''Yoko Tsuno'' is a

comics album a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

series created by the Belgian writer

Roger Leloup Roger Leloup (; born 17 November 1933) is a Belgian comic strip artist, novelist, and a former collaborator of Hergé, who would rely upon him to create detailed, realistic drawings and elaborate decoration for ''The Adventures of Tintin''.

published by

Dupuis Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgium, Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines. Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis was founded in 1922 by Jean Dupuis, and is mostly famous for its comic comics album, albums and magazines. It is ...

in '' Spirou'' magazine since its debut in 1970. Through thirty volumes, the series tell the adventures of

Yoko Tsuno ''Yoko Tsuno'' is a comics album series created by the Belgian writer Roger Leloup published by Dupuis in '' Spirou'' magazine since its debut in 1970. Through thirty volumes, the series tell the adventures of Yoko Tsuno, a female electrical eng ...

, a female electrical engineer of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese origin surrounded by her close friends, Vic Video and Pol Pitron (see Yoko Tsuno characters). Their adventures bring them to, among other places,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

(

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and also into

outer space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...

. The stories are heavily technology driven, with concepts like robot

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

s (''

Le Dragon de Hong Kong ''Yoko Tsuno'' is a comics album series created by the Belgian writer Roger Leloup published by Dupuis in '' Spirou'' magazine since its debut in 1970. Through thirty volumes, the series tell the adventures of Yoko Tsuno, a female electrical eng ...

''),

suspended animation Suspended animation is the temporary (short- or long-term) slowing or stopping of biological function so that physiological capabilities are preserved. It may be either hypometabolic or ametabolic in nature. It may be induced by either endogen ...

(''

La Frontière de la vie ''Yoko Tsuno'' is a comics album series created by the Belgian writer Roger Leloup published by Dupuis in ''Spirou (magazine), Spirou'' magazine since its debut in 1970. Through thirty volumes, the series tell the adventures of Yoko Tsuno (chara ...

''),

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

('' La Spirale du temps'' and others), and even an

alien species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

called the

Vinean ''Yoko Tsuno'' is a comics album series created by the Belgian writer Roger Leloup published by Dupuis in '' Spirou'' magazine since its debut in 1970. Through thirty volumes, the series tell the adventures of Yoko Tsuno, a female electrical eng ...

s. Despite the often exotic settings and science-fiction plot lines, the stories generally remain realistic on the personal level between the characters and friendship, love and spirituality are some of the key themes of the series. The art is drawn in

Ligne claire ''Ligne claire'' ( French for "clear line", ; nl, klare lijn) is a style of drawing created and pioneered by Hergé, the Belgian cartoonist and creator of ''The Adventures of Tintin''. It uses clear strong lines sometimes of varied width and n ...

style, although having originally started out in the

Marcinelle Marcinelle (; wa, Mårcinele) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Charleroi, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Until 1977, it was a municipality of its own. Home of the comics publisher Dupuis, as many popul ...

style. When depicting real-world settings, Leloup aspires to be as true to reality as possible, with places like

Burg Katz Katz Castle (german: Burg Katz) is a castle above the German town of St. Goarshausen in Rhineland-Palatinate. The castle stands on a ledge looking downstream from the riverside at St. Goar. It was first built around 1371 by Count William II of ...

Rothenburg ob der Tauber Rothenburg ob der Tauber () is a town in the district of Ansbach of Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia), the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. It is well known for its well-preserved medieval old town, a destination for tourists from around the w ...

depicted with almost photographic skill.

Publication history

''Yoko Tsuno'' first appeared in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine ''Spirou'' on September 24, 1970 with the 8 page short ''Hold–up en hi–fi''. This and the following two shorter works ''La belle et la bête'' and ''Cap 351'' served as precursors for the first full-length ''Yoko Tsuno'' adventure, ''Le trio de l'étrange'' serialised in ''Spirou'' from May 13, 1971. Staying with ''Spirou'' for the following 30 years, the series still appears in the magazine to date. The series has accumulated 29 albums and has been collected in nine integral compilations.

Characters

Yoko Tsuno

Yoko Tsuno is an electrical engineer, who was raised in Japan but now lives in Belgium. She is quite compassionate and has a knack for making friends. Yoko is also a skilled

scuba Scuba may refer to: * Scuba diving ** Scuba set, the equipment used for scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving * Scuba, an in-memory database developed by Facebook * Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, either of two in ...

diver, holds a

black belt Black Belt may refer to: Martial arts * Black belt (martial arts), an indication of attainment of expertise in martial arts * ''Black Belt'' (magazine), a magazine covering martial arts news, technique, and notable individuals Places * Black B ...

aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in around 1 ...

, and can pilot both gliders and helicopters. This wide range of competences, together with her near-flawless behaviour, makes Yoko fall into the classic category of a

competent woman Author Robert A. Heinlein's famous listing of a range of competencies that his protagonist considers essential to be a well-rounded person. In literature, the competent man is a stock character who exhibits a very wide range of abilities and kno ...

. The flaw she does admit to having is the typically Japanese trait of valuing personal honour highly, which leads her at times to be trusting to the point of blindness. Yoko Tsuno's first name was inspired by Japanese actress

Yoko Tani was a French-born Japanese actress and nightclub entertainer. Early life Tani was born in Paris. Her birth name was ''Itani Yōko'' (猪谷洋子). She has occasionally been described as 'Eurasian', 'half French', 'half Japanese' and even, in on ...

Vic Video

Vic Video ( nl, Ben Beeld, but sometimes also referred to as Max): He has a strong personality, and is a close friend of Yoko (whom he seems to be in love with, though this is only hinted at). Before meeting Yoko, he directed live TV shows. He is often the voice of reason and prudence moderating Yoko's impulsiveness. Vic appears in all albums except ''Aventures électroniques'', ''L'Or du Rhin'' and ''La Pagode des brumes''.

Pol Pitron

Pol Pitron ( nl, Paul Pola, german: Knut Knolle) is the

comic relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

of the trio. His name comes from French "pitre", literally "clown". Before meeting Yoko, he worked as a camera operator under direction of Vic. Pol is often lazy and grumpy, as well as a real

gourmet Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by refined, even elaborate preparations and presentations of aesthetically balanced meals of several contrasting, of ...

. He is also playful and thus quite fond of children, and during a time travel adventure to 16th century

, he gains a fiancée named Mieke, which brings his childish side down by some degrees (''L'Astrologue de Bruges'').
Pol appears in all albums except ''La Pagode des brumes'', although he appears in only two stories of ''Aventures électroniques''. Where almost all other characters in the comics are drawn realistically anatomically speaking, in the early albums, Pol's nose and eyes are cartoonishly large and round.

Khany

Khany is a member of the extraterrestrial race of

Vinea ''Yoko Tsuno'' is a comics album series created by the Belgian writer Roger Leloup published by Dupuis in '' Spirou'' magazine since its debut in 1970. Through thirty volumes, the series tell the adventures of Yoko Tsuno, a female electrical eng ...

ns, who left their planet when it faced destruction by its twin suns and erected secret subterranean colonies on various habitable planets, including Earth. As of the end of ''La Forge de Vulcain'' and the fall of Karpan's leadership, she is also their undeclared leader who directs the return of the Vineans from Earth to Vinea. She is also undertaking expeditions to find lost Vinean colonies. Like Vic, she is quite careful in her actions. Khany appears in ''Le Trio de l'étrange'', ''La Forge de Vulcain'', ''Les Trois soleils de Vinéa'', ''Les Titans'', ''La Lumière d'Ixo'', ''Les Archanges de Vinéa'', ''Les Exilés de Kifa'', ''La Porte des âmes'', ''La Servante de Lucifer'' and ''Le Secret de Khâny''.

Poky

Khany's younger sister, and originally her twin sister, who was revived from

much later than Khany after their arrival on Earth and has thus remained a child. She is quite attached to Yoko and has become close friends with Morning Dew. She appears, nearly always at her sister's side, in ''Le Trio de l'étrange'', ''La Forge de Vulcain'', ''Les Trois soleils de Vinéa'', ''Les Titans'', ''La Lumière d'Ixo'', ''Les Archanges de Vinéa'', ''Les Exilés de Kifa'', ''La Porte des âmes'', ''La Servante de Lucifer'' and ''Le Secret de Khâny''.

Rosée du Matin

Rosée du Matin (''Morning Dew''; Dutch: ''Roosje''; German: ''Morgentau'') is Yoko's adopted Chinese daughter, as of ''Le Dragon de Hong Kong''. The child of two biologists who experimented with the artificial enlargement of animals, she was orphaned when her parents perished in a storm. She had been raised by her grandfather, but due to his deteriorating health, he entrusted guardianship to Yoko. She has so far also participated in Yoko's time travel exploits and her trips into outer space. Rosée appears in all albums from ''Le Dragon de Hong Kong'' onwards. She was inspired by Leloup's daughter, adopted from

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Ingrid Hallberg

A German

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

who becomes one of Yoko's closest friends after Yoko helped solve the mystery of her father's murder in ''L'Orgue du Diable''. While she has never met them, Ingrid also knows about Yoko's connection to the Vineans (''Le temple des immortels''). She has since appeared in ''La Frontière de la vie'', ''Le Feu de Wotan'', ''L'Or du Rhin'' and ''Le temple des immortels''.

Monya

Monya is a fourteen-year-old

er from 3872, whom Yoko meets during the events described in ''La Spirale du temps''. After changing history during this adventure, Monya is unable to return to her native time. She is adopted by Yoko's cousin and the two girls become fast friends. With the help of Monya's time machine, the ''translateur'', Yoko and her friends undertake several time-travelling adventures.

Emilia

A spirited fourteen-year-old girl of Scottish-Russian descent, who appears in the series as of ''Le Septième Code''. While she is not a skilled violin player as her mother was (and wanted her daughter to be), she demonstrates a natural aptitude for piloting. In ''La Servante de Lucifer'', she is also revealed to have some latent

telepathic Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

talent.

Myna and Angela

Two female Vinean nursery androids. While Myna is an older construct from before the Vinean exodus (''Les Exilés de Kifa''), Angela was built as a gift for Morning Dew based on a children's book Morning Dew had left behind during a previous visit on Vinea (''La Servante de Lucifer'').

Synopsis

first meets

Vic Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense): ...

and Pol when they catch her trying to break into a laboratory in ''Le Trio de l'étrange''. The moment the men confront her, the owner of the laboratory explains that he hired the Japanese girl to test a burglar alarm system. Vic, intrigued by Yoko's knowledge in electrical engineering and planning to do an independent television production with Pol as the cameraman, asks Yoko to come along. However, their filming operation turns out to become the first of a whole series of strange adventures, as they stumble upon a secret underground enclave inhabited by a highly advanced, blue-skinned people, the Vineans. This adventure forges a strong friendship between the three, inspiring them to stay together as the "Strange Trio", who join each other on surreal adventures on Earth, in outer space, and even the depths of bygone times. The main characters are based in Belgium, although adventures take place around the world and even in the Vinean solar system, 2,500,000 light years away. When the stories are Earth-based, they mostly take place in existing settings, such as the German locations

and

, or the Belgian city of

Books

Albums

''L'Écume de l'aube''

also wrote a novel with Yoko as the heroine, published in 1991: ''L'Écume de l'aube'' (''The Froth of Dawn'') (), which relates the childhood and youth of Yoko Tsuno.

Translations

Books from the Yoko Tsuno series have been translated from French to sixteen languages:

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

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 ide ...

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, Icelandic,

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

English translations

As of 2015, only a limited number of Yoko Tsuno comics have been translated to English. Books #3 and 6 (''La Forge de Vulcain'' and ''Les Trois soleils de Vinéa'') were released in English in 1989 under the series title, ''The Adventures of Yoko, Vic and Paul'' by

Catalan Communications Catalan Communications was a New York City publishing company that existed from 1983 to 1991 and was operated by Bernd Metz (1944–2012), which mainly focused on English-language translations of European graphic novels presented in a series of h ...

under their "Comcat" line. Some liberties were taken in the translation to English. For example, Yoko's last name was changed to "Suno", Khany was renamed "Kani" and the Vineans became "Vinans" from the planet "Vina". Plot transitions between individual episodes were also altered; for instance, at the conclusion of ''The Prey and the Ghost'' (original issue #12), Vic tells Yoko in the original version that he was contacted by Khany, leading to the events of issue #13, ''The Archangels of Vinea''; in the English translation, instead he tells her that it was her father who gave him a message for her, which in the Comcat line of continuity would lead to ''Daughter of the Wind'' (original issue #9). Comcat planned next on reprinting books nos. 8, 10, 13, and possibly no. 17, but the company went under. Sixteen books have been translated into English and published by

Cinebook Ltd Cinebook Ltd is a British publishing company that publishes comic albums and graphic novels. It describes itself as "the 9th art publisher," the 9th art being comics in continental Europe, especially France, Belgium and Italy. They typically tr ...

: * ''On the Edge of Life'' (''La Frontière de la vie''), published July 2007, * ''The Time Spiral'' (''La Spirale du temps''), published January 2008, * ''The Prey and the Ghost'' (''La Proie et l'ombre''), published July 2008, * ''Daughter of the Wind'' (''La Fille du Vent''), published July 2009, * ''The Dragon of Hong Kong'' (''Le Dragon de Hong Kong''), published July 2010, * ''The Morning of the World'' (''Le Matin du Monde''), published June 2011, * ''The Curious Trio'' (''Le trio de l'étrange''), published July 2012, * ''The Devil's Organ'' (''L'Orgue du Diable''), published July 2013, * ''The Forge of Vulcan'' (''La Forge de Vulcain''), published August 2014, * ''Message for Eternity'' (''Message pour l'éternité''), published August 2015, * ''The Three Suns of Vinea'' (''Les Trois soleils de Vinéa''), published May 2016, * ''The Titans'' (''Les Titans''), published May 2017, * ''The Light of Ixo'' (''La Lumière d'Ixo''), published April 2018, * ''The Archangels of Vinea'' (''Les Archanges de Vinéa''), published May 2019, * ''Wotan's Fire'' (''Le Feu de Wotan''), published May 2020, * ''The Cannon of Kra'' (''Le Canon de Kra''), published May 2021,

Chinese translations

The

–based Bayard Press Asia–Le Grain de Seneve Publishing Co. Ltd has published two Yoko stories in Chinese: * Le Dragon de Hong Kong to 大龍的秘密 (The Secret of Great Dragon), and * Le Matin du monde to 巴里島時光歷險 (Time-venture of Bali) in the 90's. The series title for these albums was changed to 海羽傳奇 (''The Legacy of Yoko Tsuno'').

Sources

General references

''Yoko Tsuno'' publications in ''Spirou''
BDoubliées

Citations

External links

Official website

Unofficial website

(

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

copy)
Unofficial portal

Yoko Tsuno character profile

Cinebook, publisher of English editions of Yoko Tsuno
{{Portal bar, Belgium, Comics 1970 comics debuts Action comics Adventure comics Belgian comic strips Tsuno, Yoko Belgian comics titles Belgian graphic novels Comic franchises Comics about women Comics characters introduced in 1970 Detective comics Dupuis titles Tsuno, Yoko Tsuno, Yoko Fictional Belgian people by medium Tsuno, Yoko Bandes dessinées Lombard Editions titles Science fiction comics