''Walter'' is a comic strip in the series '' The spiffy adventures of McConey'' (''Les formidables aventures de Lapinot'' in the original French language), by the popular French cartoonist Lewis Trondheim. It was released in 1996 as volume 3 in the series. An English translation, titled ''Harum Scarum'', was released in 1998. This is one of the fastest-paced books in the series, and the characters are constantly dragged from one situation to another without getting a chance to catch their breath. This volume is often considered by fans to be one of the funniest and strongest in the series.

Plot

This volume is set in a stock historical setting:

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in the late 19th century. Although it uses the same main characters (Lapinot, Richard, Titi) and gives them the same type of personality, this story bears no relation to the continuing storyline of the volumes taking place in modern Paris. The plot mixes the mystery, horror, and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

genres. A giant monster is seen ravaging the apartment of the missing scientist Prof. Walter, before being caught (and presumably killed) by the authorities. When Richard the journalist wants to take pictures at the morgue for his newspaper, they are told there never was a monster. An investigation follows in which they learn the monster is the result of a scientific experiment gone wrong. 1996 in comics Works set in the 19th century Comics set in Paris {{FrancoBelgian-comics-stub