this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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“BD” refers to Franco-Belgian comics, but let's open things up to include ALL Euro comics and GN's. Euro-style artistry from around the world is also welcome. ^^

* BD = "Bandes dessinées"
* BDT = Bedetheque
* GN = graphic novel
* LBK = Lambiek
* LC = "Ligne claire"

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The premise here is light as a feather-- a Dungeons & Dragons-type character is in a videogame setting, in which he's attempting to 'exit the game level,' presumably to take a nice rest. Frequently that involves attempting to rescue a princess along the way.

Altho he's rather dwarfish in stature, the problem isn't the hero's energy, fierceness or ingenuity, but rather that something's always going wrong. And by 'going wrong,' I mean that he typically suffers all variety of gruesome deaths at the hands of the dungeon's traps. He, the princess, the endless stream of monsters-- just everyone.

Game Over is technically a spinoff series of Midam's (Michel Ledent of Belgium) Kid Paddle series for kids, but one hardly needs any backstory, even though the full albums (and there are over two dozen) tend to be bookended with Kid Paddle context. To be clear-- these are largely wordless comics that can be consumed in any language.

TBH, I fear that I'm always going to be a bit weirded out by this series, which combines light, kid-like, gaggish elements right next to total gore, in which the characters are seemingly ready to burst in to total pools of eyeballs, bones & blood given the slightest impetus. There's also the fact that the comics (to me, anyway) are *completely* hit-or-miss, with a lot more duds than successes IMO. Still, it's a BD classic of sorts, and certainly worth a look as a BD hobbyist.

Btw, I see there's a big Imgur archive HERE, and happily, those seem to be a kind of 'best of' collection. Cheers.

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[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago

I don't think I've ever seen those. Thanks for the explanation and samples.

[–] UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember this style from the bande dessinée of my youth. I remember there was this great tome of French comics that you could get, and this was always one of them. Can't for the life of me remember what it was called now...

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you mean one of the magazines or journals like Pilote, or could it have been a special book edition collecting certain comics?

[–] Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com 2 points 1 year ago

Or that recurrent spirou (weekly maybe)?

[–] Heterocephalus@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Interesting, I did not know about Midam. I like how video game inspired Game Over is. The fact that every strip ends with the protagonist dying reminds me of roguelite games.

[–] Horrible_Goblin@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I collected some of these as a kid. The humor and sense of timing is really on point. But I've always felt there where a lot of similar jokes recurring in a slightly different format. Combined with the decent but not superb art I always felt it didn't really warrant emptying my fairly empty piggy bank for. I always felt these gags would have worked better as a webcomic...

That being said, for everyone into fantasy/adventure games I can highly recommend picking up at least 1 of these. Kid Paddle/Gameover is really worth knowing about, and at times, a real riot.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I always felt these gags would have worked better as a webcomic…

I totally agree.
These are definitely worth seeing, but work much better as a daily or weekly IMO.

[–] Horrible_Goblin@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_Paddle

Looked it up, and apparently kid paddle started out as an editorial in Robbedoes (Spirou) magazine, and went from an 'a gag a day' thing to eventually its own comic book. So considering that progression, in combination with 1993 not really being webcomic-era, it all makes a lot of sense really.