The complete Quick and Flupke!

Casterman is publishing the complete Quick and Flupke series in two volumes, following the same format as the complete Jo, Zette and Jocko, which was published a few years ago.

On 23 January 1930, a young scallywag called Quick made his first appearance on the cover of Le Petit Vingtième, a children's magazine (supplement to Le Vingtième Siècle newspaper) of which Hergé was the editor.

One year following the start of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (10 January 1929), Hergé added a new face to his growing cast of characters. Following in 'Quick' succession came Flupke, and the series was in full swing. On 1 January 1931, the two ketjes (a word in the Brussels 'bruxellois' dialect meaning 'lads' or 'scallywags') were featured on the front of Le Petit Vingtième, and became running commentators on their creator: they explained delays, made fun of his absences from work due to depression and played dirty tricks on him.

Hergé found inspiration for the pair of pranksters in his childhood memories of life in Etterbeek, his place of birth, and from his walks through the Marolles quarter of Brussels. He remembered his school life and the series poked fun at the famous authors studied as part of the school curriculum.

Hergé's long-term publisher, Casterman, has already published five facsimiles of the books of the 'exploits' of Quick and Flupke, in a format faithful to the originals all the way down to the same binding and paper.

Look out for the new two-volume complete series!