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Revisionism and new dark origins for long-running characters have been all the rage in American comics since the mid-to-late eighties, redefining superheroes to reflect the rather more serious reality of the times we are living in. The classic French series appear to have avoided that up to now, but in reality it’s been done in more subtle ways with each team bringing something new and of the time, whether it’s through Blutch taking on Tif et Tondu ( Mop and Mopus ) or Emile Bravo reconsidering the origins of Spirou in the context of the war years in which the series originated. You would probably think that Marsupilami is no more likely for dark origin revisionism than Mickey Mouse, but here are Zidrou and Frank Pé with Marsupilami, The Beast . Marsupilami was created by André Franquin during the most famous run of Belgian children’s comic book series Spirou in the 1950s and 60s. Something seemingly part leopard and part long-tail monkey – Marsupilami is an essentially harmless crea...