Line #38 ComicBook/Chlorophylle


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6	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chlorophylle.jpg]]
7	[[caption-width-right:350:The cover of the first volume]]
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9	''Chlorophylle'' is a [[FrancoBelgianComics Belgian comic series]] created by Raymond Macherot in 1953 and published in the [[AnthologyComic comic magazine]] ''Tintin'' until 1971.
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11	The hero Chlorophylle is a dormouse living in an European countryside and fighting his ArchNemesis Anthracite the [[YouDirtyRat Black Rat]].
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13	In the middle of the series Chlorophylle discovers Coquefredouille, a Mediterranean-style island with a MouseWorld full of {{Civilized Animal}}s. He deals with predators and [[AristocratsAreEvil evil nobles]] before returning home.
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15	The Coquefredouille arc would serve as a basis for an other Macherot (abrogate, then praised) series, ''Chaminou''.
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17	The series continued after him with other authors, such as [[ComicBook/AchilleTalon Greg]], [[ComicBook/{{Cubitus}} Dupa]] and [[ComicBook/LeonardLeGenie Bob de Groot]].
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19	''Chlorophylle'' was adapted into a puppet TV series in 1992, where the animals are shown in a more nature-centered, less anthropomorphized environment, with a blatant GreenAesop message. The only characters from the comic who appear in the series are Chlorophylle and Anthracite. The show was localized in English as ''The Adventures of Grady Greenspace'' and Anthracite was called "Scuzzy".
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22	!!''Chlorophylle'' provides examples of the following tropes:
23	* TheAlcatraz: Shark Island, where, despite being TunnelKing, it took more to Anthracite to manage GreatEscape, like a subversion of a SleepingDummy where he was hidden ''in'' the dummy.
24	* AmbiguousGender: It was unclear in the first issues if Torpille la Loutre (Torpedo the Otter) was male or female. As ''loutre'' is a feminine noun, Torpille is often referred as a "she" but lacks feminine characteristics such as [[TertiarySexualCharacteristics eyelashes]]. From ''la Revanche d'Anthracite'', Torpille is clearly female.
25	** That would be in the english translation; in the original Chlorophylle calls her 'ma vieille' ( 'old girl' ) from the start
26	* AnthropomorphicShift: From LargelyNormalAnimal in "Val Tranquille" to CivilizedAnimal in "Coquefredouille". The animals end up all walking upright, wearing clothes, driving vehicles and living in regular human-style cities. Even their bodies seem to have adapted, with them gaining longer legs so they can wear pants, and animals like seals gaining ''hands''.
27	* ArchEnemy: Anthracite to Chlorophylle; both take their mutual opposition very clearly, and Anthracite makes it very clear he wishes nothing more than kill him.
28	* AristocratsAreEvil: Duke Bihoreau de Bellerente, who wants to kill his king to take his place.
29	* BatmanGambit: Zizanion, unable to attack Mithron because of his guards, delivers a message announcing he will make the palace blow up at midday. Bouclette, as a precaution to protect the king, has him immediatly moved to a different, more isolated castle in the country. Turns out this is exactly what Zizanion expected them to do, as it makes it easier for him to place the bomb in this more isolated and unguarded castle ''before'' Mithron arrives. [[spoiler:Fortunately, their car ends up with a damaged tyre and they arrive too late, causing the castle to blow up without them inside.]]
30	* BecomingTheMask: In the one-shot "Embrouilles à Coquefredouille", [[spoiler:many years after Anthracite's death, a movie is being about Chlorophylle and Minimum's adventures. They meet a squirrel actor whose makeup making him look like Anthracite. By the end of the story, the squirrel actor has become attached to his character. He permanently altered his appearance to match Anthracite's and adopted his mannerisms.]]
31	* BigBad: Anthracite, the man behind the murders in ''Les Croquillards''.
32	* TheBigGuy: Torpille is the largest ally of Chlorophylle and her physical strength often comes in handy.
33	* BombThrowingAnarchists: So Zizanion seems to be... and Macherot himself for those who didn't really read the story.
34	* CarnivoreConfusion: The sentient animal society has a criminal mastermind who consumes other sentient animals.
35	* CatsAreMean: Célimène, who apparently likes to kidnap and ransom mice.
36	* DastardlyWhiplash: Anthracite is very similar to the stereotype. He is a bombastic conniving ClassicVillain and wears an all-black suit with a top hat and cape. His whiskers could even qualify for a moustache.
37	* EarNotch: Anthracite has one triangular notch in his left ear.
38	* ExactWords: Anthracite, having seized the [[WeaponOfMassDestruction BZ Bomb]], approaches Mithron and threatens to use it to blow up Coquefredouille's capital if he isn't made the Police Chief. When Mithron understandably complies, Anthracite does keep his word and spare the city... but keeps the Bomb for himself, and uses it later as part of his Coup d'Etat.
39	* FromZeroToHero: Chlorophylle starts as an incredibly conceited idiot who has to be rescued repeatedly and appoints himself the leader of LaResistance. But when Anthracite's army of black rats attacks with overwhelming force, he proves to be a brave and resourceful leader.
40	* FurryReminder: In this series, predator species can and do eat another animals.
41	* GoodAngelBadAngel: Minimum's good angel appears sometimes. Anthracite's too... but obviously he's not in good form.
42	%%* GoodIsNotNice: Doctor Batrapoulos.
43	* TheGoodKing: Mithron XIII is despicted as a benevolent ruler, a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, a very nice person and [[UniversallyBelovedLeader is adored by his people]]. When an attempt is made on his life in ''Zizanion le Terrible'', it is a shock for both him and the population that someone would want him dead.
44	* HeKnowsTooMuch: Anthracite gets two minions killed to ensure they will not tell anybody that he ordered them to bring predator animals into Coquefredouille.
45	* HeroicBastard, In the one-shot "Embrouilles à Coquefredouille", king Mithron XIII has one illegitimate daughter. When the King secretly ask his aide to find the mother, he reported finding ''several more illegitimate daughters''.
46	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Anthracite tried to get rid of Chlorophylle by tying him up to a firecracker rocket. But he got himself caught on the rocket and couldn't [[NotQuiteDead apparently]] jump before it explodes.
47	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter:king Mitron. He doesn't once suspect his kinsman Bihoreau to be Zizanion; when Anthracite takes power in Coquefredouille, he expects the great and good to resist him - they rush to grovel before Anthracite; and when Anthracie manages to lose his all-destructive bomb, the chief of his bodyguards arrests him - Mitron is moved by such loyalty and makes him chief of HIS bodyguards…
48	* HumanLikeHandAnatomy: Is usually the case with the animal characters. While this is usually easily done with land mammals who normally have paws with digits, some other animals like a ''seal'' have such humanoid hands with defined fingers.
49	* HumansAreBastards: Humans have this vicious tendency to create a lot of things dangerous to animals.
50	* InspectorLestrade: Commissaire Bouclette. In ''Zizanion le terrible'', he rejects out of hand the heroes' suspicions, and the start of the book shows he's more concerned with finding "a culprit" than the truth.
51	* IntrepidReporter: Chlorophylle and Minimum in ''Zizanion le terrible''. Zizanion exploits it by phoning their newspaper with a bomb threat.
52	* JokerImmunity: Anthracite has been apparently blown up on a firework, imprisoned several times, including in a high security jail, but he ''always'' finds a way to come back.
53	* LaResistance: Serpolet the rabbit and Bitume the raven, then joined by Chlorophylle and Torpille.
54	* LatexPerfection: [[spoiler:Anthracite impersonates an attractive lady cat with such a disguise, and several males find "her" attractive.]]
55	* MoralGuardians: They complained that Macherot depicted, in stories for children, terrorist attacks on a King, fun presumably made of labor unions, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking a woman wearing hair curlers]]. It was already controversial to depict seductive females, but strangely, because Célimène was a cat, it seemed to pass legal.
56	* NiceMice: The protagonists, Particule and her family... are good-natured and even heroically-minded mice.
57	* OneWordTitle: The comic is named after the main character.
58	* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: the viper is willing to trade Chlorophylle with Anthracite against ten other mice, knowing how much Anthracite values his enemy. [[PragmaticVillainy Anthracite doesn't trust him.]]
59	* ReversePsychology: In one book, Anthracite starts a fight with a prisonner who is about to be freed next morning. When the Warden is about to punish him for being hit by a rock Anthracite threw, the latter begs him to not see said prisonner again, and the Warden of course decides to have them share a cell. Turns out Anthracite ''wanted'' this to happen: the prisonner is his accomplice, and this allows them to plan an escape for him.
60	* {{Sidekick}}: Minimum is Chlorophylle's.
61	* ShesAManInJapan: Chlorophylle is female in all ex-Yugoslav translations.
62	* SleepingDummy: Anthracite uses a dummy to escape from Shark Island. In a subversion, he was hidden in the dummy.
63	* SwarmOfRats: The black rats invade Val Tranquille (the Quiet Vale) after they've been chased away from an old mill.
64	* ThoseTwoGuys: Escalope and Fricandeau. [[HeterosexualLifePartners Chlorophylle and Minimum]], as well.
65	* TookALevelInDumbass: Minimum started as a fairly competent sidekick to Chlorophylle, and showed skills such as acting talent in his first appearance. However, as time went on, he turned more and more into a bumbling ButtMonkey sidekick.
66	* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Anthracite is a surprisingly vicious character for a light-hearted, colorful story involving talking animals. His crimes include [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness frequently murdering his own accomplices once they are of no more use to him]], bringing predator species into Coquefredouille, and eventually becoming a dictator.
67	* VillainEpisode: ''Zizanion le Terrible'' has the eponymous villain hog all the screen time.
68	* WhamEpisode: ''Les Croquillards'', which contains the shift from normal-sized environments to a MouseWorld.
69	* WickedCultured: Anthracite is one while living in Coquefredouille.
70	* WrongfullyAttributed: Macherot was inspired by André Franquin and sometimes his work is confused with Franquin's.
71	* YouDirtyRat: Anthracite the Black Rat is a nasty, murderous criminal and would-be dictator.
72	%%* YouHaveFailedMe: Anthracite to his X-8 spy.
73	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Anthracite kills his mooks Escalope and Fricandeau so he can pass himself off as a hero. He also gets the mooks who helped him bring two predators into Coquefredouille blown up with a bomb so they can't talk.
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Context ComicBook / Chlorophylle