Written by: Peter Van Gucht
Illustrations: Luc Morjaeu
Publisher: Standaard Uitgeverij
Suske en Wiske #339 De Planeetvreter – Comic Book Review
The new comic book of Suske en Wiske, De Planeetvreter, has already received quite some media attention, as in this album, all characters get a makeover, as well as the format of the comic book itself. The main reason for the media attention seemed to be the fact that Wiske has boobs now, making her look more like an adolescent, rather than a little girl. There may be pros and cons for it, but all in all, it seems to us that the story is still the most important thing to consider. The characters are still very recognizable, so we were curious to find out whether the story stayed true to the Suske and Wiske spirit as well.
A new look calls fora new, exciting adventure. In De Planeetvreter, Lambik wins a cruise and decides to ask aunt Sidonia to come along. Unlike what you might expect (and what aunt Sidonia expected), the cruise sets off to Antarctica. When all of a sudden the ground starts to quake, a lump of ice falls in the water, and damages the ship. Lambik fears a Titanic scenario and tries to save aunt Sidonia by jumping into the ice-cold water. The damage to the ship is soon repaired, making Lambik’s action completely unnecessary, but luckily their friends Suske, Wiske, Jerom and professor Barabas are warned in time to save them from freezing to death.
As all friends are safe again, it’s time to go home, but as per accident, they discover something quite extraordinary beneath the ice: a spaceship with two aliens still inside the cockpit, be them completely frozen. The professor decides to take them back to the lab for further investigation. Once defrosted, the aliens come back to life, much to everyone’s surprise. Apparently, they come from Mars, and are looking for a new planet to live on, as the atmospheric changes slowly but surely make it impossible to live on Mars. What they don’t realize is that they’ve been trapped under the ice for millions of years, and life is fully extinct now on Mars. While one of them, Karadt, accepts that they have failed their mission, Orlock refuses to do so, and plans to go ahead with his task, which is not as peaceful as they made it sound at first. Suske and Wiske start a race against time to find Orlock and save the world from the disaster that lies ahead.
The story of this album is pretty much what you’d expect from a standard Suske and Wiske album. Action and imagination go hand in hand to form a story that is actually quite enjoyable to read. While the story might feel a slight bit more modern than the previous ones, it’s mostly the look of the comic book that really gives it the modern touch.
While the characters have all received an update in their looks, also the comic book itself has had a makeover. The pages are larger, leaving more space for the illustrations. Instead of the classic format of a white background with the panels nicely arranged on each page, we now get a comic book where the pages look a lot more playful and unexpected. Panels often have different sizes now, and even illustrations covering full pages are used, on top of which other panels are arranged, to give the whole a fresh new look. Because of this look, we found the comic book more able to capture the action, which made it more interesting to read.
Conclusion
Suske en Wiske #339 De Planeetvreter is the first album in the new, updated look, yet the story stays quite true to the Suske and Wiske stories we’re used to. The updated look of the comic book pleased us quite well, and shows that the comic books still fit very well in this day and age. All in all, it’s not the look that’s the most important though, but the storyline, and that we liked just fine.
Suske en Wiske #339 De Planeetvreter - Comic Book Review,
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