Written by: Peter Van Gucht
Illustrations: Luc Morjaeu
Publisher: Standaard Uitgeverij
Suske en Wiske #329 Suskewiet – Comic Book Review
Suske and Wiske are a duo well known throughout Belgium, who even saw the light in other countries. Of course, their names were altered to Bob et Bobette, Spike and Suzy or Willy and Wanda, but the overall concept remained the same. These two loveable children found themselves marching from one adventure to another, with the help of their loving family, friends and a nutty professor. Today Suske and Wiske are back for the 329th time, for a faraway adventure.
Suske has developed a passion for gardening lately, perhaps even more than for adventuring. Wiske tends to feel neglected as she and Suske are two peas in a pod and as of late she feels quite lonely. When professor Barabas invites Suske to take care of a 500 year old seed that might present the key to eternal life, Wiske has had enough. Whilst the key to eternal life would be the equivalent of discovering the actual holy grail, Wiske is set on putting herself in Suske’s spotlight once again.
When Wiske notices that the seed grows into a talking plant, she is stunned by surprise and even more when that plant offers to help her gain the attention of Suske once again. She gladly accepts the offer of the newly sprouted plant and listens closely to the instructions it gives her. She simply has to feed Suske a piece of the fruit the plant grows, in order to make her ever so loved. Suske gladly accepts the non-suspicious fruit bowl, but the effect seems to be quite different than expected. Suske turns into a golden finch, accompanied by eight brown finches. Every day one will perish, until Suske is able to reach the temple of the ancient civilization that invoked this ‘curse’.
Of course when something as grand as eternal life is involved, there will be heavy competition on who will get the formula first. Thus the companionship of the professor, Wiske, Lambik, Jerom and Sidonia are under constant threat by mobsters who want to claim the formula as their own.
Overall the plot moves at just the right pace. You get enough information to make the story seem that much more magical, but there’s also enough action to keep things interesting. Whilst a lot of items prove to be quite predictable in comics such as this one, the ending was still quite surprising. It’s hard to keep a series fresh after more than 300 issues, but Peter Van Gucht did a very good job on doing just that. Even more so, if you keep in mind that Suske is actually pushed onto the back row of the story, as he is unable to speak.
When it comes to the overall illustrations, the current illustrator Luc Morjaeu stays true to the original style of the series. Although Suske and Wiske have been modernized quite a bit, they still feel like the same children we’ve seen in the past 328 adventures. That being said, some illustrations were a tad less consistent. It’s weird when it seems as if Wiske is as buffed as Jerom, or when she’s drawn in a more masculine way than other times. Of course, the fact that she no longer wears her iconic dress, might have a bit to do with that as well.
Conclusion
Suskewiet proves to be an enticing story that is situated in a faraway place. The story, even with some Dutch puns, feels like a fun plot for an adventure, especially with some of the twists on the way. Given the fact that one of the main characters is actually not able to speak for the biggest part of the story, it’s not easy to stay interesting. Certainly a fun issue for young, old and the occasional bird lover.
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