History Magazine / Spirou

* ''ComicBook/{{XIII}}''

While comics are the main focus of the magazine, a few pages feature other content, such as readers' letters, author interviews, games, and short written stories. Readers who subscribe to the magazine also receive "supplements" with each issue, in the form of gifts or mini-comics. Issues of the magazine have been compiled into "collections", with each volume collecting around ten issues.

* LighterAndSofter: Opposite to the DarkerAndEdgier example above, issue #4000 also features an alternate version of ''ComicBook/{{Zombillenium}}'' in which Aurélien was turned into a unicorn rather than a demon, and is working at "Ponyllénium", a theme park filled with rainbows, fairies and ponies.

* ''ComicBook/FranquinsLastLaugh''

* ''ComicBook/IdeesNoires''

* UnInstallment: Issues were initially numbered by year, meaning the first issue of a year would be marked as issue #1, then the number would be incremented until the first issue of the next year, which would go back to #1. In 1946, the magazine moved on to a more traditional numbering system, starting with issue #404, which corresponded to the number of weeks that had passed since the magazine creation. However, the events of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII caused several pauses in the magazine publication[[labelnote:Detail]]Only 38 issues were released in 1940 due to the German invasion of Belgium. Then, only 35 issues were released in 1943, and a meek 13 in 1944. Finally, the paper shortage of 1945 only allowed for 44 issues to be published[[/labelnote]]. As a result, issue #404 is actually only the 326th issue to have been published. This was {{lampshaded}} in issue #4078, which claimed on the cover to be the ''real'' issue #4000. Even though the numbering issue was acknowledged, this didn't stop the previously published issue #4000 from being a MilestoneCelebration.

The pages of ''Spirou'' are a collection of various gag-a-day and serial FrancoBelgianComics, most of which are either a mixture of adventure and humor or purely humor-based. Many of the series featured in ''Spirou'' have since gone on to become classics, such as ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'', ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'', ''ComicBook/LesTuniquesBleues'', and of course ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio''. The magazine was also where the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcinelle_school Marcinelle School]]" style of drawing originated, which contrasted with the "Ligne Claire" style of drawing favored by the competing magazine ''Tintin''.

* ''ComicBook/BouleEtBill''

* ''ComicBook/{{Seuls}}''

* ''ComicBook/{{Aria}}''

* UnInstallment: Issues were initially numbered by year, meaning the first issue of a year would be marked as issue #1, then the number would be incremented until the first issue of the next year, which would go back to #1. In 1946, the magazine moved on to a more traditional numbering system, starting with issue #404, which corresponded to the number of weeks that had passed since the magazine creation. However, the events of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII caused several pauses in the magazine publication[[labelnote:Detail]]Only 38 issues were released in 1940 due to the German invasion of Belgium. Then, only 35 issues were released in 1943, and a meek 13 in 1944. Finally, the paper shortage of 1945 only allowed for 44 issues to be published[[/labelnote]]. As a result, issue #404 is actually only the 326th issue to have been published.
** This was {{lampshaded}} in issue #4078, which claimed on the cover to be the ''real'' issue #4000. Even though the numbering issue was acknowledged, this didn't stop the previously published issue #4000 from being a MilestoneCelebration.

* LighterAndSofter: Opposite to the DarkerAndEdgier example above, issue #4000 also features an alternate version of ''ComicBook/Zombillenium'' in which Aurélien was turned into a unicorn rather than a demon, and is working at "Ponyllénium", a theme park filled with rainbows, fairies and ponies.

* LighterAndSofter: Opposite to the DarkerAndEdgier example above, issue #4000 also features an alternate version of ''Zombillénium'' in which Aurélien was turned into a unicorn rather than a demon, and is working at "Ponyllénium", a theme park filled with rainbows, fairies and ponies.

* ''ComicBook/Cedric''
* ''ComicBook/Dad''

* ''ComicBook/Mamma Mia''

* AbusiveAdvertising: The cover of issue #3479 shows someone holding a pair of scissors open around the paw of a ComicBook/BillyTheCat plushie, with a CutAndPasteNote stating "Buy this magazine or we'll cut Billy the Cat".

* ThirteenIsUnlucky: One of the longest {{Running Gag}}s of the magazine was the Curse of Page 13. In issue #2958, page 13 featured a 30-year old article from issue #1381. No explanation was given. In every following issue, page 13 featured comics that were either written in a foreign language, distorted beyond the point of legibility, or even part of a series published by a competing magazine. Editorial notes stated that authors that had been published on page 13 had fallen victim to accidents or into insanity. Letters to the editors even reported that [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou some readers had also suffered similar fates]]. Therefore, in issue #2967, the page was sealed off, and later left blank. It wasn't until issue #2970 that a solution was finally found: renaming page 13 into "page 12bis". Thus, to this very day, every issue has a page 12bis instead of a page 13. Issue #3681, a [[HalloweenEpisode Halloween special issue]], defied the aforementioned rule by having ''every page'' numbered as page 13.
* AbusiveAdvertising: The cover of issue #3479 shows someone holding a pair of scissors open around the paw of a ComicBook/BillyTheCat plushie and a CutAndPasteNote that says (in French): "Buy this magazine or we cut Billy the Cat"

* UnluckyThirteen: One of the longest {{Running Gag}}s of the magazine was the Curse of Page 13. In issue #2958, page 13 featured a 30-year old article from issue #1381. No explanation was given. In every following issue, page 13 featured comics that were either written in a foreign language, distorted beyond the point of legibility, or even part of a series published by a competing magazine. Editorial notes stated that authors that had been published on page 13 had fallen victim to accidents or into insanity. Letters to the editors even reported that [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou some readers had also suffered similar fates]]. Therefore, in issue #2967, the page was sealed off, and later left blank. It wasn't until issue #2970 that a solution was finally found: renaming page 13 into "page 12bis". Thus, to this very day, every issue has a page 12bis instead of a page 13.
** Issue #3681, a [[HalloweenEpisode Halloween special issue]], defied the aforementioned rule by having ''every page'' numbered as page 13.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Issue #4000 features a gritty re-imagining of ''ComicBook/{{Marsupilami}}'', in which the titular character is a serious and violent vigilante who fights criminals in the night, in an obvious ShoutOut to ComicBook/{{Batman}}.

* MilestoneCelebration:
** [[http://a401.idata.over-blog.com/1/12/58/25/201206/Spirou1000L.jpg Issue #1000]] had a cover consisting of 1000 Spirou heads drawn by Creator/AndreFranquin. Or rather, 999 Spirou heads, and one ComicBook/{{Gaston|Lagaffe}} head. The issue also came with a mini-issue titled "Spirou 2000", which tried to imagine what future versions of the series featured in the magazine might look like.
** Issue #3000 had a holographic cover, and came with an audio CD. Said CD featured audio tracks for several of the issue's comics, along with an original song titled "Héros de Papier".