Gaston Lagaffe vol. 18: Gaffes en
pagaille review:
If you’ve ever read a volume of collection gags starring
Gaston Lagaffe, you’ll know what to expect in this volume. It’s a collection of
joke strips by creator Franquin (famous for his run on Spirou et Fantasio and for creating Gaston and Marsupilami). The Gaston Lagaffe gags originally appeared
in Spirou magazine (as far as I know, anyway) and the albums are collections of
those serialized gags. This is one of the volumes published after Franquin’s
death in 1997 and it collects some of his last Gaston Lagaffe related work. The first half or so of this volume is
made up of assorted full page, one panel gags and various pages made up of four
“costume” gags (in which Gaston shows off an elaborate, funny or awful costume
for a costume party, only to reveal he’s worried about his ability to dance
while wearing said costume). It makes for an unusual read considering I’m used
to reading half page or full page gag strips but they still manage to delight
and provide humorous entertainment.
The quality of the jokes and the quality of the art and
storytelling vary a lot. Unlike previous Gaston
Lagaffe albums this one is a mishmash of gags selected from various periods
throughout the character’s publication. All serious fans of Gaston Lagaffe know that the albums have
a complicated publication history and it’s been common to see old and new gags
present in albums before but this takes it to a whole new level. Once you get
past the halfway mark though, the volume settles into the regular format of one
page gag strips. It’s a good collection of gags but the shift in the type of
jokes from the first and second half is a little jarring, if only because the
first half feels so light and somewhat insubstantial. Not so much because of
the quality of the art and the jokes themselves but mostly because this volume
isn’t any larger previous Gaston
albums and I was getting worried that it would make for an incredibly short
read. I was delighted to see that the book changed to its regular format later
on in the same volume.
As for the jokes themselves, they’re good. They’re not
all great but they’re entertaining and well executed for the most part. As much
as dislike the variation in style of the gags in this collection, it allows for
an interesting comparison of which format Gaston
Lagaffe works best. I enjoyed the single page or single panel jokes but for
me, I really prefer the half page or full page strips. I also want to point out
that I don’t think this is a good album to introduce new readers to the series.
Most of the jokes will still work while other jokes will lack a certain depth
if the reader is unfamiliar with the characters that show up without
introduction. Since they pop up randomly and without any consistency throughout
the book, a new reader might think they’re just random characters and not
members of the regular cast. If you’re looking for roaring laughs, a more consistent
Gaston, or the best of what the
series has to offer, I suggest you pick up on of the classic albums. With over fifteen
to choose from I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
Seeing a mix of old gags with some of Franquin’s last few
gag strips, I can’t help but think that Marsu Production seems to be going
about collection Gaston Lagaffe it in
all the wrong ways. I would love to see a definitive multi-volume hardcover
collection of all Gaston related
material. You could include production notes, interviews, and another other
assortment of supplementary material. I’m thinking of something that would
honour Franquin and what is considered to be one of his best creations. I think
Marsu Production could learn a few lessons from the likes of Fantagraphics and
IDW, which have done an excellent job reprinting classic comic strips like
Charles Schulz’s Peanuts and Berkeley
Breathed’s Bloom County,
respectively.
My review is based
on the French edition published by Marsu Production in 2009.
Les aventures de
Tintin: Vol 714 pour Sydney (Flight 714 to Sydney):
One of the series of bande dessinée that I grew up
reading was Les aventures de Tintin.
To this day I still consider Hergé to be one of the great comics creators but
everyone in a while I reread one of his works that makes me doubt it. Vol 714 pour Sydney is one of his more disappointing
reads. Unlike many of his earlier works that have suffered a great deal to the
critical eye of modern audiences, specifically readers who make claims of
sexisms, racisms and other controversial issues, this album exemplifies another
one of Hergé’s shortcomings as a writer/artist: sometime he’s down right
boring.
This album is boring, not in and of itself, no. It’s
boring when compare to other works in the Tintin
series. Everything good about this book can be compared to another Tintin story where Hergé did it so much
better. The album can be divided into three parts. The first part is all setup
but it’s the most enjoyable because, at this point in his career, Hergé is a
skilled storyteller and his makes it a considerably good read. Tintin, Milou, capitaine
Haddock and Professeur Tournesol are in an airport and nothing appears to be
happening but really, what Hergé is doing, is having his very well defined
characters interact superbly with strangers and old friends alike. It gives you
the sense that yet another excellent Tintin
adventure is about to begin.
By the second part of the book though, things start to go
downhill. Tintin and his friends end up what can only be described as a run of the
mill adventure story. It lacks what made most of Tintin’s adventures
interesting: an intriguing situation, intriguing characters, an actual plot.
Instead, all we get is Tintin, Haddock and a few other characters running
around getting tired up, shot at and beat up. None of it seems to matter
because Hergé completely failed to give the reader any reason to be emotionally
involved in the story. At this point the reader, like the characters, is just
going through the motions.
By the time the third part begins, it’s probably best to
just close the book and put it back on the shelf because things get weird.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Things have gotten weird in Tintin before to great effect and I
happen to enjoy weird stories. The problem with the way things turn out in this
story is that it all feels too easy, overly silly, inconsequential to the story
and, most important of all, easy and cheap. It’s not only a bad way to continue
the story of the album but it’s quite simply a really bad way to end a story.
The island one which Tintin and his friends have been on for most of the book
turns out to be site that is regularly visited by aliens. Aliens that end up
saving the gang from a violent volcanic eruption . . . or did it? The
characters don’t remember because they were conveniently hypnotized before the
rescue.
I picked up this volume because I was at my parent’s
house a few weekends ago and I wanted to read a Tintin story. I grabbed some of my favourites and I also grabbed
this one because I didn’t remember much about it. Well, now I remember a great
deal too much about it. It’s definitively one of the most disappointing Tintin albums and I really recommend you
avoid it, unless you’ve read all of the others and you really want to read all
of Tintin’s stories. My only consolation is that I have a small stack of my
favourite stories by Hergé sitting in the next room. I’ll have to read a few
this weekend to help me forget the mess that is Vol 714 pour Sydney.
My review is based
on the French edition published by Casterman in 1993.
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