Superdupont


Superdupont is a French comic strip created in 1972 by Marcel Gotlib and Jacques Lob, with the collaboration of Alexis. It is a parody of both Superman and French national attitudes.

Publication history

Superdupont was initially published in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Pilote on September 21, 1972. The series was continued in Fluide Glacial in 1975, and following the sudden death of Alexis, the artwork was created by Jean Solé. Steadily published through the 80s and 90s, the series main author, Lob died in 1990. The series resumed publication in Fluide Glacial in October 2006.

The character

Superdupont is the son of the Unknown Soldier buried under the Arc de Triomphe. He is caricaturally chauvinistic and gifted with superpowers that help him to defend his country against a secret terrorist organisation called '"Anti-France".
Anti-France agents are all foreigners and thus speak the fictional language "Anti-Français", a mishmash of English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and German.
The physical appearance of Superdupont is a superhero version of a caricatural Frenchman : he wears a beret, a striped jersey, slippers, a tricolour belt held by a safety pin, a long blue cape. He also supports economic patriotism, as he smokes Gauloises cigarettes, drinks red wine, eats French cheese and refuses to be painted using China ink.
Like Superman, Superdupont is able to fly but seems less superpowered than Superman. Superdupont is a master at savate also known as boxe française, which gives some superiority over his opponents.

Publications