Our hero, sitting on his ass.
Philémon is a Franco-Belgian comic written by Fred (full name Frédéric Othon Théodore Aristidès) across sixteen volumes published between 1978 and 2013.The story revolves around the titular character Philémon, a lazy layabout with an overactive imagination and his travels to the mysterious "Lettres de l'Ocean Atlantique", a chain of mystical islands that form the letters "Ocean Atlantique" (Atlantic Ocean in French) on maps and globes, with rules and physics highly reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland.
The series is notable for its highly surreal art and frequent Breaking the Fourth Wall (such as characters manipulating actual panels to move the plot forward). Regarded as one of the most original and poetic Franco-Belgian comics ever written, it has only just begun to be translated out of its native French as of 2014, a year after the author's death.
This work contains examples of:
- Agent Scully: Philémon's dad Hector. Even after taking a trip to the mystical world of the Letters, he steadfastly refuses to believe any of the outlandish adventures told by Philémon, his uncle Félicien and Barthélémy ever occured
- Borders on Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Hector's skepticisms prevents him from seeing many unusual going-ons, causing a self-enforced Weirdness Censor.
- Philémon's dad is also occasionally Not So Above It All. When all sorts of supernatural elements leak into the physical world, he dismisses them as usual… but takes time to chat with the ghost of an old friend of his. When the latter expresses surprise at this, Hector insists that he still doesn't believe in ghosts…
but that for an old friend's ghost, he'll believe in them a little. - Breaking the Fourth Wall: A defining characteristic of the comic. The position of individual panels is frequently abused and manipulated for its surreal effect, such as a character climbing down from one panel to another or liquid pouring out of the frame onto panels below.
- An extreme example occurs in during Volume 6 when the plot fails to progress forward and the protagonist can't figure out why they keep passing the same tree over and over again. Turns out the panel containing the next sequence has fallen over and needs to be straightened.
- Cloudcuckooland: "Le Monde des Lettres" (The World of Letters) itself.
- Down the Rabbit Hole: Occurs frequently since each entrance to Le Monde des Lettres can only be used once.
- Fish out of Water: Philémon in Le Monde des Lettres.
- Insane Troll Logic: What Le Monde des Lettres frequently runs on.
- Lazy Bum: Philémon. Spends his days idly wandering the countryside with his donkey Anatole and frequently dodges his chores and dad.
- Pen Name: Author/artist Fred's full name is Frédéric Othon Théodore Aristidès.
- Perspective Magic: One of the methods used to travel to the other world involves a magic telescope. By looking at a subject through either end, the subject is made larger or smaller in the same proportions as the magnification.
- Supernatural-Proof Father: Philemon's dad steadfastly denies the reality of the world of the Letters, even when he finds himself sent there. In later books, he is shown to be unable to even see characters from this world, and his mere presence becomes harmful to them.
