Chlorophylle was a Belgian comics series and Raymond Macherot's best known work, alongside '' Sibylline''. It is a

fantasy comic Fantasy comics have been around as long as comics. The classification "fantasy comics" broadly encompasses illustrated books set in an other-worldly universe or involving elements or actors outside our reality. Fantasy has been a mainstay of fict ...

about anthropomorphic forest animals, including the title character Chlorophylle, who is a

dormouse A dormouse is a rodent of the family Gliridae (this family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are nocturnal animals found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They are named for their long, dormant hib ...

Description

Chlorophylle is set in a European forest, more specifically in the animal kingdom of Coquefredouille. It's a world in itself and a mini anthropomorphic version of human society. All albums center around Chlorophylle, a

who often has to solve problems and opponents who are much bigger than himself. The stories were originally set in a realistic natural environment, but after 1963 Macherot changed it to a more humanized animal world. Despite their cartoon animal appearance the stories were notable for their

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming o ...

edge.

Characters

* Chlorophylle: A red

with a black circle around his eye. He is smart, generous and brave. * Minimum: A mouse and Chlorophylle's best friend. He is smaller and more obese than Chlorophylle. Due to his stupidity and more impulsive behaviour he serves as Chlorophylle's

sidekick A sidekick is a slang expression for a close companion or colleague (not necessarily in fiction) who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to the one they accompany. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, ...

and

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 epis ...

. He debuted in the second album, "Chlorphylle et les Conspirateurs". * Serpolet: A white rabbit and good friend of Chlorophylle. He debuted in "Chlorophylle contre les rats noirs". * Bitume: An owl who is one of Chlorophylle's friends. He debuted in "Chlorophylle contre les rats noirs". * Torpille: An otter, also a friend of Chlorophylle. * Mitron XIII: A mouse who is the king of Coquefredouille. * Anthracite: A huge black rat who is Chlorophylle's arch

nemesis In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ( grc, Ῥαμνουσία, Rhamnousía, the goddess of Rhamnous), was the goddess who personifies retribution, a central concept in the Greek world view. Etymology The n ...

. He is the leader of an army of black rats who hungers for power and luxury. In many stories he tries to kill off Chlorophylle once and for all. Anthracite was such a colorful character that Macherot explicitly secured the rights to the character when he left his publisher Lombard. In Macherot's other comics series, '' Sibylline'', the rat character Anathème Percemiche is Anthracite's brother. * Célimène: The cat of a

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...

. He debuts in "Pas de Salami pour Célimène" (1957), where he threatens Chlorphylle and his friends to bring him some meat, in exchange for their lives. * Zizanion aka The duke Bihoreau de Bellerente: A

heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychu ...

who conspires to take over Mitron's XIII's throne.

History

Macherot created the series in 1954 and continued drawing it until 1966. After that date other artists such as Hubuc, Dupa, Greg,

Bob de Groot Bob de Groot is a Belgian comics artist and writer, born on 26 October 1941 in Brussels, to Dutch and French parents. Career While still a young art student de Groot got his first comics experience as an assistant to Maurice Tillieux on ''Fé ...

, Walli. and Bom took the series over until it was terminated in 1987. In 2014 "Chlorophylle" was relaunched by Zidrou and Godi. "Chlorophylle" was published by Lombard and appeared in prepublication in the Belgian comics magazine '' Tintin'' until the 18th album, when Macherot left to join '' Spirou''. The complete stories were republished by Lombard in 2012.

Animated series

The Belgian animation studio '' Belvision'' animated a few stories by Chlorophylle for television in 1954. Four stories were adapted, three in black-and-white ("Chlorophylle contre les rats noirs", "Chlorophylle et les conspirateurs" and "Les Croquillards sortent en noir et blanc") and one in color ("Le Bosquet hanté"). In 1992 the comics were adapted for TV again as " The Adventures of Grady Greenspace", a French-Canadian puppet series consisting of 52 episodes, each 13 minutes long.

In popular culture

In the Belgian Comic Strip Center in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

the permanent exhibition brings homage to the pioneers of

Belgian comics Belgian comics are a distinct subgroup in the comics history, and played a major role in the development of European comics, alongside France with whom they share a long common history. While the comics in the two major language groups and regio ...

, among them Raymond Macherot. In the room dedicated to his work everything is designed to look like Chlorophylle and Sibylline's underground home in the forest. Chlorophylle is among the many Belgian comics characters to jokingly have a Brussels street named after them. Since 2007 the Rue du Midi/Zuidstraat (not far from the

Brussels-South railway station Brussels-South railway station (french: Gare de Bruxelles-Midi, nl, Station Brussel-Zuid, IATA code: ZYR), officially Brussels-South (french: Bruxelles-Midi, link=no, nl, Brussel-Zuid, link=no), is a major railway station in Brussels, Belgium ...

) has a

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...

with the name ''Rue Chlorophylle'' placed under the actual street sign.

References

{{Reflist Belgian comic strips 1954 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1954 1987 comics endings 2014 comics debuts Fantasy comics Humor comics Satirical comics Children's comics Adventure comics Comics about animals Comics about mice and rats Comics set in forests Comics adapted into animated series Comics adapted into television series Fictional mice and rats Dormice Anthropomorphic animal characters Belgian comics characters Lombard Editions titles