Champignac, or specifically Champignac-en-Cambrousse, is a fictional village frequently featured in the adventures of '' Spirou et Fantasio'' by André Franquin and the successive authors. The initial idea of Champignac is attributed to

Henri Gillain Henri Gillain (1913 – 10 August 1999) was a Belgian teacher and comics enthusiast who on several occasions wrote scripts for Franco-Belgian comics publications in the segment known as Bande Dessinée. He was also the brother of Joseph Gillain ...

. The village was introduced in the adventure '' Il y a un sorcier à Champignac'', first published in '' Spirou'' magazine in 1950.

Features

The village is placed in a rural region of

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 ...

(despite the name's suffix suggesting a location in the south of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

), and is known for its prolific occurrence of

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

s. Mainly a farming community, the commune is home to several central and more obscure characters of the ''Spirou'' adventures, most notably

the Count of Champignac The long-running Franco-Belgian comic series ''Spirou and Fantasio'' has a number of major and minor recurring characters. Main characters Spirou Spirou is the main character of this series. Fantasio Fantasio is introduced by Jijé in 1943 ...

whose

château A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. No ...

is a prominent fixture of the region. The Mayor of Champignac, Gustave Labarbe, is also a public presence, in statues, billboards and in person. The Mayor's assistant, Duplumier is often seen on his bicycle, and the former pharmacist and town drunk, Dupilon, is frequently visible. Other inhabitants from the wide gallery of secondary characters are Noël, a little boy and friend of the Marsupilami, Jérôme the policeman, Jules the who runs the local garage and

filling station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasol ...

, A. Tachetoux (French for "Stains-everything") the bookseller, and Eugene the grocer.

Role

During the course of the ''Spirou'' stories that have taken place in Champignac, the village population as a whole has been exploited as a "victim character" in several of the plots. The ways in which the population has been victimized are: *'' Il y a un sorcier à Champignac'': confused

guinea pigs The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus '' Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ...

in the Count's mushroom experiments, they turn into an angry lynch-mob. *'' Le voyageur du Mésozoïque'': the village is devastated by a

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

. *''

Z comme Zorglub ''Z comme Zorglub'', written and drawn by Franquin, is the fifteenth album of the '' Spirou et Fantasio'' series, and the first part of Franquin's Zorglub diptych. The story was initially serialised in '' Spirou'' magazine before its release as a ...

'': the villagers are mass-hypnotized into angry, destructive vandals. *''

L'ombre du Z ''L'ombre du Z'', written and drawn by Franquin with Greg and Jidéhem, is the sixteenth album of the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' series, and the second part of Franquin's Zorglub diptych. The story was initially serialised in '' Spirou'' magazine, be ...

'': the entire population is paralyzed by

Zorglub Zorglub is a fictional character in the Belgian comic strip '' Spirou et Fantasio'', created by Greg and André Franquin, and first appeared in the serialised story ''Z comme Zorglub'' in '' Spirou'' magazine in 1959, later published in the di ...

's ''zorglonde'' stunning-ray. *'' Qui arrêtera Cyanure?'': the villagers are being mind-controlled. *'' Le Rayon noir'': the predominantly

white White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...

population is turned

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

References

Franquin publications dans ''Le Journal de Spirou''
BDoubliées

External links

Spirou official site albums

Franquin site Spirou albums
Fictional populated places Fictional locations in comics Spirou et Fantasio 1950 in comics Belgium in fiction {{FrancoBelgian-comics-stub