The Spiffy Adventures of McConey (Les formidables aventures de Lapinot) is a French comic series by Lewis Trondheim. It debuted in 1992 and ended in 2004. There are two types of albums in the series. Some are set in the present-day and recount the life of a young adult, Lapinot, his group of friends (among other Richard and Titi) and his Love Interest, Nadia. The other albums are set in a different time period and they parody a specific genre. Nevertheless, Lapinot, Richard and Titi also have the main roles in those albums.
See the recap page for the list of albums.
The Spiffy Adventures of McConey provides examples of the following tropes:
- Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Lapinot has long rabbit paws and does not wear shoes, unlike the other characters.
- The Casanova: Titi always tries to charm girls and he is often successful.
- City with No Name: The city where Lapinot lives is never named. It is called "the big city" ("la grande ville").
- Four-Fingered Hands: The characters all have four-fingered hands.
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: Richard is the Cynic, Lapinot is the Optimist, Titi is the Realist and Pierrot is the Apathetic.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Titi is sanguine (charming, undisciplined, frivolous...), Richard is choleric (passionate, hot-tempered, rebellious...), Pierrot is melancholic (conservative, perfectionistic, snobbish, depressed...) and Lapinot is phlegmatic (calm, humble, nice guy, slacker...).
- Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: All the characters of the series, except Lapinot himself who is a Barefoot Cartoon Animal.
- Funny Animal: All the characters of the series have a human body frame, they speak, they wear clothes, they have animal heads, but they have no tail. Lapinot has very long rabbit feet.
- Furries Are Easier to Draw: Lewis Trondheim chose to draw animals as an easy option.
- Furry Confusion: There are non-humanlike dogs, birds... alongside Funny Animals.
- Limited Wardrobe: In the albums set in the present-day, Lapinot generally wears a blue shirt, a grey coat and brown trousers. Richard wears a red pullover, black trousers and a dark green jacket. Titi wears a white shirt, grey trousers and a tie.
- The Prankster: Richard is fond of practical jokes.
- Sequel Number Snarl: The first album, Slaloms was first published in black and white by an independant editor (L'Association) in 1993. Then, three albums numbered 1, 2 and 3 were published by Dargaud. In 1997, a redrawn colored version of Slaloms was published by Dargaud under the number 0. Finally, the album number 9, L'Accélérateur atomique, was published before the album number 8, La Vie comme elle vient.
- Species Surname: In French, the surname of the main character is Lapinot, a diminutive form of lapin (rabbit). His given name is never mentioned. The other characters have normal given names and surnames.
- Universal-Adaptor Cast: Lapinot, Titi and Richard live in most albums in a contemporary setting, but they can be transplanted in The Wild West for a parody of The Western (Blacktown), The Edwardian Era for a parody of Gothic fiction (Walter), Victorian Britain for a parody of romance (Vacances de printemps) or the The '50s for a parody of Spirou & Fantasio (L'Accélérateur atomique).
- The 'Verse: The Spiffy Adventures without McConey (Les Formidables Aventures sans Lapinot) are set in the same universe: the events of the fourth instalment, Trop ouf, happen two months after La Vie comme elle vient and involve the same characters: Richard, Félix, Patrick, Alice, and Vincent.
- World of Funny Animals: The Funny Animal characters take the place of people. There are no people.
- World of Snark: All the main characters are snarkers.
