this post was submitted on 04 May 2024
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“BD” refers to Franco-Belgian comics, but let's open things up to include ALL Euro comics and GN's. Euro-style work from around the world is also welcome!

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When Franka met "Rix," i.e. how practical is it for main characters to find romance, anyway? (four pages, FR) [NSFW] (i.imgur.com)
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Someone in an Asterix forums recently complained that Obelix never got a proper love interest, and it got me thinking... I mean, it seems that across Asterix, Lucky Luke, Tintin and probably many other popular series, very few (or outright none?) of the main characters discovered a bona fide romantic partner, and I suspect that the difficulties of mixing romance with a humor format was one of the biggest reasons why.

That, and the fact that adding a love interest would generally mean that such a character would become part of the ensemble, which means another mouth to feed, so to speak. (more storyline & panels for them, etc)

This is kinda why I'm re-reading Henk Kuijpers' Franka series, tomes 14 & 15, in which Franka has a pretty exhilarating love / adversarial relationship with "Rix," an art thief she initially sets out to capture. It's sort of in the style of James Bond films like From Russia with Love and The Spy Who Loved Me, and I thought author Kuijpers brought it with a lot of style and interest:

Now, I suppose that the difference in Franka (compared to more directly humorous series) is that such a series only lightly relies on humor, and maybe has greater license to muddy the waters without getting bogged down. For example, "Rix" could easily have been killed off either immediately or down the road, with the spirit of the series suffering little or no detriment. (much like a Van Hamme series for example, such as Largo Winch and Lady S.)

Compare that to Asterix, Lucky Luke or Tintin, in which it would have been a notably tragic event, doubtlessly shifting the tenor of the series. For Asterix in particular it could have been plainly disastrous, offending readers along the lines of how Simpsons viewers were outraged by the episode which revealed that Principal Skinner was in fact a fraudster.

All that said-- I'm hardly some 'know-it-all BD/Euro person.' So maybe in some other series, particularly humorous ones, romance can work perfectly well..?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Regarding your last question, there is Valerian and Laureline. https://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2017/12/the-best-thing-i-didnt-know-about-valerian-laureline/

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Cool, thanks for that link! It seems there's a point being made there that somewhat echoes one of my own, in that while the two leads are affectionate, the albums themselves don't seem to devote too much time & space (haha) to them being romantic or outright sleeping together. That seems to reinforce the idea that such things might be at odds with the overall aim & philosophy of the series. *shrug*

In any case, Laureline was conceived from the beginning as a main character, right? So what I'm curious about is when a successful series later adds a main character via the mechanism of a love interest.

Smurfette from Les Schtroumpfs is sort of a sideways example, but in her case she was moreso just a main character being added that wasn't the GF of anyone in particular.

Or if you remove the romance angle, then the biggest examples I can think of right now would be the Tintin series adding Haddock and then Calculus. Altho they obviously worked out beautifully, there was always the chance that readers wouldn't appreciate them, requiring Hergé to 'fade them out' one way or another.

I feel like there's got to be an example when things like that don't work out, but I think it also goes to show why so many series have been cautious about that kind of thing.

EDIT: Oh wow, I just double-checked and realised that Laureline was not originally a colleague of Valérian, but rather a peasant girl from 11th-century France who joined up with him in the debut album Bad Dreams. So she technically was added to the series, but since we're talking the very first album... hmmm. :S

EDIT2: Ooh, I just thought of another candidate! That would be Nävis from Sillage (Wake in English) hooking up with a Human-like male and producing a son ("Yanno") who later joins her in the adventures.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I really like this query... It's something I never even considered withing the context of Franco comics. I do agree that tone Is probably a part of it, although I also feel that comedy can leave plenty of space for love interest. (It does n't always have to be dark, mysterious and full of tensions. Look at Gaston's M'oiselle Jeanne for example)

I think more than tone, function is reason to include someone or rather not include them. M'oiselle Jeanne for example, really only is dragged out when certain sides of Gaston's character need highlighting. As well as to complement the offices reactions to his inventions, being a lot more unconditional in her admiration than for example Lebrac.

So no matter how adorable Obelix gets when he has a crush, something Underzo does grant him on occasion, what would really be the point of him having a girlfriend from a narrative perspective? What kind of girlfriend could even survive being with this bachelor-type force of nature without just becoming another face in the village that gets to whoop his ass at the beginning of the book for leaving his menhirs all over the house, and kiss him on the nose when he gets back? It would be adorable, but I'm not sure if there'd be a point to it other than fan service.

Now I don't know a bunch about Tintin or lucky Luke. But what I do know about lucky is 2 things;

  1. he shoots faster than his own shadow
  2. he's a poor lonesome cowboy and a long way from home.

A poor lonesome couple doesn't quite have the same ring to it...

Edit; I've yet to give Franka a serious chance... After this, I might just do that

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

M'oiselle Jeanne is a solid example, altho only kind of scratches the surface, I think. From what I've seen, she and Gaston are stuck in a schoolboy - schoolgirl admiration stage without it ever becoming anything more serious. This allows the series to relegate her to the status of being just another office character who Gaston occasionally interacts with a little more closely, as you mention.

It would be adorable, but I’m not sure if there’d be a point to it other than fan service.

Yeah, I agree. It works for the chief's wife "Impedimentia" in English, but she's also a nagging, generally unlikeable character. It would be too disrespectful I think for Obelix' wife to be anything like that, and OTOH if she resembled Geriatrix' nameless bombshell of a wife, it wouldn't really make sense, either. Both Asterix and Obelix work best as free-spirits I think.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I really like how you describe that... schoolboy-schoolgirl admiration stage! Although I'd say its rather one sided for Geanny, as Gaston seems more occupied with himself.... But maby that is typical for that fase/age as well...

And again well put; being a free spirit is too much of a character trait for both Asterix and Obelix to take it away.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Damn, Franka is such a cutie and so strong and dominant at the same time! :P

Regarding your question, Animah comes to mind, she is introduced in the second issue of The Incal and instantly becomes the love of John's life. Technically she is introduced in issue one, disguised as a homöo-geisha but the reader does not know at that point. As far as I remember they never really get to have much romance/quality time together, since they are constantly fighting to save the universe though.

In The Gardens of Aedena, Stel and Atan start out as sexless humanoids who later transition into a man and a women who eventually fall in love with each other. Maybe this example is a bit far fetched but when Stel and Atan change into Stel and Atana that is close enough to new characters getting introduced imo.

Simpsons viewers were outraged by the episode which revealed that Principal Skinner was in fact a fraudster.

I still refuse to consider that episode canon and I never will! Experts often see that episode as the beginning of serious quality decline in the series. Skinner was a beloved core character of the show and they had built him up over years. To deconstruct such a character for the sake of writing a single under average quality episode was a sacrilege!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Damn, Franka is such a cutie and so strong and dominant at the same time!

I do tend to prefer female leads, I think because their stories tend to be more interesting, less gimmicky, and more 'telling of the human condition.' OTOH, I'm also a sucker for beautiful babes, and Franka is a nice compromise I think because she lets me be a horny teenager at one level, but also someone kind of awestruck by how clever and powerful she is as a character. So... yeah, lol, I agree!

So, Animah is maybe the best example so far after Rix, who Franka does have plenty of sex with (mostly implied, but still). I haven't read any Incal in a long time. :S

Btw, I just found out that in a later album Rix betrays Franka, and deus ex machina, is indeed promptly killed off, seemingly confirming my thoughts in the post. It can work for stuff like Franka and The Incal, but would be a disaster in other works.

I guess Stel and Atana is a little more iffy for me. That was one of the first Moeby stories I ever read, and I distinctly remember the male (Stel?) becoming obsessed with Atana and chasing her away. I guess in a later volume she finally accepted him, but then it was revealed that the whole sequence was merely a dream-fantasy, right?

I still refuse to consider that episode canon and I never will!

Haha, I can understand that. Personally I'm a bit torn, as I've always liked Le Retour de Martin Guerre and other imposter stories / films, but I guess I see yours and others' point that there was simply too much of Skinner's backstory to simply throw it all away like that, yup.