Génial Olivier (''Brilliant Olivier'') is a humorous Belgian comic series about a

child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...

. Written and drawn by

Jacques Devos Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

, it first appeared in '' Spirou'' magazine in 1963 and lasted a quarter of a century, ending with Devos'

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

in 1988. The series consisted mainly of one-page gags and short stories which covered several pages. There were few full-length adventures. The strip was also notable for the puns and jokes in the text.

Premise

Olivier Delabranche (i.e. ''

Olive Branch The olive branch is a symbol of peace and victory associated with customs of ancient Greece and connected with supplication to gods and persons in power. It is found in most cultures of the Mediterranean basin and became associated with peace ...

'') is a scientific genius well ahead of his time and his own age. Super-

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These programs ...

, various types of transport,

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

s, lifelike

hologram Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other Holography#Applications, applic ...

s, even the elixir of youth, he has invented the lot and more. Be it

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

, science holds few secrets from him. He qualifies for a dozen

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

s in those subjects and he is not yet a

teenager Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

! Olivier is in fact a little boy of about 10. Unfortunately, the efforts of this

go largely unappreciated by the adult world, including parents and teachers. Whereas he should perhaps be in an advanced school where his talents would be developed (as if they needed to be) or even a top

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, Olivier is in fact still stuck in a normal, everyday

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. The reason for this is that, science apart, in all other respects he is a dunce. In

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

spelling Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...

and

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...

, Olivier is at the bottom of the class and the despair of his teacher, Mister Rectitude.

The Pupil and the Teacher

Most of the stories revolve around the relationship between the little genius and his more down-to-earth teacher, with whom he is engaged in a never-ending war of nerves (nerves being the operative word when it comes to the teacher). While Mister Rectitude tries desperately to maintain discipline, Olivier comes up with all kinds of inventions which cause chaos all over the school. (As if to emphasize the conflict between teacher and pupil, the series was renamed ''M. Rectitude et Génial Olivier'' when published in book form.) Olivier's greatest pleasure is to take an invention to school which he will use either to play pranks on Mister Rectitude and/or other pupils or members of staff, or come up with ways to cheat in the exams. This, plus his inattention in class or his tendency to chat with his friend Flafla, results in lines and after-school detentions. During these punishments, Olivier tries out some other invention which causes further agro for the teacher and his colleagues. This results in more detentions, more inventions and so on and so on... In the latter years of the series, Olivier became more and more malevolent and his inventions tended to be destined solely to drive the education establishment (and Mister Rectitude in particular) besides themselves with exasperation. Although not entirely a

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as " mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly amb ...

himself, Olivier certainly knows how to drive other people crazy. But, as if perhaps trying to give the teaching profession its due, Devos did allow the ever-frustrated Mr Rectitude to get the last word on many occasions.

Characters

Titles

Olivier's adventures have not been published in English. Below is a list of the French book titles and their year of publication. Most of them are collections of one-page gags and short stories. Almost all the stories were written and drawn by Jacques Devos, with one being credited to

Frédéric Jannin Frédéric and Frédérick are the French versions of the common male given name Frederick. They may refer to: In artistry: * Frédéric Back, Canadian award-winning animator * Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor * Frédéric Bazille, Impressio ...

. When the stories appeared in ''Spirou'' they were titled ''Génial Olivier'', but the name was changed to ''M. Rectitude et Génial Olivier'' when published in book form. 1. ''L'école en folie'' 1974
2. ''Le génie et sa génération'' 1975
3. ''Génie, Vidi, Vici'' 1976
4. ''Un généreux génie gêné'' 1977
5. ''Le génie se surpasse'' 1984
6. ''Un ingénieux ingénieur génial'' 1978
7. ''Le passé recomposé'' 1979
8. ''Electrons, molécules et pensums'' 1980
9. ''L'électron et le blason'' 1981
10. ''Un génie ingénu'' 1982
11. ''Génie, péripéties et facéties'' 1983
12. ''Un génie est chez nous'' 1984
13. ''Un génie gai nickelé'' 1985
14. ''Un génie un peu nigaud'' 1986
15. ''Hi.Fi.Génie'' 1987
16. ''Le génie sans bouillir'' 1988
17. ''Le génie se multiplie'' 1989
18. ''Génial Olivier'' 1963
19. ''Le retour du génial Olivier'' 1964
20. ''Olivier baby-sitter'' 1966 {{DEFAULTSORT:Olivier, Genial Belgian comic strips Genial Oliver Fictional scientists in comics Fictional inventors Belgian comics characters Genial Oliver Genial Oliver 1963 comics debuts Fictional Belgian people Gag-a-day comics Humor comics Male characters in comics Comics set in Belgium