Le Petit Noël

Noël, or Le Petit Noël, is the main character of an eponymous Belgian comics series, and a secondary character of ''Spirou et Fantasio''. His name means "Christmas" in French. The series ''Noël'' was created in 1957 by André Franquin and Jidéhem and published in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Spirou'', while Franquin created the following work alone or together with Will.

Synopsis

Noël lives in the little village of Champignac. As Christmas Day approaches, he is more sad and unhappy than ever because he has no friends and his parents are poor and can't afford gifts for him. However, each year, Noël lives a good Christmas, either thanks to the Marsupilami or the Elaoin Sdrétu.

The atmosphere of the series was sometimes melancholic, as in some other of Franquin's work. The same atmosphere is also present in the '' Gaston Lagaffe'' series at the times of Christmas: the "miraculous" and idealized period of Christmas and New year is a recurring theme in Franquin's series.

Some of Noël's stories were more humorous: in one story he and the Marsupilami go to a sports stadium to watch a tennis match — only for the creature to ruin a wonderful game by catching the ball in mid-air.

Characters

* Noël is a small, shy, introverted, quite unhappy and unlucky boy. His schoolmates make fun of him.
* The Elaoin Sdrétu is a sentient automaton,https://www.lambiek.net/artists/f/franquin_andre.htm a resourceful machine able to guess and provide what a human needs to be happy. Its name comes from the French equivalent of Etaoin Shrdlu.
* Marsupilami is a friendly animal whose extremely long and agile tail provides many possibilities.

Publications in ''Spirou''

*1957 N.1027 (2 strips) ''La bûche de Noël'' by Franquin
*1958 N.1078 (2 strips) ''Les étranges amis de Noël'' by Franquin
*1959 N.1131 (short story) ''Noël et l’Elaoin'' by Franquin
*1964 N.1354 (4 strips) ''Joyeuses Pâques pour le Petit Noël'' by Franquin

Albums

* '' Le prisonnier du bouddha'' and '' Panade à Champignac'', two albums of the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' series drawn by Franquin, feature Noël.
*''Noël et l'élaoin'' was published in black and white by the Yann Rudler editions in 1978. It was reedited in colours in 1982 by Bédérama editions.
* , was published by Durango editions in 1986.
*'' Capturez un Marsupilami'', the seminal ''Marsupilami'' album contains a few stories with Noël, published 2002 by Marsu Productions editions.
*''Les Noëls de Franquin'', published by Marsu-Productions in 2006, groups all the stories drawn by Franquin and pre-published in ''Spirou'' in the 1950s and 1960s in relation with the Christmas period: covers, calendars, illustrations and some ''Noël'' strips.
*''Retrouvailles'', an album made under Franquin's supervision, with script by Serdu and artwork by Stibane, published in 1990 by Marsu Productions.

Sources

''Noël'' publications in ''Le Journal de Spirou''
BDoubliées

''Noël et L'Elaoin''
Franquin.com

External links

Official websiteLe Petit Noël
on MarsuProductions.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petit Noel
Belgian comic strips
Dupuis titles
Christmas characters
Child characters in comics
Male characters in comics
Comics by André Franquin
Spirou et Fantasio
Christmas comics
Humor comics
Drama comics
Comics about children
Comics set in Belgium
1957 comics debuts
Comics characters introduced in 1957
1964 comics endings
Fictional Belgian people
Belgian comics characters
Comics about anthropomorphic mammals
Comics about anthropomorphic objects
Comics about talking objects
Characters created by André Franquin