L'Élève Ducobu is a comic series created by Zidrou and Godi. The series tells the adventures of Ducobu, a comic and eccentric dunce. The series first appeared in September 1992 in the Belgian comics magazine Tremplin. The first album was published in 1997 by Le Lombard and from this year have appeared in the French comics magazineLe Journal de Mickey.
Style
L’élève Ducobu is an assortment of gags. Most of the story takes place at the Saint-Potache school, but some [|strips] deal with the main character's private life and take place at home. Other strips go back into the past of the characters. Each album generally begins with the start of the school year and ends with the summer holidays.
Characters
L'élève Ducobu: the main character of the series; a very inventive dunce and joker, he is very resourceful at finding new ways to copy from his neighbour, to cheat or to defy the teacher's authority. But he always fails and each of his examination papers is rated with a zero. He spends all his time either copying, cheating or reading Rik Spoutnik, his favorite magazine, or in the corner of the classroom with a dunce cap. He wears a pullover with yellow and black stripes, which refers to the traditional prisoners' uniform.
Léonie Gratin, brilliant and gifted pupil and Ducobu's classroom neighbour; she continuously gets angry at all Ducobu's attempts to copy, but she sometimes naively feels some loving affection for him. She always gets a 10/10 mark, but occasionally fails owing to Ducobu's mischief, which explains why her overall score is never 10.
Gustave Latouche, a very strict teacher; he is very demanding of his pupils. He always keeps an eye on Ducobu and foils all his attempts to cheat or copy, and succeeds in avoiding all his traps. He is single and loses his mother in the course of the series.
Néness, the classroom anatomy skeleton; he stays all the day at the back of the classroom and waits for Ducobu to be sent to the corner. He is a joker and likes commenting on Ducobu's adventures, but he sympathizes with him and is ready to help or defend him.
Rotule: the skeleton of a small female dog which was abandoned by its masters going in holidays. It was offered by Ducobu to Néness so that he doesn't get bored during the holidays.
Ducobu's father: a lazy and frivolous civil servant at the Ministry of Employment; he takes care alone of his son, his wife having left him when Ducobu was a baby.
Léonie's mother, in charge of the perfume section in a department store. A single mother, she is extremely proud of her daughter and always praises her school results and her hard work. She dislikes the Ducobus and doesn't hesitate to criticize them.
Saint-Potache's headteacher, a women who appear occasionally, usually wearing a green jacket. She and Mister Latouche have a good professionnal relationship.
Ghislaine Rateau, music teacher at Saint-Potache, who made her debut in the 17th album. Mister Latouche has a crush on her, but is still reluctant to tell her.
The series have been translated into English by Cinebook Ltd, a British publisher specializing in Franco-Belgian comics. So far, five books have been translated.
