Z Is For Zorglub

Z Is For Zorglub (Z Comme Zorglub in the original French) is a comic story written by Andé Franquin and Greg, and drawn by Franquin with the assistance of Jidéhem. It features Spirou, Fantasio, Pacôme de Champignac, Spip, the Marsupilami, Célestin Dupilon, Mayor Labarbe, Duplumier and, in their debut, Jerome, Zorglub as well as his Zorglmen.
==Plot==
The relatively peaceful lives of Spirou and Fantasio, and that of their scientifically-minded friend the Count of Champignac, are troubled by the arrival of a mad scientist known as Zorglub, hell-bent on getting his old school-chum Champignac to join him in his megalomaniac plans to conquer the solar system!
===References===
* The Count of Champignac and Zorglub went to university together, until Zorglub was kicked out after causing every ceiling on campus to collapse while testing an experimental ray.
* Zorglub's only real discovery is the Zorglwave, all his other technology having been built from stolen secrets filched from better scientists through use of the Zorgwave. Among the machines he built using this stolen knowledge are the Zorglmobile and the Zorglcopter, as well as the Zorglremote, with which he can artificially control the Zorglmen's emotions.
* The Count mentions his former wife, who, he says, always asked him to invent solutions to his problems.
* Among Zorglub's bases are Zorgland, Zorgville, Zorgburg, Zorgrad, Zorg City and Zorglabad.
===Continuity===
* The Count injects himself with X4 out of necessity. This brain-boosting serum was first seen in There's A Sorcerer in Champignac (1950). He mentions having recently had a bad experience with it, namely in the previous Spirou and Fantasio story, The Count's Gone Kookoo (1959).
* Shadow of the Z (1960) is a direct sequel to Z Is For Zorglub, beginning mere minutes after its conclusion; indeed, the two stories have sometimes been collected as one. Shadow is actually split in two; the first half of it deals directly with the aftermath of Z Is For Zorglub, including Jerome's fate, whereas the second half is a more temporally distant sequel wherein Zorglub returns to power.
==Behind the scenes==
Z Is For Zorglub was first printed in French as a serial between #1096 and #1136 of Le Journal de Spirou. It was collected as a hardcover, which was eventually printed in English in 1995.
Category:Stories
Category:Comic Stories
Category:Greg stories
Category:André Franquin stories
Category:Jidéhem stories
Category:1959 stories
Category:1960 stories
Category:Spirou stories
Category:Fantasio stories
Category:Pacôme de Champignac stories
Category:Spip stories
Category:Pet Marsupilami stories
Category:Célestin Dupilon stories
Category:Gustave Labarbe stories
Category:Duplumier stories
Category:Jerome stories
Category:Zorglub stories
Category:Zorglmen stories