Hacker News Reader

Comment by magicalhippo | Hacker News Reader

As well as Tintin, I also got Spirou[1], and my personal favorite, Gaston[2]. Gaston was more short format, but the slapstick humor and absurd scenarios really resonated with me as a kid.

They were translated to Norwegian and came in bound books. Still have them.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirou_%26_Fantasio

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_(comics)

View on HN

Wow, haven't seen those images in a long time. I can't recall where I read this Gaston comic—translated of course—but I have never laughed so much at comic strips in my life. I still remember that cigarette machine he built as well as alcoholmeter.

Should have been made into cartoon series, but seeing how old it is I wonder if it was before its time. It really had an originality unlike anything I've read before or since.

It's The Office of the 50s-80s.

Amazingly it wasn't translated into English until 2017, which is probably why it's lesser known outside of Europe. I assume this is because the translation rights/contracts with Mr. De Mesmaeker took a long time to get signed.

If you like cartoons and find a comic of Gaston somewhere in USA, just grab it. Is a gem.

Oh man I remember Gaston, I found some books in the library as a kid and loved them. I distinctly remember his car, he once modified it to run on wood-gas.

As a Spaniard, Gaston and such were the main reference for the Bruguera School (Mortadelo y Filemón and such).

More than a reference. Ibañez, the creator of Mortadelo stole a lot from the creator of Gaston. He even created a character, Sacarino that was an obvious plagiarism (a mix of Gaston and Spirou). When pressed by deadlines the young Ibañez recycled entire vignettes and old histories redrawn with his own characters. He disliked the character but it grow so popular that couldn't stop drawing it. Finally Ibañez removed the character and apologized to the master Franquin for that.

Sacarino didn't end until the 80's. The point is Bruguera was highly exploitative with crazy deadlines and tons of short stories published, even from ghost writers. Ibañez was milked down. If he had a slower pace, yes, it could still create long story albums similar to the Franco-Belgian trend, but with its own detailed style. Such as the ones from El Sulfato Atómico and Valor y Al Toro, where you can see the obvious inspration from Gaston/Spirou, but you can also spot his own style on depicting the environment. Don't blame Ibañez, but the publisher.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com