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Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Shameless Pile Keeps on Growing: Suske en Wiske

Trip to a charity shop some time ago was very fruitful as I found a stack of one of my childhood's favourite comics Anu and Antti (original Dutch name Suske en Wiske, known in English as Luke and Lucy, Spike and Suzy or Willy and Wanda). In Finland it was published as mail-order comic in 1980s but the comic books were at that time often seen in second-hand bookshops. Drawn originally by Willy Wandersteen, the series is still popular in Belgium and Netherlands. However it is rather unknown in English speaking countries being shadowed by other comical adventure comics such as Tintin and Asterix.

It was a discount day so I got these for 1 € per piece.
 I should have sixteen more in my mother's basement. Someday I'm going to find them.

The main characters are temperamentical girl Anu (Wiske or Lucy/Suzy/Wanda/Bobette) and her orphaned friend Antti (Suske of Luke/Spike/Willy/Bob) who was adopted by Aunt Sanelma (Sidonia or Agatha) who is tall and thin. Their other friends are goofy middle-aged man Koikkalainen (Lambik or Ambrose/Orville) and prehistoric strongman Jeremias (Jerom or Jethro/Wilbur) who often solves the problems using his muscles. Professor Tietonen's (Barabas or Barnabas) inventions are useful but often cause trouble. He has space rockets, time machines and equipment for communicating with plants. Anu has a small doll Liisa (Schanulleke or Muffin/Molly/Sawdust) who is also an important character.

The stories have funny adventures with witty dialogue and some drama. During their adventures they have visited space and fought rebelling robots, saved an underground race of people made of copper, met ghosts who shoot bullets that turn people into ragdolls, and toy pirates made alive by magic varnish. In one of the stories monkeys turned intelligent and took over the world, why does it sound so familiar?

And because the nostalgia hit hard I also acquired this one:
Luke and Lucy: The Texas Rangers (original title Suske en Wiske: De Texas Rakkers)

2 comments:

  1. Näitäkin tuli luettua joskus penskana, mutta en koskaan pistänyt merkille että niitä on julkaistu niinkin paljon. Parisen viikkoa sitten näin eräällä kirppiksella muutaman myynnissä ja hetken tuumin ostaako vai eikö, mutta totesin etten varmaan lukisi niitä uudestaan kuitenkaan joten jäivät sikseen. Pitäisi varmaan kuitenkin ihan nostalgiamielessä pari hankkia jos tulee uudelleen vastaan. Olen itse asiassa huomannut, että muutenkin hieman ohitan sellaisia sarjakuva-albumeita joita tuli muksuna lainattua kirjastosta, kuten Asterix, Lucky Luke, Tintti, etc. Ja kun olen sittemmin hankkinut suurimman osan Asterixeista omakseni ymmärrän miksi en suuremmin sellaisia ole ostellut. Niitä tuli lainattua niin usein kirjastosta ja luettua samoja uudestaan ja uudestaan, että se sidos niihin on suuri osittain juuri kirjastokäynneissä ja kun ne ovat omana, menettää niistä se osan ja sitä haluaa kuitenkin hieman vaalia oikeanlaista kokemusta niitä lukiessaan.

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    Replies
    1. Mulla on vähän sama olo joistakin TV-sarjoissa (esim. MacGyver ja Ritari Ässä).

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