Ce septième tome des Formidables aventures de Lapinot réjouira les amateurs de catacombes, de crottes de chien, de jus de molards et de liaisons sentimentales.
(This seventh volume of the spiffy adventures of McConey will delight those who like catacombs, dog poo, loogies and romantic relationships.)
La Couleur de l'enfer is a 2000 comic book by Lewis Trondheim. It is the seventh album of The Spiffy Adventures of McConey series.
Lapinot and Nadia are looking for subjects for a radio program.
La Couleur de l'enfer provides examples of the following tropes:
- Alien Invasion: Richard thinks that aliens infiltrate Earth. He thinks that Neila, Lapinot's neighbour is one of them. Subverted, because all the strange facts he notes about Neila can be explained by the fact that Neila's cat suffers from a rare disease.
- Alone with the Psycho: Neila, Lapinot's neighbour, catches Richard in his flat. He brandishes a syringe and talks about killing someone. Richard assumes that Neila is about to kill him. Subverted: Neila is just going to put down his seriously ill cat.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- In the beginning, when Lapinot and his friends are walking along the street, there is dog poo circled with turquoise paint. Later, Lapinot meets an activist that uses this turquoise paint and then Nadia, Richard and Lapinot meet the whole group.
- The defacement of the Moon. In the beginning, Nadia just asks Lapinot if he knows about it. It plays a major role in the climax, where activists plan to enter the factory that produces the paint and to vandalize it.
- The tear gas canisters. An activist mentions that they took some of them in case they encounter resistance in the factory. They come handy to neutralize the activist leader when he threatens the others with a Molotov cocktail.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Nadia produces a radio programme about them. The first she interviews owns several flats that communicate with each other. He lives alone, but he needs plenty of space to exhibit his stamp collection, which is placed in frames on the walls, hidden behind newspaper pages to protect it from the light. Another one never removes his cap.
- Continuity Nod:
- When he moves house, Richard takes his pair of skis.
- Lapinot asks Richard if he has to work for Damoclès today.
- Covers Always Lie: The explosion of the cover does not appear in the book. At some point, Lapinot tells Nadia that he dreamed of this explosion, but it is not depicted in the book.
- Deface of the Moon: Media Trust Corp plans to print his logo on the Moon.
- Fight Unscene: Played for Laughs. Nadia threatens to kick Richard's bottom. Cut to the next morning and Richard telling Lapinot that Nadia should not have kicked him yesterday.
- Limited Wardrobe: Lampshaded by Nadia, who asks Lapinot why he always wears the same grey coat. She persuades him to buy a new coat for him.
- Molotov Cocktail: The leader of the activist group has Molotov cocktails in his bag when he enters the factory. The other members of the group did not know that.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Neila, Lapinot's neighbour, catches Richard in his flat. He brandishes a syringe and talks about killing someone. Richard assumes that Neila is about to kill him and tries to dissuade the mysterious neighbour. Actually, Neila is going to put down his seriously ill cat.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: Pink Purple is a small group of activists that separated from Turquoise group because Turquoise group's actions were considered too weak.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: There are two plotlines in the book:
- Lapinot and Nadia make interviews for the radio. They interview an activist group, then a Renegade Splinter Faction of this group, that is going to attack the factory that produced the paint used to deface the Moon. When Nadia and Lapinot secretly enters the factory with the activists, Lapinot notes that the leader of the group has Molotov cocktails in his bag. The other members of the group did not know that. They disapprove of their leader and they quickly neutralize him. They give up the attack against the factory. In addition, the defacement of the Moon does not happen because the rocket loaded with the paint explodes by accident in the atmosphere.
- Richard notes many strange facts about Neila, Lapinot's neighbour. In particular, Neila's cat seems to be invisible. Richard suspects Neila of being an alien. Finally, Richard catches Neila's cat: it is a very strange pink creature that does not look like a cat at all. Later, Neila catches Richard in his flat. Richard thinks that Neila is going to murder him. Neila reveals that he intends to put down his cat, which suffers from a very rare disease.
- Shoutout:
- Lapinot and his friends see a James Bond movie in the theatre.
- Lapinot's neighbour is a fan of Star Wars. His flat is full of collectibles of the franchise, including a life-size dummy of Darth Vader that is able to repeat famous lines from the films.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Conversed. An essential element for both James Bond movies and sci-fi movies according to Richard. He moans about the fact that he saw lorries blowing up instead of spaceships blowing up because he was forced to see a James Bond movie.
- Take That!:
- Richard says that James Bond movies always suck.
- Lapinot says that you have to be crazy to have a Star Wars collection.
