Les Aventures de Spirou et Fantasio #2
Album #2, *Il y a un sorcier à Champignac* (1951, Dupuis), is the founding document of the Franquin-era Spirou universe — the first full-length, continuous adventure the series had ever attempted, breaking decisively from the short-format stories of the preceding volume. It introduces the fictional village of Champignac-en-Cambrousse together with its entire cast of recurring supporting characters — the eccentric mycologist Comte de Champignac, the pompous Mayor, the dutiful functionary Duplumier, and the squirrel Spip in his settled role alongside Spirou and Fantasio — who would collectively anchor the series for the next five decades. The story also marks the moment Franquin's visual style begins to separate itself from his mentor Jijé's line, even if the full 'Marcinelle School' graphical confidence was still developing. Its subplot — a travelling Romani family scapegoated by fearful villagers — gives the album an early humanist dimension that would become a hallmark of Franquin's storytelling ethic.
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The scenario originated with Henri Gillain, a Belgian mathematics teacher and comics enthusiast who was the brother of the celebrated artist Jijé (Joseph Gillain) — Franquin's own mentor. In the late 1940s Gillain submitted his ideas to Franquin in the form of a densely written notebook, using the pseudonym Jean Darc (a deliberate pun on Jeanne d'Arc); Jijé is also credited as co-author of the script, though Franquin substantially reworked the material, retaining primarily the 'sorcerer' figure and the village setting. The story ran serially in *Le Journal de Spirou* from issue #653 (19 October 1950) through issue #685 (31 May 1951), before being collected and published as a hardcover album by Éditions Dupuis on 17 November 1951. Franquin later admitted that Henri Gillain's original notebook — which he believed contained enough raw material for four or five more album scripts — was subsequently lost, and he was never able to locate it again.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the Comte de Champignac (full name: Pacôme Hégésippe Adélard Ladislas de Champignac), the eccentric aristocratic mycologist and inventor who becomes one of the series' most enduring recurring characters.
- First appearance of the fictional village of Champignac-en-Cambrousse and its cast, including the pompous Mayor (Monsieur le maire) and the meticulous municipal functionary Duplumier — both characters who remained fixtures of the series through subsequent decades.
- The album is the second in the classic Dupuis series but the first to tell a single, long, continuous adventure — a format that would define the Spirou et Fantasio series going forward.
- Script conceived by Henri Gillain (writing as 'Jean Darc'), Jijé's brother, from a notebook of ideas he submitted to Franquin; Jijé is credited as co-author, though Franquin deeply reworked the source material.
- Serialised in *Le Journal de Spirou* from issue #653 to #685 (October 1950 – May 1951); first collected hardcover edition published by Dupuis on 17 November 1951.
- The story introduces the Comte's signature mushroom-derived chemical experiments: the X1 (which temporarily grants superhuman strength) and the X2 (which causes extreme accelerated aging) — a template for the fantastical science-fiction inventions that recur throughout the Franquin run.
- Published in English translation as *The Wizard of Culdesac* (Euro Books, India, 2007); also translated into Portuguese and Swedish.
- Franquin stated in interviews that the Comte de Champignac was his favourite of all the characters he created, describing him as 'my ideal, my protector.'