Champignac
Encyclopedia
Champignac, or specifically Champignac-en-Cambrousse, is a fictional village frequently featured in the adventures of Spirou et Fantasio
by André Franquin
and the successive authors. The initial idea of Champignac is attributed to Henri Gillain
. The village was introduced in the adventure Il y a un sorcier à Champignac
, first published in Le Journal de Spirou
in 1950.
(despite the name's suffix suggesting a location in the south of France
), and is known for its prolific occurrence of mushroom
s. Mainly a farming community, the commune is home to several central and more obscure characters of the Spirou adventures, most notably The Count of Champignac whose château
is a prominent fixture of the region. The Mayor of Champignac, Gustave Labarbe, is also a public presence, in statues, billboards and in person. The Mayor's assistant, Duplumier is often seen on his bicycle, and the former pharmacist and town drunk, Dupilon, is frequently visible. Other inhabitants from the wide gallery of secondary characters are Noël, a little boy and friend of the Marsupilami
, Jérôme the policeman, Jules the who runs the local garage and filling station
, A. Tachetoux (French for "Stains-everything") the bookseller, and Eugene the grocer.
Spirou et Fantasio
Spirou et Fantasio is one of the most popular classic Franco-Belgian comic strips. The series, which has been running since 1938, shares many characteristics with other European humorous adventure comics like Tintin and Asterix...
by André Franquin
André Franquin
André Franquin was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best known comic strip creations are Gaston and Marsupilami, created while he worked on the Spirou et Fantasio comic strip from 1947 to 1969, during a period seen by many as the series' golden age.-Franquin's beginnings:Franquin was...
and the successive authors. The initial idea of Champignac is attributed to Henri Gillain
Henri Gillain
Henri Gillain was a Belgian teacher and comics enthusiast who on several occasions wrote scripts for Franco-Belgian comics publications in the segment known as Bande Dessinée...
. The village was introduced in the adventure Il y a un sorcier à Champignac
Il y a un sorcier à Champignac
Il y a un sorcier à Champignac by Franquin, is the second album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the first to tell a long intricate story in what would become the Spirou tradition, in contrast to the previous short format stories...
, first published in Le Journal de Spirou
Spirou (magazine)
Spirou magazine is a weekly Belgian comics magazine published by the Dupuis company...
in 1950.
Features
The village is placed in a rural region of BelgiumBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
(despite the name's suffix suggesting a location in the south of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), and is known for its prolific occurrence of mushroom
Mushroom
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
s. Mainly a farming community, the commune is home to several central and more obscure characters of the Spirou adventures, most notably The Count of Champignac whose château
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
is a prominent fixture of the region. The Mayor of Champignac, Gustave Labarbe, is also a public presence, in statues, billboards and in person. The Mayor's assistant, Duplumier is often seen on his bicycle, and the former pharmacist and town drunk, Dupilon, is frequently visible. Other inhabitants from the wide gallery of secondary characters are Noël, a little boy and friend of the Marsupilami
Marsupilami
Marsupilami is a fictional comic book species created by André Franquin, first published on 31 January 1952 in the magazine Spirou. Since then it appeared regularly in the popular Belgian comic book series Spirou et Fantasio until Franquin stopped working on the series in 1968 and the character...
, Jérôme the policeman, Jules the who runs the local garage and filling station
Filling station
A filling station, also known as a fueling station, garage, gasbar , gas station , petrol bunk , petrol pump , petrol garage, petrol kiosk , petrol station "'servo"' in Australia or service station, is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants...
, A. Tachetoux (French for "Stains-everything") the bookseller, and Eugene the grocer.
Role
During the course of the Spirou stories that have taken place in Champignac, the village population as a whole has been exploited as a "victim character" in several of the plots. The ways in which the population has been victimized are:- Il y a un sorcier à ChampignacIl y a un sorcier à ChampignacIl y a un sorcier à Champignac by Franquin, is the second album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the first to tell a long intricate story in what would become the Spirou tradition, in contrast to the previous short format stories...
, confused guinea pigs in the Count's mushroom experiments, they turn into an angry lynch-mob. - Le voyageur du MésozoïqueLe voyageur du MésozoïqueLe voyageur du Mésozoïque, written by Franquin and Greg, drawn by Franquin with assistance by Jidéhem, is the thirteenth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series...
, the village is devastated by a dinosaurDinosaurDinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
. - Z comme ZorglubZ comme ZorglubZ comme Zorglub, written and drawn by Franquin, is the fifteenth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the first part of Franquin's Zorglub diptych...
, the villagers are mass-hypnotized into angry, destructive vandals. - L'Ombre du ZL'ombre du ZL'ombre du Z, written and drawn by Franquin, is the sixteenth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the second part of Franquin's Zorglub diptych...
, the entire population is paralyzed by Zorglub's zorglonde stunning-ray. - Qui arrêtera Cyanure?Qui arrêtera Cyanure?Qui arrêtera Cyanure?, written by Tome and drawn by Janry, is the thirty-fifth album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the third of the authors. The story was initially serialised in Spirou, before released as a hardcover album in 1985...
, the villagers are being mind-controlled. - Le Rayon noir, the skin colour of the population is altered, that is, the predominantly whiteWhite peopleWhite people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
population turns blackBlack peopleThe term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
.