''Le Génie des alpages'' is a French humoristic

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series by

F'Murr Richard Peyzaret (March 31, 1946 – April 10, 2018), better known by his pen name F'Murrr or F'Murr, was a French cartoonist and comic book writer. He was most famous for the long-running series ''Le Génie des alpages'' (''The Genius of the Mount ...

. The series first appeared in ''

Pilote Cover of the first ''Pilote'' issue #0 ''Pilote'' () was a French comic magazine published from 1959 to 1989. Showcasing most of the major French or Belgian comics talents of its day the magazine introduced major series such as ''Astérix'', '' ...

'' magazine on January 11, 1973. In 1976 Les Éditions Dargaud started publication of hardcover albums.

Synopsis

The short stories are usually told in one-page segments, and unpredictably follow the lives of the series' cast. This includes the old nameless shepherd, his successor, the young Athanase Percevalve, the Dog Without a Name (an intellectual talking shepherd's dog), and a flock of eccentric, verbal sheep, led by Romuald the black ram. Other unorthodox characters appear, such as the Berthold the stupid St. Bernhard, Kattarsis the petite self-conscious sphinx, a lion, a fox, eagles, snakes, and "Death" in the shape of an attractive woman. Some of these recur frequently. There is usually no apparent

plot Plot or Plotting may refer to: Art, media and entertainment * Plot (narrative), the story of a piece of fiction Music * ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava * The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003 Other * ''Plot' ...

in any of these stories from the Swiss

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

. Instead, they often consist of different

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...

s and simultaneous happenings, making the overall impression of a totally absurd and secluded world. Nevertheless, F'murr always manages to maintain a kind of direction and realism in his otherwise pointless universe, and somewhere in between is the humour that his fans find hilarious but inexplicable.

Bibliography

# ''Le Génie des alpages'' (''Genius of the Mountain Pastures'') (1976, ) # ''Comme des bêtes'' (''Like the Beasts'') (1976, ) # ''Barre-toi de mon herbe'' (''Keep off My Grass'') (1977, ) # ''Un grand silence Frisé'' (''A Big Woolly Silence'') (1978, ) # ''Les Intondables'' (''The Unshaveables'') (1980, ) # ''Hi-Yo c'est l'écho'' (''Hey-Ho It's the Echo'') (1981, ) # ''Tonnerre & mille sabots'' (''Thunder & Thousand Hooves'') (1983, ) # ''Dans les nuages'' (''In the Clouds'') (1987, ) # ''Après nous le déluge'' (''After Us, the Flood'') (1989, ) # ''Monter, descendre, ça glisse pareil'' (''Climbing, Descending, Slipping Anyway'') (1992, ) # ''Sabotage et paturage'' (''Sabotage and Pastures'') (1995, ) # ''Bouge tranquille'' (''Quiet Budge'') (1998, ) # ''Cheptel maudit'' (''Cursed Livestock'') (2004, ) # ''... Courent dans la montagne'' (''... Run in the mountain'') (2007, )

Sources

''Le Génie des alpages'' in ''Pilote''
BDoubliées

Bedetheque ;Footnotes

External links

Album previews {{DEFAULTSORT:Genie des alpages, Le French comic strips Series of books 1973 comics debuts Comics about dogs Comics about sheep Comics about animals Comics set in Switzerland Surreal comedy Comics characters introduced in 1973 Fictional French people French comics characters Fictional shepherds fi:F'murr