Violine - Vol. 3 - p.25-28

Is that...? It is! Finally!!!

Half way through the book, we finally get a glimpse of the mysterious Iron Claw the story was named after.

Violine - Vol. 3 - The Iron Claw, p. 25-28: Download

A Spirou & Fantasio Adventure - Vol. 3 - p.45-48

Drunkards on the cemetery? In my Spirou?

Fantasio is still trying to find some motor oil. Meanwhile, someone's visiting the castle of Champignac.

A Spirou & Fantasio Adventure - The Crypt of Champignac, p. 45-48: Download

Donito - Vol. 1 - p.29-32

Let's get cracking!

More dead / mutilated seafood coming up! This time, Carmina herself is leading the attack on the grouper cave.

Donito - The Siren of the Caribbean, p. 29-32: Download

Little Spirou - Vol. 13 - p.29-32

Four new Little Spirou pages: Spirou makes toast, Mr. Musk goes on a date, Grandma gets a make-over and Grandma and Spirou go to the supermarket.

Little Spirou - Sweet Dreams!, p. 29-32: Download

It's decided: Next Project will be Mélusine

Good news, everyone! Anon has heard my call and went through the trouble of getting me better scans of the first Mélusine book. So, it's decided: After I'm done with The Crypt of Champignac, I'll start working on Mélusine.

Fabulous work, Anon! Thank you.

Violine - Vol. 3 - p.21-24

The feast goes on, the Doctor closes in, Kombo keeps stuffing his face and there's also some mindreading.

Violine - Vol. 3 - The Iron Claw, p. 21-24: Download

Next Project: Mélusine?

Anon suggested that I translate Mélusine next. What do you guys think? IMO it'd make a good follow-up project once I'm done with "The Crypt of Champignac".

I know that four of the books were officially translated by Cinebook, so that would leave us with the following:

1. Sortilèges
2. Le Bal des vampires (Cinebook release)
3. Inferno
4. Histoires à lire au coin du feu
5. Philtres d'amour (Cinebook release)
6. Farfadets et korrigans
7. Hocus Pocus (Cinebook release)
8. Halloween (Cinebook release)
9. Hypnosis
10. Contes de la pleine lune
11. Mélusine à l'école des Maléfices
12. La Belle et la Bête
13. Superstitions
14. La cuisine du Diable
15. L'Apprentie sorcière
16. Ballet enchanté
17. Sang pour sang
18. Malédiction
19. (L’Élixir de jouvence) - I couldn't find any RAWs of this one

It would be nice to do them chronologically - especially since I prefer the earlier character design - but the problem is that most scans I found are downright horrible. Especially the older books. This is an example from the first book:

I even looked for Dutch and German scans of the book, since Wikipedia mentions a Dutch version and I know that the first two books were released in Germany in 2000/2001. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything.
And I don't really feel like working with such low-quality RAWs. The only good ones I found are from book 12, 13, 14 and 15. So unless someone can get me better scans of the earlier books, I'd start with book 12.

Any opinions on this?

A Spirou & Fantasio Adventure - Vol. 3 - p.41-44

Today's batch contains the infamous cave scene in which Seccotine tries to fight the cold by... but I don't want to spoiler anything, so just download the file to find out what happens.

A Spirou & Fantasio Adventure - The Crypt of Champignac, p. 41-44: Download

How many more releases before the books are complete?

In case you're wondering how many more 4-page batches I'll be releasing before the books I'm working on are complete, here's a quick overview:

• Spirou & Fantasio Adventure: The book has 59 pages in total. Out of those I translated 40, so that's 19 more pages to go. In other words, there will be 5 more batches of S&F before the book is complete.
• Violine: So far I've worked through 20 pages, that leaves 26 pages I have yet to translate. The last 6 pages I'll release in one batch, so that's 6 more batches.
• Little Spirou: There are 16 pages left out of the total 44, so that 4 more batches.
• Donito: Just like with Little Spirou 28 pages are done, 16 pages are left. So 4 more batches before the first Donito book is complete.

Donito - Vol. 1 - p.25-28

Here's the next Donito batch. According to the poll on the right no one's really interested in this one though. That's a shame because it's actually a pretty cool book.
What makes it stand out IMO are the beautiful background graphics and that the plot is devided into several sub-plots with all the side characters getting a lot of "screen" time. So if you were afraid that the story revolves only around that bratty-looking little boy, let me assure you that's not the case.
I admit there are two things that I think could have been done better: First, the design of the pink seal Bigaloo. Why does he have legs? That's not what a seal looks like. All the other animals in the comic look more or less like RL animals. That seal is the only exception.
Secondly, the names of the characters. While the main characters have fancy names like "Donito", "Bigaloo", "Carmina" and whatnot, you'll also meet minor characters with more mundane names like Désiré the grouper, Alice the octopus and the sharks Marie-Chantal and Brutus.
Another thing I find unusual for a comic aimed at younger readers is that there are quite a few death's in the story. Some are part of the plot and some are just played for laughs. That kinda makes the other comics I'm translating seem harmless...

About today's batch: Be warned, it ends with the cliffhangeriest cliffhanger yet.

Donito - The Siren of the Caribbean, p. 25-28: Download

Fallende Äpfel

Here's another translation project I've been working on. It's a comic drawn by an aspiring young artist from the United States named Najja Porter aka bloochikin. (Check out her awesome art on dA!)
Unlike my other translations this one is not French -> English, but English -> German. So if you speak English, you can read the original version at theduckwebcomics.com.
If you want to read the German version…lies weiter:

Dieser Comic von Najja Porter bzw. bloochikin handelt von Abigail, die eigentlich nur ein paar Schokoriegel im Laden um die Ecke mitgehen lassen will, dann aber fälschlich beschuldigt wird die neuesten Sammelkarten des ultra-angesagten Spiels Feindesfehde geklaut zu haben. Sie will nun ihre Unschuld beweisen, indem sie den echten Dieb fängt. Dafür hat sie nur wenige Stunden Zeit, bevor der empörte Ladenbesitzer die Polizei ruft um sie einbuchten zu lassen…
Ich habe alle erschienenen Seiten übersetzt - 39 an der Zahl - der Comic ist aber noch nicht abgeschlossen. Also nicht wundern, dass die Geschichte mittendrin aufhört.

Download: Fallende Äpfel

In case anyone wants to know: The font I used for the translation is Jose Fernandez.

Kolme Pukkia

I just wanted to share this with you. It's a short cartoon from Finland called Kolme Pukkia. It's based on the Norwegian fairy tale Three Billy Goats Gruff. 

Director & Writer: Heikki Prepula (2001). Editing: Matti Markkanen. Voice Acting: Trio Päkättäjät

The heroic youth of Fantasio

Here's the translation of Fabrice Tarrin's six-page one-shot "The heroic youth of Fantasio" (orig. "La jeunesse héroïque de Fantasio"). It's a very cute story and definitely worth a read. I really hope there'll be a sequel.

Download: The heroic youth of Fantasio

Little Spirou - Vol. 13 - p.25-28

Today's batch has everything: Violence, a beach scene, a history lesson and ghosts (and Grandma!).
A big "thank you" goes to DanielBT, who helped with the translation of the word chain game on page 26.

Little Spirou - Sweet Dreams!, p. 25-28: Download

A little poll

I was wondering which out of the four books I'm currently working on you like the most. So I added a little poll to the menu on the right.

Do you prefer

• Violine, the girl that carries a mouse on her head, 
• Donito, the boy that rarely appears in his own book
• Spirou & Fantasio and the crazy mushroom-obsessed inventor
• or Little Spirou, the kid that has been wearing the same clothes all his life?

Tough choice, I know. That's why you may select multiple answers.
Please take a moment to vote. Thanks!

Violine - Vol. 3 - p.17-20

Okay, little change of plans. Originally I wanted to post a Little Spirou batch today but now it's gonna be Violine instead. So those of you who are waiting for more Little Spirou will have to wait just a little bit longer.

Today's four pages of Violine mostly are about driving around and eating fancy food (one after the other, not simultaneously).

Violine - Vol. 3 - The Iron Claw, p. 17-20: Download

LJHDF - I got 'em!

I little while ago I wrote about a new Fabrice Tarrin comic appearing the Christmas Special '11 of Spirou magazine. It's called "La jeunesse héroïque de Fantasio" (engl. "The heroic youth of Fantasio") and I really wanted to read it.
Well, good news, everyone! I finally got my hands on the raws!

It's basically a Christmas-themed six-page one-shot. You'll get to meet Fantasio's (divorced) parents, his grandparents and a younger version of Fantasio's cousin Zantafio.

Translation coming soon.

Violine - Vol. 3 - p.0-16 - redone

Here is the proofread version of the Violine pages I've done so far. (Again, thanks for the hard work, DanielBT!)

You can download the whole batch here. The folder also contains the English cover, two pages of artwork and a detailed map of Zongo. Enjoy!

Little Spirou - Vol. 13 - p.0-24 - redone

I finished redoing all the Little Spirou pages according to the suggestions of DanielBT, the Grand Master of All Proofreading. Go and check out his blog. It's definitely worth a read. (Also, thank you, Canadian Steve, for the quick help whenever I have a small grammar-related question.)

You can download the updated pages here. This folder also contains the English cover of the book, a two-page scan of a collage of Little Spirou "photographs" and a character summary page featuring Little Spirou's closest friends.