Bobo (comics)

Cover of Le Prince de l'évasion (1964)

Bobo is a Franco-Belgian comics series created by Paul Deliège and Maurice Rosy. The series features an eponymous prisoner of the jail Inzepocket ("in the pocket" with a French accent). In Dutch, the series' name is Jaap.

[edit] History

Bobo first appeared in a mini–récit (mini-story) in Spirou on May 11, 1961^[1] In the early years, it was written by Rosy, who also took artistic responsibility during a brief period in the 1970s.^[2] Eventually, the character evolved into its own series, mostly consisting of short stories, and a few full length (i.e. 44 pages) stories. Fifteen albums appeared until the 1990s, when the series ended its run.

[edit] Synopsis

Bobo always tries to escape in various ways, usually by digging. He gets outside help from his assistant. Other major characters are the prison's manager who is fond of pies and cookies, the prison bully who has it in for Bobo and his various schemes, the old grumpy prisoner who does everything he can to remain in the prison (including snitching on Bobo), and Stonie the warden, who always carries a stone (left over after building the prison), which he uses to bludgeon prisoners that cross him.

[edit] Computer game

This article or section is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (May 2007)

A six-stage computer game was made (released in 1989), with the player steering Bobo through six tasks: feeding soup to his hungry inmates in the mess hall whiles killing flies; peeling an ever-increasing mount of potatoes; cleaning the floor of the prison office hallway; helping his numerous mates escape via a trampoline; running over a set of three high-mounted power lines; and finally, stopping your cellmates from snoring when you are trying to sleep.

Interestingly, the purpose of the game is not to reach a certain goal, but to collect as many points as possible in the short space of time given in most of the tasks. Failing in these task is inevitable - like in the first, the inmates get hungry very quickly as time passes, and eventually someone puts the soup pot on Bobo's head; and in the third an increasing number of guardsmen, dogs and inmates keep running through the hallway, staining the floor with their dirty shoes. The inability to complete the game is why the game is not fondly remembered today.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Paul Deliège interview on Auracan.com (French)

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