Marsupilami is a Belgian comic book character and fictional animal species created by Belgian comic artist André Franquin. Its first appearance was in the 31 January 1952 issue of the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou. Since then it appeared regularly in the popular Belgian comics series Spirou & Fantasio, as a pet of the main characters, until Franquin stopped working on the series; the character's final appearance in the series during Franquin's lifetime was in 1970.
In the late 1980s, another character of the same species, distinct from the pet Marsupilami owned by Spirou and Fantasio, got its own successful spin-off series of comic albums entitled Marsupilami, written by Greg, Yann, and Dugomier, and drawn by Batem. The 1987 release of the first Marsupilami album marked the debut publication of the publishing house Marsu Productions, which was named after the character.
Marsupilami has since become a multimedia franchise, with multiple animated series, a feature film, a Marsupilami Sega Genesis video game and a variety of other merchandise. The asteroid 98494 Marsupilami is .
Marsupilami's adventures had been translated to several languages, like Dutch, German, Greek, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, English, Italian and several Scandinavian languages. The most recent English translations are published by the British publishing house Cinebook. More than three million albums of the Marsupilami series are claimed to have been sold by Marsu Productions.
In 2013, Dupuis bought Marsu Productions and its characters, thereby allowing a new production of Spirou & Fantasio adventures including the Marsupilami. The Marsupilami returned to the Spirou & Fantasio series in the album La Colère du Marsupilami, released in 2016.
Naming The name is a portmanteau of the words marsupial, Pilou-Pilou (the French name for Eugene the Jeep, a character Franquin loved as a child) and ami (French for friend).
The species' binomial name is given in Franquin's Spirou et les héritiers as Marsupilamus fantasii. Its specific epithet refers to the character Fantasio, who was tasked with finding a specimen by his late uncle. He successfully found one on his expedition to South America with Spirou and subsequently brought it to Europe, where it later became the pair's pet.
In Houba Banana, a 1997 album from the Marsupilami spin-off comic series written by Xavier Fauche and Eric Adam, its binomial name is given as Marsupilami franquini, referring to the real-life creator of the species, Franquin.
Appearance and behavior The marsupilami is a black-spotted yellow leopard-like creature with dog-like ears. Male marsupilamis have an incredibly long, strong, flexible, prehensile tail, used for almost any task. Female marsupilamis have a much shorter tail, but still long compared to real animals. Both the male and female are able to use their tail as a weapon, by tightening the end into a fist and the remainder of the tail into a springlike spiral for maximal force. This attack was responsible for the Danish and Norwegian translators choosing words similar to "spiral" over "marsupial" as the creature's name. Unlike the males, the females also walk on the tips of their toes. When the animal rebounds, he makes the noise: "Boing". Males are also drawn with their eyes not completely separated, as if the sclerae of both eyes have merged, while females are often drawn with two completely separate eyes. Female marsupilamis also have a different voice compared to the males. Males say "houba" most of the time, while females say "houbi". According to the L'Encyclopédie du Marsupilami, they are monotremes like the platypus and echidna, which explains why they lay eggs while having mammalian features.L'encyclopédie du Marsupilami (1991), Marsu Productions Like parrots and some corvid birds, the Marsupilami can also mimic human speech, and like an amphibian is able to breathe underwater as well as on land.
Specimens
The appellation "The Marsupilami" originally referred to the individual captured and then adopted by Spirou and Fantasio, which they never bothered to name because he was the only known specimen. The Spirou & Fantasio album Le nid des Marsupilamis introduces more marsupilami characters, none of whom are in captivity; the album is mostly concerned with a documentary-within-the-comic about the life of a family of marsupilamis living in the wild in Palombia. The later spin-off series Marsupilami, drawn by Batem, stars this family, and the title of the series, "Marsupilami", refers to the father in this family, who is also unnamed, and not to the pet Marsupilami owned by Spirou and Fantasio.
In these series, Marsupilami's wife is referred to as Marsupilamie (a female version of the name) but their three young are named, respectively, Bibi, Bibu and Bobo. Mars the Black is another specimen, which first appears in the album Mars the Black. A former captive marsupilami, he first finds it hard to live again in the forest. After failing to seduce Marsupilamie, he becomes jealous of Marsupilami and nearly gets into a fight with him. Later, he meets a black female marsupilami, named Venus, who becomes his mate. In Baby Prinz, another specimen, an elderly male who lives in a zoo, is featured. Altogether, that comes to eight specimens in Palombia, plus Spirou and Fantasio's pet.
Marsupilamis have been shown with multiple different fur colourations – yellow, yellow with black spots, black, white, white with black spots, and black with yellow spots. The most frequently seen fur colours are yellow with black spots, yellow with no spots, and black all over, as these are the variations seen within the main Marsupilami family in the Marsupilami comic series; these are also the fur colours that are regularly seen in the French animated series featuring the same family.
Comics
Spirou & Fantasio
The following albums of Spirou & Fantasio feature the Marsupilami: 4. Spirou et les héritiers (Spirou and the Heirs, 1952). First appearance of the Marsupilami. 5. Les voleurs du Marsupilami (The Marsupilami Thieves, 1952, after an idea by Jo Almo). This story picks up exactly where Spirou et les héritiers ends. 7. Le dictateur et le champignon (The Dictator and the Mushroom, 1953) 8. La mauvaise tête (The Wrong Head, 1954) (Only in a short story at the end of the album) 9. Le repaire de la murène (The Murena's Hideout, 1955). 10. Les pirates du silence (Pirates of Silence, 1956, with Rosy (writing) and Will (backgrounds)); followed by La Quick Super (1956) 11. Le gorille a bonne mine (Gorilla's in Good Shape, 1956); followed by Vacances sans histoires (Uneventful Holidays) 12. Le nid des Marsupilamis (The Marsupilamis' Nest, 1957), which introduces a family of Marsupilamis living in the wild in Palombia; followed by La foire aux gangsters (Gangsters at the Fair) 13. Le voyageur du Mésozoïque (The Traveller from the Mesozoic, 1957); followed by La peur au bout du fil (Fear at the End of the Line, 1959, with Greg (writing)) 14. Le prisonnier du Bouddha (The prisoner of the Buddha, 1959, with Greg (writing) and Jidéhem (backgrounds)) 15. Z comme Zorglub (Z is for Zorglub, 1960, with Greg (writing) and Jidéhem (backgrounds)). First appearance of Zorglub. 16. L'ombre du Z (The Shadow of Z, 1960, with Greg (writing) and Jidéhem (backgrounds)). Concludes a diptych. 17. Spirou et les hommes-bulles (Spirou and the Bubble Men, 1959); followed by Les petits formats (The Small Formats, 1960); both with Roba (art). These stories, along with Tembo Tabou, first appeared in a newspaper, Le Parisien Libéré. 18. QRN sur Bretzelburg (Q.R.N. over Bretzelburg, 1963, with Greg (writing) and Jidéhem (backgrounds)). A longer version was published in 1987 in a limited printing. 19. Panade à Champignac (Babysitting in Champignac, 1968; with Peyo and Gos (writing)); followed by Bravo les Brothers (Hurray for the Brothers, 1967; with Jidéhem (backgrounds)) 20. Le faiseur d'or (The gold maker, 1970) 24. Tembo Tabou (1958, with Roba (art)); followed by short stories 55. La colère du Marsupilami (2016, by Yoann and Vehlmann)
Marsupilami By the late 1960s, Franquin decided to retire from drawing the Spirou & Fantasio series, which was passed to a new artist, Jean-Claude Fournier. Franquin did not give permission for the character to continue appearing in the series after the first Fournier story, Le faiseur d'or ("The Gold Maker"),Franquin's official site (in French) in which Franquin drew the Marsupilami himself. Spirou's Marsupilami ceased to feature in the comics after that, and was absent from Spirou & Fantasio until 2016.
In 1987, Franquin launched a new series centering around the Marsupilami with the new publishing house, Marsu Productions. This series featured the Marsupilami family which had appeared in Le nid des Marsupilamis.
The first four volumes were illustrated by both Franquin and Batem. From the fifth volume onwards, Batem is the sole illustrator of the series.
The stories in the first two volumes were written by Greg. Afterwards, Greg stopped working on the series, and the next seven volumes were written by Yann. Various others have written for the series since; the most recent writer is Colman, who has received writing credits in the twelve most recent volumes.
The first published album of the series is La Queue du Marsupilami. In 2002, an album #0 was published, consisting of short stories featuring the Marsupilami, drawn by Franquin before 1987.
0. Capturez un Marsupilami (Capture a Marsupilami, 6/2002) (Short-Story collection). Art and story by Franquin. 1. La Queue du Marsupilami (The tail of Marsupilami, 10/1987). Art by Batem and Franquin, story by Greg. 2. Le Bébé du bout du monde (The baby of the end of the world, 6/1988). Art by Batem and Franquin, story by Greg. 3. Mars le Noir (Mars the Black, 3/1989). Art by Batem and Franquin, story by Yann. 4. Le Pollen du Monte Urticando (The pollen of Mount Urticando, 11/1989). Art by Batem and Franquin, story by Yann. 5. Baby Prinz (10/1990). Art by Batem, story by Yann. 6. Fordlandia (11/1991). Art by Batem, story by Yann. 7. L'Or de Boavista (The Gold of Boavista, 10/1992). Art by Batem, story by Yann. 8. Le Temple de Boavista (The temple of Boavista, 10/1993). Art by Batem, story by Yann. 9. Le Papillon des cimes (The butterfly of the summit, 10/1994). Art by Batem, story by Yann. 10. Rififi en Palombie (4/1996). Art by Batem, story by Xavier Fauche and Eric Adam. 11. Houba Banana (7/1997). Art by Batem, story by Xavier Fauche and Eric Adam. 12. Trafic à Jollywood (7/1998). Art and story by Batem. 13. Le Défilé du jaguar (The fashion show of the jaguar, 9/1999). Art by Batem, story by Kaminka and Marais. 14. Un fils en or (A golden child, 6/2000). Art by Batem, story by Bourcquardez and Saive. 15. C'est quoi ce cirque !? (What's this circus!?, 9/2001). Art by Batem, story by Dugomier. 16. Tous en Piste (Everyone to the ring, 6/2003). Art by Batem, story by Dugomier. 17. L'orchidée des Chahutas (The orchid of the Chahutas, 6/2004). Art by Batem, story by Dugomier. 18. Robinson Academy (6/2005). Art by Batem, story by Dugomier. 19. Magie Blanche (White magic, 11/2006). Art by Batem, story by Colman. 20. Viva Palombia (6/2007). Art by Batem, story by Colman. 21. Red monster (4/2008). Art by Batem, story by Colman. 22. Chiquito Paradiso (4/2009). Art by Batem, story by Colman. 23. Croc Vert (5/2010). Art by Batem, story by Colman. 24. Opération Attila (20 May 2011). Art by Batem, story by Colman. 25. Sur la piste du Marsupilami (4/2012). Art by Batem, story by Colman, Chabat and Doner. 26. Santa Calamidad (11/2012). Art by Batem, story by Colman. 27. Coeur d'étoile (11/2013). Art by Batem, story by Colman. 28. Biba (11/2014). Art by Batem, story by Colman. 29. Quilzèmhoal (11/2015). Art by Batem, story by Colman. 30. Palombie secrète (04/2017). Art by Batem, story by Colman. 31. Monsieur Xing Yùn (04/2018). Art by Batem, story by Colman.