''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 is mostly famous for its comic comics album, albums and magazines. Initially a French language publisher, it now ...

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 e ...

, a female electrical engineer of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

(

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and also into outer space. The stories are heavily technology driven, with concepts like robot

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

s ('' Le Dragon de Hong Kong''),

suspended animation Suspended animation is the slowing or stopping of biological function so that physiological capabilities are preserved. States of suspended animation are common in micro-organisms and some plant tissue, such as seeds. Many animals, including l ...

(''

La Frontière de la vie LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

''),

time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

('' 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 e ...

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'' (; ; both meaning "clear line") 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 no hatching, w ...

style, although having originally started out in the

Marcinelle Marcinelle (; ) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Charleroi, located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. Until 1977, it was a municipality of its own. The town of Marcinelle is renowned as the home ...

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

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

Rothenburg ob der Tauber Rothenburg ob der Tauber () is a town located in the district of Ansbach (district), Ansbach of Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia), the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. It is well known for its well-preserved Middle Ages, medieval old town, a d ...

depicted with almost photographic skill.

Publication history

Yoko_Tsuno_-_28_Le_Temple_des_immortels_-_extrait

''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 30 albums and has been collected in nine integral compilations.

Characters

Yoko Tsuno

Yoko Tsuno is an electronics engineer, raised in Japan but now living in Belgium. She is quite compassionate and has a knack for making friends. Yoko is also a skilled scuba diver, holds a black belt in

aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art which 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 practic ...

, and can pilot jets, 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. 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 Japanese-French actress and vedette, who had a career in both Japanese and European cinema during the 1950s and '60s. Early life Tani was born Yōko Itani (猪谷洋子) in Paris in 1928, to Japanese parents Zenichi Itani and Taeko Egi. ...

Vic Video

Vic Video (, 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 (, ) is the

comic relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

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 their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have ...

. 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 Vineans, 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 is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

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'').

Akina

A benevolent

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

which was once the controlling element in a spacecraft owned by Gobol, the antagonist of ''Les Exilés de Kifa''. When Yoko uses the ship to escape Kifa, the AI accepts her as her new master after Yoko christens her with the first name (of an old school rival) that comes into her mind. A copy of Akina accompanies Yoko in subsequent stories, stored in a hand computer.

Bonnie

A young half-African girl from Kenya who was sired by Emilia's great-granduncle in the early 20th century and taken in by his brother (Sir Archibald, Emilia's great-grandfather) and sister-in-law. Not feeling at home in Europe because of her mixed-race heritage and the resulting social prejudice, she accompanied Yoko and Emilia, who had journeyed into the past, back to the 21st century, where she has taken up permanent residence (''Le Maléfice de l'améthyste'').

Synopsis

first meets

Vic Vic, vic or VIC may refer to: People and fictional characters * Vic (name), a list of people, fictional characters and mascots with the given name * V.I.C. (rapper) (born 1987), stage name of an American rapper Places * Vic, Spain, a town and ...

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, Chinese, Danish,

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

, English, Finnish,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

, Icelandic, Indonesian,

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

, Norwegian, Portuguese,

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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and Swedish.

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. Operated by Bernd Metz, it mainly focused on English-language translations of European graphic novels presented in a series of high-quality trade paperba ...

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. Eighteen 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, * ''The Exiles of Kifa'' (''Les Exilés de Kifa''), published May 2022, * ''The Rhine Gold'' (''L'Or du Rhin''), published May 2023,

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

(

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

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 Comics set in Belgium Comics set in Japan Comics about time travel Comics about friendship Tsuno, Yoko Bandes dessinées Lombard Editions titles Science fiction comics