Suske en Wiske Cromimi – Comic Book Review

Suske en Wiske is without a doubt one of the most read comic book series in Belgium. Also the many spinoffs like Amoras and J-Rom, of which you can find several reviews on the site, have been doing well. Now, Standaard Uitgeverij has come with yet another novelty. Every year, Standaard Uitgeverij will invite one scenarist and one illustrator to make a Suske and Wiske album, as an homage to Willy Vandersteen. Yann and Gerben Valkema kick the series off with Cromimi, an album that looks very promising.

While walking in the street, Jerom comes across an old newspaper of which one article catches his eye. The article is about a Belgian expedition that found a human body of at least ten thousand years old at the Himalaya, over five decades ago. Due to budgetary reasons, the expedition had to leave the specimen in the ice, where it was, and only years later, they managed to get it to Brussels. In Brussels, it was just stored in a freezer up to this day though, and just forgotten about. This kind of story of course tickles the fancy of Suske and Wiske, and before long, they have located the specimen and brought it home with them.

The specimen is stored in the freezer at aunt Sidonia’s home, but due to a stupid error of Lambik, the freezer doesn’t stay shut, and the ice slowly melts until all of a sudden, the specimen, or rather woman, comes to life. Funnily enough, she recognizes Jerom, who himself was once a prehistoric man, and came home with Suske and Wiske after one of their time travels. The group of friends are truly perplexed, and decide to time travel back to the age in which this woman, Cromimi lived.

The story that we just told you sounds quite a lot like a regular Suske and Wiske story we found. Nonetheless, there are a lot of fun little details all through the album that really make it very fun to read, especially for fans of the original Suske and Wiske. Jerom’s background, for example, is implemented in the story, but also Lambik’s preference for Lambiek beer adds a fun twist.

Also in the illustrations, there are quite some fun references to the original Suske and Wiske. One of the most prominent is the human tower at the back of every Suske and Wiske album, which is reused in this story in a very original way. Further, Gerben Valkema’s illustrations are very different from the original characters, yet they still do the old characters justice, with a new refreshing look.

Conclusion

Suske en Wiske Cromimi is the start of a new series that looks quite promising. It brings a story that is completely in the style of the original series, yet adds a new layer to the characters. Many different sides of the characters come to the surface in this album, sides that you may have seen already in previous Suske and Wiske albums, but might have forgotten about. Cromimi is certainly a strong start to this new series, and we can only hope that the rest will follow, though we will have to wait for quite some time before we can present you our thoughts on the next issue.

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