thumb|right|The Scrameustache

The Scrameustache is a fictional character in a science-fiction Franco-Belgian comics series of the same name. He was created by the Belgian artist Gos. Gos has written and drawn all the Scrameustache's adventures since 1972. Since the mid-1980s he has been assisted by his son Walt. Another son, Benoit has contributed as colourist. It is a popular, ongoing series.

Background

Premise

The adventures of the Scrameustache first started in issue 1806 of Spirou magazine in November 1972 under the title Khéna et le Scrameustache (Khena and the Scrameustache). The story tells of how Khena, a young Peruvian boy living in Europe, meets a cat-like alien who has come to Earth in his own flying saucer. Khena lives with his adoptive father Uncle Georges in the small town of Chambon-Les-Roses and the Scrameustache moves in with them.

What made it a little different from most Earth-kid-meets-alien stories was that a certain amount of mystery surrounded Khena himself. As a toddler he had been found in the remains of an earthquake in Peru. He was then adopted by Georges Caillau, a European scholar, archaeologist and ethnologist. Some ten years later, Khena met the Scrameustache and proved himself resistant to the alien's (non-lethal) weapons and other technology. This resistance made the Scrameustache curious and he stuck around hoping that time would provide an explanation.

Title and Names

Khena's name was later dropped from the title of the series which is now just called Le Scrameustache. He does however remain a leading character, some of the stories looking at his development from a boy in his early teens to an actual teenager.

The name "Khena" is taken from the word Quena which is an Inca flute.

The name Scrameustache does not appear to be based on any puns or wordplays. Gos claims that he simply came up with strange names as part of a game with friends. The same could be said about the Smurfs, or Schtroumpfs, created by Peyo, and which Gos worked on for a while.

He now lives on Earth with Khena and Uncle Georges Caillau and is known to some of the locals.

The Scrameustache is a highly intelligent and charming character, always willing to go out of his way to help his friends. But he can also be cheeky and mischievous at times, especially towards Uncle Georges.

Clothing and Equipment

The Scrameustache wears a blue jumpsuit and an anti-gravity belt which slows down his falls. He does not wear shoes, except in winter time.

His main article is a bright red helmet with a brainwave-activated lamp that can be used to illuminate at will. It can also shoot a laser which paralyses people, turning then into pillars of salt for a short time. This is quite harmless unless they happen to be near water, in which case parts of their bodies may shrink as a result.

The aerials on the helmet can be used for communicating or listening into radio-emitted conversations, but this requires a certain amount of concentration on the part of the wearer.

His flying saucer is for intergalactic exploration and, by applying theories and calculations based on faster-than-light travel, can go back in time. He also has a two-seater wheel-less car-like vehicle called the Passe-partout which can fly within a breathable atmosphere.

Tobor is a robot owned by the Scrameustache. His "mouth" has the same functions as the Scrameustache's helmet "lamp": i.e. he can turn people temporarily into salt. He is also capable of flight.

Khena

Khena was found as a toddler in the remains of an earthquake in Peru. He was adopted by Georges Caillau. He first met the Scrameustache when he was in his early teens.

A later adventure established that Khena was himself an alien who came from Aktarka, the same planet as his cat-like friend. (There are hints in the earlier storyline that Gos intended this from the start.)

Khena and the Scrameustache now spend much of their time travelling to Aktarka and other planets to visit friends and relatives. But their main home is still on Earth where they loyally stick by Uncle Georges.

Uncle Georges

Uncle Georges Caillau is a European scholar, archaeologist and ethnologist. He adopted Khena while on an archaeological dig in Peru. He refrains from space travelling if he can avoid it and finds journeys back in time a bit nerve-racking. Although a very decent man he is quick-tempered at times, and especially finds his son's alien friends a bit of a handful. (On one occasion the Scrameustache unintentionally produced a clone of himself: "As if one wasn't enough !" groaned Uncle Georges.)

The Galaxians

The Galaxians are friendly, little green people who live on one of the moons that orbit planet Aktarka. Khena and the Scrameustache frequently visit them.

Galaxian society is very democratic, even in the sharing of tasks: for example, while away on missions, the crew members of a space ship take it in turn to be the ship's captain, or Chief-of-the-Day. The annual head of state is called the Prince-of-the-Year and is the Galaxian who received the most merit points over the past year.

In overall charge is the Council of Elders which is made up of five older long-bearded Galaxians. However, they are not as wise as they would like to make out and one or two of them are quite senile; in fact a lot of their time is spent arguing between each other. The younger Galaxians are quite aware of their deficiencies and often enjoy a good laugh at the Elder's expense (in one story a young Galaxian lawyer did warn the Elders in their faces that he could cause them to "lose what little credit for wisdom you have left".)

(From the early-1980s to the late-1990s, many one-page gags and short stories were published in Spirou magazine under the title Les Galaxiens, giving humorous descriptions of Galaxian society. Some of the longer stories, such as Le prince des Galaxiens (The Galaxian Prince) or L'oeuf astral (The Astral Egg) could be described as actual Galaxian adventures with Khena and the Scrameustache appearing simply because they were the stars of the series.)

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References

  • Official website