Wri/Art: Paul Deliège (1931- )

The aptly-named Superdingue (the names means Superlooney) is in reality a meek, short-sighted bank clerk named Max Costo (the homonymous "Costaud" means strong man) who believes himself to be a super-hero, Superdingue, even though he appears to lack any super-powers. (When Superman was first published in Spirou in 1939, his alias of Clark Kent was francized to that of Marc Costa - Modern Hercules, which may have been an influence on the name "Max Costo".)

Superdingue tries to do good, but the rest of the world is completely oblivious to his misguided efforts which, in a Mister Magoo-like fashion, always result in catastrophes.

In his tenth adventure, Superdingue is given an assistant, a tall, dim-witted, otherwise unidentified man who had been wanting to become a hero since the third episode, but had been kept waiting behind the scenes. The assistant is too tall to be completely framed inside the panels of the Mini-Récits, and is just as clueless as Superdingue. Another recurring character is the easily-frightened bear Bobar which Superdingue repeatedly tries to free from the zoo (Nos. 6, 7 & 8).

The Stories from "Spirou" Magazine 1. Superdingue (Spirou No. 1517 Mini–récit No. 364, 1967) 2. Superdingue 2 (Spirou No. 1518 Mini–récit No. 365, 1967) 3. Superdingue 3 (Spirou No. 1550 Mini–récit No. 392, 1967) 4. Superdingue 4 (Spirou No. 1555 Mini–récit No. 397, 1968) 5. Superdingue 5 (Spirou No. 1560 Mini–récit No. 401, 1968) 6. Superdingue 6 (Spirou No. 1569 Mini–récit No. 410, 1968) 7. Superdingue 7 (Spirou No. 1602 Mini–récit No. 442, 1968) 8. Superdingue 8 (Spirou No. 1610 Mini–récit No. 450, 1969) 9. Superdingue 9 (Spirou No. 1626 Mini–récit No. 466, 1969) 10. Superdingue 10 (Spirou No. 1640 Mini–récit No. 476, 1969) 11. Superdingue 11 (Spirou No. 1651 Mini–récit No. 483, 1969) 12. Superdingue 12 (Spirou No. 1657 Mini–récit No. 488, 1970) 13. Superdingue 14 (sic!) (Spirou No. 1666 Mini–récit No. 496, 1970) 14. Superdingue 13 (sic!) (Spirou No. 1704 Mini–récit No. 514, 1970) 15. Superdingue 15 (Spirou No. 1716 Mini–récit No. 523, 1971) 15B. Superdingue contre Noël Lepère (6-page) (Spirou No. 1756, 1971) 16. Superdingue 16 (Spirou No. 1762 Mini–récit No. 540, 1972) 17. Superdingue 17 (Spirou No. 1776 Mini–récit No. 543, 1972) Publishing History Paul Deliège created Superdingue for Spirou's Mini-Récit inserts, a 2-1/2 x 3-1/2" pull-out supplement, stapled inside the magazine, which, properly folded and cut, assembled into a mini comic-book. (Also see Tom Bolah.) Superdingue appeared in 17 Mini-Récits, and one, full-size, 6-page story. It was never collected in the graphic novel format. Coffre-a-BD is reprinting the Superdingue stories.

The Author Paul Deliège (1931- ) is a Belgian cartoonist who began working for Spirou magazine in 1960, with Théophile & Philibert created with Vicq. For the Mini-Récits, He wrote and/or drew numerous funny characters such as the hugely popular Bobo, Cabanon, Superdingue, Sam, etc. He is also the creator of the hilarious Krostons (created in 1968), the tale of three evil, incompetent cartoony characters who constantly try to take over the world.

Superdingue © 2002 Paul Deliège. All rights reserved.