Belgique - Brabant wallon - Limal - Cubitus - 01

''Cubitus'' is a Franco-Belgian comics series, and the basis for the ''Wowser'' cartoon series appearing in the United States. ''Cubitus'' was created by the Belgian

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

Dupa Luc Dupanloup, more famous under his pen name Dupa, was a Belgian comics artist best known as the creator of Cubitus which later was turned into an animated series called ''Wowser''. He was born on 12 February 1945 in Montignies-sur-Sambre and di ...

, and features Cubitus, a large

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

dog, who lives with his owner Semaphore. Cubitus is known as ''Dommel'' in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, ''Muppelo'' or ''Pom Pom'' in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

, ''Teodoro'' in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and Доммель in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. His name derives from the old anatomical name of the

ulna The ulna (''pl''. ulnae or ulnas) is a long bone found in the forearm that stretches from the elbow to the smallest finger, and when in anatomical position, is found on the medial side of the forearm. That is, the ulna is on the same side of t ...

bone, supposedly derived from the Greek ''kybiton'' (elbow).

Synopsis

The series tells the story of Cubitus, a good-natured large, white dog endowed with speech. He lives in a house in the suburbs with his master, Sémaphore, a retired sailor, next door to Sénéchal, the black and white cat who is Cubitus' nemesis. A vast majority of the album publications collect single page gags, but a few gather collections of shorter stories or, in rare cases, one long story throughout the entire album. Some of the single gag albums or short story compilations are thematic, with for instance in "''Cubitus illustre ses ancêtres''" revisiting history of humankind, "''L'ami ne fait pas le moine''" being pastiches of fellow authors from ''

Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...

'' magazine or ''Les enquêtes de l'inspecteur Cubitus'' where he is a fictional police inspector.

Characters

*Cubitus: Hero of the series, he is a white dog with a large belly, a black snout and yellow tail. Initially a dog with hair covering the eyes, Cubitus ended up becoming still more anthropomorphic. Nearly entirely human in behaviour, he walks on two legs, has hands instead of paws, and is able to perform any human action, although he retains his canine love of bones. *Sémaphore: A retired sailor who is the "Master" of Cubitus, even if sometimes the relationship of master and dog can be reversed. In the series, Semaphore's role is mainly to create inventions that are intended to be functional and aid his friends, but in the end lead to trouble. *Sénéchal: A black and white cat, close neighbour and Cubitus' worst natural enemy. In longer stories he may be Cubitus' ally. *Ventenpoupe: an old friend of Semaphore, and a swindler.

Side characters

*Manuel de Cotalos Y Mucho Gusto, the ghost of Semaphore's improbable Sidecar outfit' pannier.

Publication history

''Cubitus'' first appeared in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine ''

'' on April 16, 1968. The series gained immediate popularity, and began album publication in 1972. After several years of gags and album publications, it became the title strip for a magazine of its own. The first publication of ''Cubitus'' was published by

Le Lombard ''Le Lombard'', known as ''Les Éditions du Lombard'' until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when ''Tintin'' magazine was launched. Le Lombard is now part of Média-Participations, alongside publishers Dargaud and Dupui ...

in December 1989, though it proved short-lived, lasting only six issues. In 2005, the series was relaunched by

Pierre Aucaigne Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

(scenarist), and Michel Rodrigue (artist) under the title ''Les nouvelles aventures de Cubitus''.

Bibliography

Dupa albums

# ''Du meilleur tonneau'' (1972) # ''Un oscar pour Cubitus'' (1973) # ''3e service'' (1974) # ''Tout en caressant Cubitus'' (1975) # ''Chien sans souci'' (1976) # ''Alerte au pédalosaure'' (1977) # ''Cubitus illustre ses ancêtres'' (1977) # ''La corrida des hippopotames casqués'' (1979) # ''Pour les intimes'' (1980) # ''Heureux qui, comme Cubitus'' (1981) # ''Raconte-moi, Cubitus'' (1982) # ''Tu le fais exprès ou quoi?'' (1983) # ''L'ami ne fait pas le moine'' (1984) # ''Cubitus et la boîte qui parle'' (1984) # ''Cubitus, tu nous fais marcher'' (1985) # ''Cubitus, chien fidèle'' (1986) # ''Cubitus, pas de salades'' (1986) # ''Cubitus, est-ce bien sérieux?'' (1987) # ''Cubitus, quand tu nous tiens!...'' (1988) # ''Cubitus, remets-nous ça'' (1989) # ''Toujours avec deux sucres'' (1989) # ''L'esprit égaré'' (1989) # ''Les enquêtes de l'inspecteur Cubitus'' (1990) # ''Cubitus, donne la belle papatte'' (1990) # ''Tout ça c'est des histoires'' (1991) # ''Cubitus, chien sans accroc'' (1991) # ''Cubitus se met au vert'' (1992) # ''Chat, ch'est du chien!'' (1992) # ''Copain toutes catégories'' (1993) # ''Cubitus fait toujours le beau'' (1993) # ''Cubitus, au poil près'' (1994) # ''Cubitus et les cumulus de Romulus'' (1994) # ''Cubitus mon chien quotidien'' (1995) # ''Un bouquet garni pour Cubitus'' (1996) # ''Chien indispensable'' (1997) # ''L'héritage du Pastaga'' (1998) # ''Cubitus ne mord jamais'' (1999) # ''Si tous les gags du monde...'' (2000) # ''Cubitus, ça n'arrive qu'à toi!...'' (2001) # ''Tu te la coules douce...'' (2002)

''Les Nouvelles Aventures de Cubitus''

# ''En avant toute !!'' (2005) # ''Un chien peut en cacher un autre'' (2006) # ''En haut de la vague !'' (2007) # ''Tous des héros !'' (2008) # ''La Truffe dans le Guidon!'' (2009) # ''Mon chien à moi !'' (2010) # ''Le chat du radin'' (2012) # ''La guerre des boulons'' (2013) # ''L'école des chiens'' (2014) # ''Cubitus a tout inventé !'' (2015) # ''Super-héros!'' (2016) # ''Vu à la télé'' (2017)

Short films

In 1977, the strip was adapted into an

animated short film Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

by the Belgian studio

Belvision Raymond Leblanc (born 22 May 1915 – 21 March 2008) was a Belgian comic book publisher, film director and film producer, best known for publishing works such as ''The Adventures of Tintin'' by Hergé and ''Blake and Mortimer'' by Edgar P. Jaco ...

Anime

In 1988, the strip was adapted into a Japanese cartoon series named ''Don Don Domeru to Ron'', which was re-titled as ''

Wowser "Wowser" is an Australian and New Zealand term that refers to a person who seeks to deprive others of behaviour deemed to be immoral or sinful. History The term originated in Australia, at first carrying a similar meaning to "lout" (an annoying ...

'' for US audiences. Dubbed by

Saban Entertainment Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International; currently operating under the legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by Haim Saban and ...

, it is the only part of ''Cubitus'' that has been translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

Impact

* Cubitus and Sénéchal appear on ten self-adhesive stamps launched by the French Poste in September 2006. * A statue of Cubitus, by Yves Cauwenberghs, was erected on 3 October 2002 at

Limal Limal ( wa, Nîmal) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Wavre, located in the province of Walloon Brabant Walloon Brabant (french: Brabant wallon ; nl, Waals-Brabant ; wa, Roman Payis) is a province located in Belg ...

, where Dupa spent the last 30 years of his life. * A mural painting of Cubitus can be seen in Brussels.

Sources

''Cubitus'' publications in Belgian ''Tintin''
an

BDoubliées
List of albums on Bedetheque.com

Cubitus profile
on Hyphen comics * https://web.archive.org/web/20080628212141/http://www.bdparadisio.com/scripts/detail.cfm?Id=290 ;Footnotes

External links

Cubitus
on Le Lombard
Cubitus
fan site {{in lang, de Belgian comic strips Comics characters introduced in 1968 Lombard Editions titles Fictional dogs Comics about dogs Bandes dessinées 1968 comics debuts Gag-a-day comics Humor comics Surreal comedy Fictional Belgian people Belgian comics characters Male characters in comics Anthropomorphic dogs Comics adapted into animated series Comics adapted into television series Metafictional comics Children's comics