Les Chapeaux Noirs

''Les chapeaux noirs'', album in the Belgian comic series '' Spirou et Fantasio'', released in 1952. The album contains the longer story ''Les chapeaux noirs'' written and drawn by Franquin, and three shorter stories, ''Mystère à la frontière'' by Franquin, and ''Comme une mouche au plafond'' and ''Spirou et les hommes-grenouilles'' by Jijé. All the stories were previously serialised in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Spirou'' between 1949-50.

Story overviews

In ''Les chapeaux noirs'' (''The Black Hats''), Spirou and Fantasio go on assignment for ''Le Moustique'' and travel to USA, on assignment to report on the status of Wild West. Upon arrival they are disappointed to find a modern culture, but by chance meet a man who directs them to Tombstone, a town with all the western myths intact.

In ''Comme une mouche au plafond'' (''Like a Fly on the Ceiling''), Spirou surprisingly finds himself levitating in his apartment. This phenomenon turns out to be caused by the wizard neighbour whom Spirou and Fantasio must outwit in order to stop his mischief.

In ''Les hommes grenouilles'' (''The Frog-Men''), Spirou and Spip take the train to meet Fantasio in the Mediterranean village ''Cassis-sur-Mer'' where he currently lives in his boat while trying his luck in the tourism industry. But as crime flourishes abundantly in the area, they eventually find themselves in a dangerous maritime adventure.

In ''Mystère à la frontière'' (''The Border Mystery''), the heroes investigate a case currently reported in the papers, hoping to expose a smuggling ring responsible for bringing into Belgium a new drug, "Hicoine".

Background

The title story draws upon Franquin's experiences in the United States, when he joined Jijé and Morris on a journey to absorb American culture. While the other two harvested a great deal of material for their western series ''Jerry Spring'' and '' Lucky Luke'', Franquin limited his United States-inspired work to the shorter story ''Les chapeaux noirs''. Upon completing it, he went directly to work on ''Mystère à la frontière'', another short story featuring a fairly harmless drug, and from there started work on ''Il y a un sorcier à Champignac''. Since this became the launch of the series' stories told in long, in-depth context, this last prior work marks the end of the ''Spirou'' short story period.

References

Jijé publications in ''Spirou''
an

BDoubliées

External links

Spirou official site album index


Franquin site album index

Comics by André Franquin
Spirou et Fantasio albums
1952 graphic novels
1952 in comics
Comics set in the United States
Works originally published in Spirou (magazine)

{{FrancoBelgian-comics-stub