The Lost City of Gonzolanga

The Lost City of Gonzolanga is a French comic inspired by The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa. It was published by Dargaud in March 1997.
==Synopsis==
Timon and Pumbaa disturb the peace and quiet of their jungle home by racing noisily through the foliage. As they run, a monkey notices their passage and tails them, wanting to speak with them. Meanwhile, Timon and Pumbaa jump off a steep cliff, only to realize that the usual pool of water below has dried up. They land clumsily, and Timon notices elephant tracks in the dirt.
The two resolve to track down the elephants and demand that they refill the pool, but before they can depart, the monkey catches up to them. However, he loses his balance at the top of the ridge and falls from a great height, with a log landing on top of him. Timon and Pumbaa bear the injured monkey to safety, where he reveals that he is searching for the lost city of Gonzolanga. This sends Timon and Pumbaa into a panic.
Though the two try to flee, the monkey shoots a bolt of lightning at them and explains that he can perform magic. He then implores them to guide him to Gonzolanga; in exchange, he will refill their pool of water. Timon wonders if the monkey, or wizard, can truly do what he says, and he proves his proficiency in magic again by drawing a circle and dancing, which causes it to rain.
The wizard tells them to uphold their end of the bargain, and Timon declares that he always keeps his word and that the lightning will strike him down otherwise. Mid-sentence, he is struck by a bolt of lightning. Pumbaa blames the incident on the wizard, who promptly stops the rain and orders Pumbaa to bring Timon to a cave while he searches for medicinal herbs. Once Timon has been moved to a cave, the wizard returns with an antidote. However, the medicine merely makes Timon breathe fire, then pass out again.
The wizard tries to urge Pumbaa to lead him to Gonzolanga without Timon, but Pumbaa refuses to leave his friend behind. This prompts the wizard to hypnotize Pumbaa and force his submission.
Meanwhile, Timon has a nightmare in which a gorilla captures him. Timon cries out for Pumbaa, only to awaken to an empty cave. Timon quickly deduces that the wizard has forced Pumbaa to travel to Gonzolanga with him and so takes off in the hopes of rescuing his friend from the hypnosis.
Across the jungle, the wizard and Pumbaa nearly get trampled in an elephant stampede. After the elephants pass, the wizard falls into a deep hole in the ground, and though he pleads with Pumbaa to give him a vine, the warthog mindlessly follows his master into the hole. As the wizard examines his surroundings, he notices a map to the lost city. Feeling that Pumbaa has served his purpose, the wizard sends him back to Timon, but not before a spear is thrown at him, only narrowly missing.
Meanwhile, Timon follows Pumbaa's tracks to the hole, which he falls into himself. He lights a torch with his fiery breath and follows the underground tunnels to where Pumbaa and the wizard have been tied up by the Giant Bat Tribe. Just then, Timon arrives, but when he tries to breathe fire at the tribe, he fails, as the potion has worn off. The bats knock him out and tie him up next to Pumbaa and the wizard.
A while later, Timon awakens and finds that he once more possesses fiery breath, which he uses to free himself and his companions. Once free, the wizard attempts to hypnotize Pumbaa again, but Timon forbids him to do so. Pumbaa questions the wizard on why he wants to visit Gonzolanga so badly, and the wizard replies tearfully that he simply wishes to be reunited with his family.
Just then, the bats return, and the three escape into a nearby underground river, which spits them back out in the jungle. The three follow a trail through the underbrush that leads them to the lost city of Gonzolanga. Once they arrive, a parrot spy rushes off to report their presence to his masters, and the wizard flees in a panic. Timon and Pumbaa attempt to follow him, but are quickly surrounded by a troop of monkeys, who demand to know what Timon and Pumbaa are doing in Gonzolanga.
Timon explains that they had followed a magical monkey to Gonzolanga. The wizard then appears in the branches of a tree overhead and proclaims that he is furious. Though the leader of the troop orders his lackeys to capture the wizard, he pulls out and plays a whistle, which causes the other monkeys to run away in fear. The whistle summons a massive gorilla, who bows before the wizard and calls him his master.
Timon questions the troop leader on the wizard's identity, and he regretfully explains that he and his fellow monkeys had happily lived in the ruins of Gonzolanga until the wizard had made a whistle through magical means to control the giant gorilla. The troop had managed to subdue the wizard, force him to drink a potion that made him forget the path to Gonzolanga, and send him drifting down the river on a log.
The story is interrupted by the wizard, who explains that he had hidden his magic whistle from his troop. Timon attempts to use his fiery breath on the wizard, but it does not work, which prompts Pumbaa to race to Timon's rescue. However, Pumbaa is easily defeated, and the gorilla seizes Timon in one fist. To escape, Timon tickles the gorilla's hand, and the gorilla falls backward onto his wizard master. In the process, the magic whistle is broken, and the wizard hits his head so hard that he forgets who he is.
With the wizard defeated, the troop thanks Timon and Pumbaa for their help and sends them back home. Once there, the two friends feast on grubs, but Timon accidentally fries Pumbaa with his fiery breath, which prompts Pumbaa to chase after him in annoyance.
==Appearances==
==Publications==
==Trivia==
* The Netherlands cover of The Lost City of Gonzolanga features art from the cover of Around the World with Timon & Pumbaa.
==Gallery==
===Covers===
LostCity1.png|The original cover
Alternate LostCity2.png|The Italian cover
Alternate LostCity1.png|The Netherlands cover
===Pages===
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==References==
Category:Comics
Category:French comics
Category:The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa comics
Category:Real world