Is Dupuis' philosophy out-of-style?

Aww, Dupuis! The famous Marcinelle book-publishing that was the home for any iconic characters, such classics like The Smurfs, Bobby & Bill, Lucky Luke, Gaston, Michel Jean, Buck Danny to contemporary ones likes Kid Paddle to of course... the home of Spirou and reason why it still exists. It was a "factory of heroes" like says a book featuring very weird characters designs faces in the back and rear cover that date of 2022. But then, it's only in Belgium they known their importance. Anywhere, it's like a freak show that confuse culture and marketing.

I don't know who have drawn the cover that featuring the title-song of the Provence's Spirou Park. (Such odd to have a park in its name after years of mediocre results) It's for once, pretty neat and on-model; much better than that awkward looks of characters that becoming the standard in late times by be almost the results of watching too much lousy Teletoon cartoons.

But there's lots of thing to discern here: Is anything from Dupuis is still relevant thesedays, on an age kids read more Mangas and superheroes comics made in the America? Why all these retreads of the same mascot character by be close to be a fanfic? Why one of its brand-newer series named Elliot au Collège always reminds me of the Canadian kids cartoon Ollie's Pack?

There is still good nuggets here and there. Like the Dad series with a single-father raising four kids by himself. It's exactly a perfect representation of what most of French-Belgium comics series struggled to shown for; to made a picture of the society we actually live today, without any cynicism or rampant gadgetry. But their penchant for recreating the past made me devious. There's none others book editors that can brag themselves to made an empire and be terribly obsessed to rewrote the past. For have reading some of their big books featuring a bunch of old Spirou's issues in the past and the Tintin vs. Spirou Dual book years ago, this era was there you need to working hard for make such notoriety and from a time the jobs of drawing was sending by learning like Jean Roba (Bobby & Bill) used to says in his memoir. 

The truth is we are not many to got their skills, even not thesedays. AI-tools given a big disservice to put generic artworks on the cheat and when art teachers start to shown signs of desperation that no one looks interested to learn to drawn by a human kind. That is to me depressing. Today's people have no clue of the way anatomy or made an actual three-dimensional interior background have to be made because they saw too much of it by pretending it's easy to do the same. But this is a tough job than it ever looks!

The guys from Dupuis sixty years back and over have learning their crafts somewhere, like Morris, the father of Lucky Luke have working in animated shorts before to make a career with while Jean Roba (Again!) has learning drawings by commercials. That would be more pleasant if today's commercials looks likable and made with style, but everything here is on the obvious, so close to been a self-parody. That explain why the best humorists surrendered to spoof commercials if they became so grating and cloying to seen first.

On another note, I expected to purchase the first volume of Aucha-Lemaux's The Lost Worlds while advertized first, but at first glance, like happening with others first volumes, something looks to be a miss! If the first story is an indication of what the series going to be and the follow-ups does to others directions, by on auto-pilot already or lots of needless change, this is clear that I going to have a hard time to read this first effort that sounds promising. 

In late time, it weren't at advertized as promised, apart a few random Influencers who think to known better in the genre than the people like me who actually work in these! Looks like working in comics in the real-life world is less rich and inspiring that it looked to be in paper. Just make sure this is not going to be another Valentine's Fairies: A series I wanted to like it, but that after each volume, have lost me especially by the artists' shift (Is these redesigns were necessary?) and that the latter part of the series seems more to be destined for an infant audience. Hard to justify a long-running series with all these lazy changes.

This is also part why newer series became short-running or one-shots. Because audience and the people who work there themselves already knows that art and marketing have no bonds anymore. Long-running series nowadays exists by rightful claimants, which means why such of the series we all loved on the past keep to running years after their respective makers' death. 

For example, Jean Bastide and Christophe Cazenove (Seems that he is everywhere now!) have reprised the Roba's Bobby & Bill series in 2016, after Laurent Verron have quit. We'll never known the reason of his departure, but one indicator could says of how Verron's efforts were hampered by clunky execution and pacing, especially in the few 2011-2015 volumes. Bastide and Cazenove get back what makes the original Roba strips at interesting and lovely. They didn't reached his genius yet, but they still do a better job to utilize Verron's canons of the characters than the latter will do it by himself.

At least, Dupuis is back to its own roots, after be lost in the shuffle by overbearing and unlikable characters in the mid-2000s. Where it was too big to be seen in any merchandising (It do happening!). But fortunately for us, these dark days are over. Though the editors have homeworks to do in other corners for not just be read by a very-adulescent crowd than the children they have to attract first.