivia

[edit] Characters

[edit] Characters appearing from the first album onwards

• Mélusine is a smart and kind-hearted young witch with flaming red hair. In the first album, it is revealed that she is actually 119 years old. Although originally under the impression that she was hired to do magic, she lives as a sort of au pair in a sinister old castle. Outside of doing household chores, she is often performing spells and brewing potions; she also attends a witches' school, and is at the top of her class.

• Sir Gonzaga Hernyvanz and his wife, countess Aymee Döperzonn, are the master and mistress of the castle who Mélusine works for: a somewhat goofy male vampire and a stern female ghost. Mélusine always addresses them as "madam" and "sir", and their real names were only revealed in the eleventh album. Their manservant is called Winston and likes eating cats; he resembles both Lurch and Frankenstein's monster.

• Adrazelle is Mélusine's nutty old aunt (542 years old, as is revealed in the third album). She lives in a shack somewhere in the neighborhood, and often visits her niece in the castle. She can also be seen speeding across the skies on her broomstick, wearing racing goggles, and seems to have a fondness for toad soup and sabbaths.

• Cancrelune is Mélusine's incredibly clumsy and rather dim-witted best friend. Also a witch, she is frequently seen crashing into walls or windows on her broomstick, screwing up spells and potions, or panicking about examinations. The comic strips of the thirteenth album largely centre around her many superstitious beliefs. Other friends of Mélusine's include fellow student-witch Krapella and the local werewolf.

• Although many of the villagers occasionally turn to Mélusine for help - asking for love potions, hair-growing remedies and the like - there is also a group of people that is out to burn her at the stake. This group is lead by the town's fanatical pastor, who's obsessed with putting a stop to witchcraft, but never succeeds.

[edit] Later additions to the ensemble

• Mister Haaselblatt is a professor at the witches' school who was first introduced in the third album. He's small and chubby, and incredibly mean and demanding (although often outsmarted by Mélusine). Another professor, first appearing in the twelfth album, is mister Purulóvskovar, who teaches the class about demonic forces. He looks exceptionally menacing and, when speaking, insects fall from his mouth.

• Mélisande was first introduced in the seventh album. She's Mélusine's friendly but silly niece and is not a witch but a fairy, and thus is considered a disgrace for the family. She wears pink and does nothing but conjure up bunnies, sweets and pastries with her magic wand, mumbling things like Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo (a reference to Cinderella's fairy godmother in the Disney version of the story).

• Doctor Kartoffeln was first seen in the eleventh album. A descendent of the original owner of the castle, he claimed to be the castle's rightful owner. This matter was quickly settled however, and Sir Gonzaga Hernyvanz allowed him to come and live with them in the castle, where he has been doing scientific experiments and has been tampering with technology ever since. He is particularly attached to Winston, as his great-grandfather was apparently the one who created him.

[edit] Albums

1. Sortilèges (Spells, 1995)
2. Le bal des vampires (The Vampires' Ball, 1996)
3. Inferno (1996)
4. Histoire à lire au coin du feu (Story to be Read by the Fire, 1997)
5. Philtres d'amour (Love Potions, 1998)
6. Farfadets et korrigans (Imps and Elves, 1999)
7. Hocus pocus (2000)
8. Halloween (2001)
9. Hypnosis (2001)
10. Contes de la pleine lune (Tales of the Full Moon, 2002)
11. Mélusine à l'école des maléfices (Mélusine and the School of Witchcraft, 2003)
12. La belle et la bête (Beauty and the beast, 2004)
13. Superstitions (2005)
14. La cuisine du diable (The Devil's Kitchen, 2006)
15. L'Apprentie Sorcière (The Witch's Apprentice, may 2007)

[edit] Trivia

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This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

• In the Dutch edition of the comic series, Mélusine is confusingly called Melisande, while Mélusine’s niece Mélisande is called Melusine.
• Throughout the albums, references have been made to some of the branches of the occult and the mystical, including the Kabbalah and tarot. Countless mythical creatures have also appeared, from kobolds and dragons to devils and giants.