History ComicBook / SpirouAndFantasio

* SympatheticVillainDespicableVillain: Among recurring villains, Zorglub is the sympathetic one as he often express regrets and tries to repair what he did wrong. Sometimes, he does wrong things accidentally or being tricked into doing it. Killing someone never crossed his mind, and the second animated adaptation turn him into a WellIntentionedExtremist to keep him redeemable. [[spoiler: Despite since ''The dark face of the Z'', [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor he's once again on the bad side.]]]] Meanwhile, Zantafio only had second thoughts once, in the end of ''Les héritiers'', and never since. Not having, like Zorglub, the excuse of doing it ForScience, his only motivation is {{Greed}}. He actually tried to kill members of his family (his cousin and [[spoiler: his uncle]]) quite often, and he's sometimes the one responsible for Zorglub to do bad deeds. Plus he's responsible for Marsupilami's disappearance, and is not used for comedic purposes like Zorglub.

* SympatheticVillainDespicableVillain: Among recurring villains, Zorglub is the sympathetic one as he often express regrets and tries to repair what he did wrong. Sometimes, he does wrong things accidentally or being tricked into doing it [[]] WellIntentionedExtremist

* SomethingElseAlsoRises: In ''Le triomphe de Zorglub'' (''Zorglub's triomph'')[[spoiler: Seccotine [[TheBigDamnKiss kiss]] Fantasio while he's wearing the [[JetPack fantacopter]] on his back, with the propeller retracted. The very next panel show the rode erupting spontaneously from the fantacopter, and the blades of the propeller unfolding without any button was pressed.]]

* TheBusCameBack: In 2013, Dupuis purchased the company Marsu Productions, which had the rights to Franquin's creations like Gaston and the Marsupilami. Since then, they have started re-appearing together with Spirou and Fantasio in promo images and suchlike. Most notably, in the 75th-anniversary issue of ''Spirou'', Marsupilami made a surprise appearance in a four-page story named ''[[http://spiroureporter.net/2014/12/02/scanlation-sunday-the-account-of-chompignac/#more-3719 Le Conte de Champignap]].'' He reappears in the series proper in book #55, ''Wrath of the Marsupilami'', with an explanation to where he's been all this time, and, more importantly, why nobody commented on his absence. [[spoiler:Turns out Zantafio used the Zorglwave to make the main characters forget about him. The Marsupilami is rather pissed about it.]]

** Spirou lies to the Nazi of being a Jew and is taken prisoner. He is placed on a train full of Jews on the way to Auschwitz.
** Fantasio is about to blow up a bridge just as a train of Nazi is about to cross it. [[spoiler:Spirou realize in horror that it's actually a convoy full of Jews prisoners and his friend Felix is onboard.]]

** Mr. Noirhomme in ''Ms. Jay, volume 2''. The man is ready to make dealings with the Nazi and the Soviets as long as he can make a huge buck. When things don't go his ways, he uses immoral and illegal tactics.

** Émile Bravo's take on Spirou, ''The Diary of a Naive Young '' and its sequel ''Hope Despite Everything''. Peace talks break down and WWII hit Belgium. Fantasio lose his apartment in a aerial bombing and is fired from his job. Spirou also lose his job when Hotel Moustique is destroyed. Both are struggling to survive with Nazi patrolling the streets, curfews, propaganda and anti-jews sentiment rising.

** Mr. De Sainteloi finds out from his daughter, Juliette, that [[spoiler:the Nazi businessman who wish to buy his share of the company [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII also plans to use his cargo ships to send Soviet's oil to the Nazi]]. Alarmed, Mr. De Sainteloi goes to warn his business partner, Mr. Noirhomme, not knowing he's fully aware of the plot. After Mr. De Sainteloi left to warn the authorities, Mr. Noirhomme takes precautions to get rid of him.]]

** In ''Champignac, volume 2'', the Nazi take over the count's manor and use it as their HQ to transmit and receive all their encrypted messages. This comes to bite them in their asses later in the war when Champignac is hired by the British Intelligence to break the code of the Enigma machine. The Count is a able to locate and make photographs of the very elusive instruction manual.

* RefugeInAudacity: In ''Chapmpignac, vol. 2: The Patient A'', Champignac and Blair go to Germany to rescue one of their friend held against his will by Hitler's entourage. They manage to locate him, but their car is wrecked and the alarm has been raised. They need to reach Switzerland which is a neutral country during WWII. [[note]]According to Google Maps, its a 619 km trip that take around 6 days on foot, not including hiding from Nazi patrols.[[/note]] To escape and avoid capture, [[spoiler:they reluctantly swallow pills of pervitin, a methamphetamine drug widely used by the Nazi to boast their morale and physical prowess. This allow the trio to make a daring escape on foot until they safely reach the border without food or sleep. They suffer from withdrawl symptoms and other side effects, but thankfully they haven't gotten addicted. So drugs are...good?]]

** ''Hope Despite Everything'' is also set in WWII. Spirou, Fantasio and other refugees are trying to flee to France. The Nazi bomb them and killed many. [[BystanderSyndrome France closes its borders to the refugees]], but it all become moot [[UsefulNotes/MaginotLine when the Nazi overun their country as well.]] During the occupation of Belgium, the Nazi arrest Jews and anyone they don't like. Reccuring characters are tortured and executed. Later in the war, the Allies finally arrive, but accidental bomb civilians.

* HypnoEyes: Victims of the Zorglwave who keep some of their personality will have blank pupils, while those who have been fully enslaved have completely blank eyes.

** ''L'homme qui ne voulait pas mourir''.

* ADogNamedDog: Spip literally mean "squirrel" in Walloon dialect (and so does Spirou, by the way).

* IAmNotWeasel: Due to how [[UnusualPetsForUnusualPeople an unusual pet he is]], Spip is frequently mistaken for something else. Villains often call him a rat, out of spite. Others persons innocently mistook him for a stone marten, a weasel, a field mouse, or even a small dog. In ''Alerte aux Zorkons'', Spip protest that he is not a flying squirrel, or a hamster when thrown over or put into a wheel.

* JerkassHasAPoint: In ''The Diary of a Naive Young Man'' and ''Hope Despite Everything'', Entrersol is Spirou's supervisor and a loudmouth jerk. [[BenevolentBoss Even the hotel manager dislikes him.]] However, Entresol has a very good reason to yell at Spirou: the latter is always late at his job and off slacking rather than carrying customers' baggages.

** Spirou too have such a policy, evidenced in ''Luna Fatale''. In order to make Spirou obey him, Vito Cortizone put an ExplosiveLeash around [[IHaveYourWife Fantasio's neck]], ready to explode in 58 hours. As Spirou try to take the key of the device in Vito's hands, the latter [[SwallowTheKey swallow it]]. Spirou have a knife in his hands at this point, and it look like he then plant it into Vito's stomach to get the key back. [[NotWhatItLooksLike Except not]]: Out of spite, [[PantsPullingPrank Spirou simply planted the knife into Vito's pants]], making the latter loose it. Killing TheDon to get the key, even as the risk [[YourHeadASplode that his best friend head explode]]], would just be crossing his moral horizon for Spirou. He then accept Vito's mission, and is protected by Luna meanwhile. The latter is TriggerHappy, and kill any Chinese mafiosi who shows up. Horrified (especially when he learn that she killed more than one guy), Spirou, stating that he'd rather have "the whole China on his back than blood on his hands", prevent Luna to shoot once again. Then he ask her to give him her revolver. Granted, a Triad member then taunt Spirou, assuring he won't dare to use it, but [[BulletDancing he shoot using angles that cannot wound the mafiosi]], forcing them to retreat.

** Spirou too have such a policy, evidenced in ''Luna Fatale''. In order to make Spirou obey him, Vito Cortizone put an ExplosiveLeash around [[IHaveYourWife Fantasio's neck]], ready to explode in 58 hours. As Spirou try to take the key of the device in Vito's hands, the latter [[SwallowTheKey swallow it]]. Spirou have a knife in his hands at this point, and it look like he then plant it into Vito's stomach to get the key back. [[NotWhatItLooksLike Except not]]: Out of spite, [[PantsPullingPrank Spirou simply planted the knife into Vito's pants]], making the latter loose it. Killing TheDon to get the key, even as the risk [[YourHeadASplode that his best friend head explode]]], would just be crossing his moral horizon for Spirou. He then accept Vito's mission, and is protected by Luna meanwhile. The latter is TriggerHappy, and kill any Chinese mafiosi who shows up. Horrified (especially

* SwallowTheKey: In ''Luna Fatale'', in order to make Spirou obey him, Vito Cortizone put an ExplosiveLeash around [[IHaveYourWife Fantasio's neck]], ready to explode in 58 hours. As Spirou try the simple solution by taking directly the key of the collar in Vito's hands, the latter finally swallow it.

** In ''Le groom de Sniper Alley'' (''Sniper alley's bellboy''),Vito Cortizone forces Spirou and Fantasio to go on a treasure 's hunt. When they are back, they explain that they found a parchment. But [[SubvertedTrope it's subverted]] as Vito apparently do not think that knowledge is a treasure, and try to toss Spirou, Fantasio and [[AndYourLittleDogToo Spip]] [[CementShoes into the Hudson river]] as a response. However, Spirou and Fantasio have time to explain that the parchment lead to about thirty treasures's hideouts, and Vito finally let them go. [[spoiler: [[DoubleSubversion Double subverted]] as in the next scene, Spirou and Fantasio admit to Don Contralto, Vito's great uncle, that they actually found thousand of parchments, back-up copys of the content of the vanished library of Alexandria. Had Vito learned it, he would had sold the parchments to the highest bidder. Spirou and Fantasio then chose to pretend that they simply found a sole treasure map, which could satisfy Vito's {{Greed}}.]]

** In ''Le groom de Sniper Alley'' (''Sniper alley's bellboy''),Vito Cortizone forces Spirou and Fantasio to go on a treasure 's hunt. When they are back, they explain that they found a parchment. But [[SubvertedTrope it's subverted]] as Vito apparently do not think that knowledge is a treasure, and try to be toss Spirou, Fantasio and [[AndYourLittleDogToo Spip]] [[CementShoes into the Hudson river]] as a response. However, Spirou and Fantasio have time to explain that the parchment lead to about thirty treasures's hideouts, and Vito finally let them go. [[spoiler: [[DoubleSubversion Double subverted]] as in the next scene, Spirou and Fantasio admit to Don Contralto, Vito's great uncle, that they actually found thousand of parchments, back-up copys of the content of the vanished library of Alexandria. Had Vito learned it, he would had sold the parchments to the highest bidder. Spirou and Fantasio then chose to pretend that they simply found a sole treasure map, which could satisfy Vito's {{Greed}}.]]

** In ''Le groom de Sniper Alley'' (''Sniper alley's bellboy''),Vito Cortizone forces Spirou and Fantasio to go on a treasure 's hunt. When they are back, they explain that they found a parchment. But [[SubvertedTrope it's subverted]] Vito apparently do not think that knowledge is a treasure, and try to be toss Spirou, Fantasio and [[AndYourLittleDogToo Spip]] [[CementShoes into the Hudson river]] as a response. However, Spirou and Fantasio have time to explain that the parchment lead to about thirty treasures's hideouts, and Vito finally let them go. [[spoiler: [[DoubleSubversion Double subverted]] as in the next scene, Spirou and Fantasio admit to Don Contralto, Vito's great uncle, that they actually found thousand of parchments, back-up copys of the content of the vanished library of Alexandria. Had Vito learned it, he would had sold the parchments to the highest bidder. Spirou and Fantasio then chose to pretend that they simply found a sole treasure map, which could satisfy Vito's {{Greed}}.]]

** In ''Le groom de Sniper Alley'' (''Sniper alley's bellboy''),Vito Cortizone forces Spirou and Fantasio to go on a treasure 's hunt. When they are back, they explain that they found a parchment. But [[SubvertedTrope it's subverted]] Vito apparently do not think that knowledge is a treasure, and try to be toss Spirou, Fantasio and
[[AndYourLittleDogToo Spip]] [[CementShoes into the Hudson river]] as a response. However, Spirou and Fantasio have time to explain that the parchment lead to about thirty treasures's hideouts, and Vito finally let them go. [[spoiler: [[DoubleSubversion Double subverted]] as in the next scene, Spirou and Fantasio admit to Don Contralto, Vito's great uncle, that they actually found thousand of parchments, back-up copys of the content of the vanished library of Alexandria. Had Vito learned it, he would had sold the parchments to the highest bidder. Spirou and Fantasio then chose to pretend that they simply found a sole treasure map, which could satisfy Vito's {{Greed}}.]]

** In ''Le groom de Sniper Alley'' (''Sniper alley's bellboy''),Vito Cortizone forces Spirou and Fantasio to go on a treasure 's hunt. When they are back, they explain that they found a parchment. But [[SubvertedTrope it's subverted]] Vito apparently do not think that knowledge is a treasure, and try to be toss Spirou, Fantasio and [[AndYourLittleDogToo Spip]][[CementShoes into the Hudson river]]as a response. However, Spirou and Fantasio have time to explain that the parchment lead to about thirty treasures's hideouts, and Vito finally let them go. [[spoiler: [[DoubleSubversion Double subverted]] as in the next scene, Spirou and Fantasio admit to Don Contralto, Vito's great uncle, that they actually found thousand of parchments, back-up copys of the content of the vanished library of Alexandria. Had Vito learned it, he would had sold the parchments to the highest bidder. Spirou and Fantasio then chose to pretend that they simply found a sole treasure map, which could satisfy Vito's {{Greed}}.]]

** In the short story ''L'héritage'' (''The inheritance''), Spirou gets an UnexpectedInheritance from an uncle, and have to do a long journey with Fantasio throughout Africa, in order to find the uncle's "treasure". Which consist entirely of whiskey bottles, while Spirou is a [[TheTeetotaler teetotaler]].

** In ''Le groom de Sniper Alley'' (''Sniper alley's bellboy''),Vito Cortizone forces Spirou and Fantasio to go on a treasure 's hunt. When they are back, they explain that they found a parchment. But [[SubvertedTrope]] Vito apparently do not think that knowledge is a treasure, and try to be toss Spirou, Fantasio and [[AndYourLittleDogToo Spip]][[CementShoes into the Hudson river]]as a response. However, Spirou and Fantasio have time to explain that the parchment lead to about thirty treasures's hideouts, and Vito finally let them go. [[spoiler: [[DoubleSubversion Double subverted]] as in the next scene, Spirou and Fantasio admit to Don Contralto, Vito's great uncle, that they actually found thousand of parchments, back-up copys of the content of the vanished library of Alexandria. Had Vito learned it, he would had sold the parchments to the highest bidder. Spirou and Fantasio then chose to pretend that they simply found a sole treasure map, which could satisfy Vito's {{Greed}}.]]

** In ''Le groom de Sniper Alley'' (''Sniper alley's bellboy''),Vito Cortizone forces Spirou and Fantasio to gon on a treasure 's hunt. When they are back, they explain that they found a parchment. But [[SubvertedTrope]] Vito apparently do not think that knowledge is a treasure, and try to be toss Spirou, Fantasio and [[AndYourLittleDogToo Spip]][[CementShoes into the Hudson river]]as a response. However, Spirou and Fantasio have time to explain that the parchment lead to about thirty treasures's hideouts, and Vito finally let them go.

* AsiansEatPets: Up to parody levels each time Chinese mafia is involved. A Chinese cook is seen pursuing a dog with a rolling pin near the end of ''Vito la déveine'', and Vito states you that you can't trust people who eat sliced dogs. In ''Luna fatale'', a Chinese shop owned mistake Spip for a small dog, and states that "We Chinese people love dogs". In the New York album, members of the Triad actually try to eat Spip, "a tradition", according to them.