Spirou: The Diary of a Naive Young Man - Émile Bravo

As far as origin stories go, Émile Bravo's take on Spirou and Fantasio has been one of the most surprising. It's surprising because these two aren't exactly Batman and Robin, and we don't really expect to have origin stories for Belgian children's comic book characters, or really even need them. We didn't need one for Tintin and created around the same time - in 1938 - Spirou and Fantasio have remained largely unchanged throughout their adventures even as they are taken over and adapted inevitably with variations of tone by other creators over the subsequent years.

What is so impressive about Bravo's work on Spirou: The Diary of a Naive Young Man, to say little about the brilliance of the following four-part sequels collectively known as Hope Against All Odds, is that the artist/writer takes the pair back to the period of their creation in the years just prior to the start of WWII and the German invasion of Belgium. It makes perfect sense them to re-imagine them as products of this period of immense upheaval, which of course as comic characters, they are to a certain extent defined by the times they were created.

Cleverly, Bravo even accounts for the curious unfashionable bellboy costume that is Spirou's trademark by having him work as an employee at a Brussels hotel, the Excelsior, an orphan with little spare money to spend on clothes. Like any job there are perks and problems. Some of the celebrity guest are friendly and generous with tips, but the young man also has to endure being picked on by the arrogant doorman Entresol who has taken a dislike to him. He has also met a young maid Kassandra at the hotel and is about to embark on his first romance, one that unfortunately due to the girl's international origins and political affiliations is going to become a problem in the current climate.

In The Diary of a Naive Young Man we also get introduced to Fantasio, the journalist sidekick who always manages to come up with schemes that get the rather more level headed (and always somewhat naive) young man into trouble. Here he hopes to use Spirou as an inside source to get some celebrity gossip on a fashion designer and her boxer boyfriend, blithely unaware that there is other more serious matters taking place in the rooms of the hotel. A German delegate (Von Glaubitz, hinted at as a prototype for Spirou & Fantasio's comic evildoer wannabe Zorglub) is negotiating the takeover of strategic parts of Poland with a delegation from that country, and a pact that is going to be made between Germany and Russia that is going to take that one step closer to war.

Bravo tells this is the most impressive way imaginable, dealing with serious political developments at the same time as he depicts the lives of ordinary people in the city of Brussels. They aren't just colourful incidents, as the aforementioned character of hotel maid indicates, but in a way they all reflect the divisions and issues on the streets that are to lead to division, betrayal and more serious consequences during the German invasion. Even a football match that Spirou enjoys with the neighborhood kids highlights these divisions while at the same time providing the typical humour and dynamic you expect from a traditional Spirou album.

Also impressive is the artwork. The style is close to the classic clear line style of the period but with a little more of a gritty realistic edge. The period detail and street scenes are beautiful to behold, really drawing you into the period, the characters, the story and the horrific and tragic events that are about to unfold. The Diary of a Naive Young Man appeared to be just a historically informed standalone origin story when Bravo published it in 2008, and it's impressive on that level alone, but with the four part Hope Against All Odds published subsequently, Émile Bravo's run on Spirou has turned out to be a modern classic.

Reading notes: Spirou: The Diary of a Naive Young Man by Émile Bravo is published in English translation by Europe Comics as an eBook.