I know I know...it's against regulations for me to post two midweek reviews featuring the exact same sort of specific genre in a row! And since last week's post dealt with a BEETLE BAILEY effort created especially for the Europeon market the last thing I should be writing about are these GASTON LaGAFFE books that were translated into English with the lead character now going under the name GOMER GOOF! I once remarked that the new name really showed little imagination given the famed homo of tee-vee fame here in Ameriga, but since these were translated into English English 'stead of Amerigan English with all out the u's and "re"'s 'stead of "er"'s maybe Gomer has a different meaning across the seas than it does here in ANDY GRIFFITH-saturated USA.
Still I gotta really say I like these strips. Getting used to the direct translations is hard at first, but after awhile you too will get into the swing of things as you follow the antics of Andre Franquin's long-lasting creation. Sure you just might retch at the neo-SMURFS Euro style that seems to upset quite a few people but that doesn't really get to me since I must say I enjoy the exactness and craftsmanship that went into it all.
I also enjoy the various gags extant which kinda presents the title character as a cross between Beetle Bailey and Jimmy Olsen, a mail-sorter who works for the famed Belgian comic mag SPIROU where these strips originally appeared. And despite the strange foreign-ness of it all any tru blu worker should appreciate these comics despite their country of origin, since these one page gag sagas feature Goof either trying to avoid work, thinking up some strange ways to avoid work, thinking up strange invention that naturally goes haywire as well as indulging in a various assortment of hobbies as well as his own musical invention, the sonically-destructive Goofophone which is a variation on an African harp according to the story which introduced the thing (see pic on right).
Can't really go wrong with this even though like I said you have to get used to the strict translation which still might not explain the punchline. But it ain't like I'm gonna cry about it what with the really eye-pleasing art that captures those Euro automobiles down to a "t" and the detail that Franquin put into his efforts even though most people are sure to whizzz by the artwork to get to the following panel. I for one wouldn't mind seeing some of the very early GOOF comics from the late-fifties on as well as a few of the other Belgian efforts that I must say seem rather intriguing even if they would probably lose even more goin' from French to English than Marcel Marceau.
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