Seccotine

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Seccotine as drawn by André Franquin in 1956

Seccotine is a recurring character from the Spirou et Fantasio comics, and the first major female character of the series, a strong-willed reporter. She was created by André Franquin, and made her first appearance in La turbotraction serialised in 1953 and published in the album La corne de rhinocéros in 1955.^[1]

1 Character
- 1.1 Appearances
2 Original meaning
3 See also
4 Sources

[edit] Character

She is an energetic journalist with a knack for outwitting Fantasio as they compete to uncover interesting and/or sensational stories, much to his frustration. Because of this, there is always some antagonism between them, though Spirou is much more friendly with her. However, she has also been very helpful, such as during the events in Palombia in Le dictateur et le champignon, when she helped Spirou and Fantasio send a secret message to the Count of Champignac, and later assisted Spirou with co-piloting a fighter plane to prevent General Zantas (a.k.a. Zantafio) from starting a war.

She was the central character in Le nid des Marsupilamis, revolving around her documentary about the life of a Marsupilami family in the Palombian jungle

Seccotine disappeared from the series when Fournier took over (her only appearance in Fournier's period was a brief appearance in the Franquin tribute Joyeuses Pâques, Papa!). Fournier replaced her with Ororéa, another rival reporter but with whom Fantasio was madly in love, whereas he loathed Seccotine.

When Tome & Janry took over the Spirou series, they dropped Ororéa and brought Seccotine back in their second album, Aventure en Australie and later in Machine qui rêve.

[edit] Appearances

06. La corne de rhinocéros (Franquin)
07. Le dictateur et le champignon (Franquin)
11. Vacances sans histoires (in Le gorille a bonne mine) (Franquin)
12. Le nid des Marsupilamis (Franquin)
HS4. Joyeuses Pâques, Papa! (Fantasio et le fantôme et 4 autres aventures) (Fournier)
34. Aventure en Australie (Tome & Janry)
38. La jeunesse de Spirou (Tome & Janry)
46. Machine qui rêve (Tome & Janry)
47. Paris-sous-Seine (Morvan & Munuera)

[edit] Original meaning

"Seccotine" is an old brand of fish glue, sold in France tubes or in small jars. The character name chosen by Franquin comes from this well-known glue which had a very peculiar smell. This is a kind of "Madeleine de Proust" for all past schoolchildren. The phenomenon was so important that the brand 'Seccotine' has now become a usual common name, or a friendly adjective designating somebody who behaves in a clingy way, like the character who pestily sticks to Spirou and Fantasio.^{[citation needed]}