History ComicBook / WalterMelon

* {{Housewife}}: Maman Talon subverts this, in that she's quite happy with merely keeping the house running, but it quite able to go ActionGirl as needs be. In fact, her first appearance was of her fixing her motorcycle in the garage, a characterisation that didn't make it because of how hard it was to draw.

* MadScientist: Dr Grelot and his three 600-year-old guinea pigs for the longevity experiment. The gag is that the victims of the experience (involving the removal of a gland in their brains that makes them long-lived)... go mad.

* TheAlcoholic: Achille Talon's father is one, but this is strictly PlayedForLaughs. He's remarkably good at holding his liquor.

-->"the world's most powerful coil springs? Of course I sell these, seeing as they're also the most expensive!"

* RunningGag: A common gag is to have Achille spend nearly two pages explaining various dirty tricks comic book editors use to fill pages, such as large empty spaces, or consisting of single blocks of color (the lowest point of a mine at midnight, a polar bear blinking in a snowstorm, close-up of the Sahara, etc.), ending with a bloodthirsty Goscinny running after Talon with every intention of removing his head.

* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals: PlayedForLaughs in ''La Main du Serpent'', where the three envoys from the Maharajah sent to help the heroes look and dress exactly the same, while they have different surnames and professions (one is head of the secret service, another is a doctor and the last one an historian). Lefuneste comments upon being introduced to them that, for some reason, he did not expect them to have different names or jobs.

* AllCrimesAreEqual: In the end of ''l'Âge ingrat'', Grelot is arrested by [[MeddlesomePatrolman the cop]], just after his car exploded, for ''"scattering debris on the public way, unpleasant behavior, setting a bad example to the younger generation, and, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking I'd almost forgotten]], kidnapping !"''

* AmusingInjuries: The fights between Achille and Lefuneste involves them using lethal weapons such as spiked clubs, axes, chainguns, grenades, etc, yet the worst they get are bloody noses or black eyes.

* ArtShift: One page was drawn in a child-like style, the in-story explanation being that it was actually the work of the author's kid. On another occasion, Greg parodied the flamboyantly psychedelic style of Creator/PhilippeDruillet.

* DarkestAfrica: Lampshaded in ''Le coquin de sort'' (and somehow parodies ''[[Franchise/{{Tintin}} Tintin in the Congo]]''). All inhabitants of Doduduba ("Fatinbottom") speak in absolutely perfect French and the primitive bush village where everybody walks around half-naked with spears has a big contract with a pet food canning plant in Chicago. Papa Talon, while in the [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores African Disciplinary Battalions]], encountered some rain-making witch doctors, among others.
* DepravedDentist: While he doesn't do horrible things to people's teeth, Dr. Fluquesion does knock them out with a special gas that causes recurring nightmares. Then his accomplice shows up with the (very expensive) miracle cure [[spoiler: which is only tap water or rain water, and not a cure at all]].

* RecycledInSpace: In ''L'esprit d'Eloi'', Rheingard Van Daag's project is to shoot "{{Dracula}} [[AC:in Space]]", [[SpecialEffectsFailure in a forest]].

* SafeDrivingAesop: Parodied frequently where, for some reason, the Aesop that the TV presenter kept coming with at the end of various programs (including a western action movie, a children cartoon, a news program and a quiz game, neither of them talking about cars at any point) was "Be careful when you drive".

* ScoobyDooHoax: ''L'esprit d'Eloi'' (A pun on Montesquieu's "The spirit of the laws"), where the ghost is trying to scare off the owner of uranium-rich terrain.

* SoundDefect: A Mafia henchman in ''Le Quadrumane optimiste'' has a strange illness that causes every sound he makes to be rendered as a completely unrelated onomatopoeia (like whacking someone on the head with a huge "gulp" sound or flipping a car over with a "tadidadituuut", for instance), and his boss regularly complains about it. The henchman is overjoyed at the end of the story to discover that he's cured when the manacles he's handcuffed with make the correct "click" sound.

Received a short-lived AnimatedAdaptation that aired on Creator/ABCFamily (back when it was Fox Family)[[note]]in some English-speaking areas overseas, this show aired on Disney's Jetix (successor to Fox Kids) and on spinoff Jetix Play[[/note]] in which Walter Melon works as a "hero for hire" with his hapless sidekick, Bitterbug. Together, the duo step in for the hero and sidekick in parodies of popular movies, TV shows, works of literature, and, in its second season (which aired in other countries save the United States of America), historical events. The show also had a woman named Amelia, who often played the female roles (often the sidekick, love interest, or FemmeFatale), and a Joker-esque clown named Sneero, who played the villain.

* GettingCrapPastThe Radar: "L'Etang Tacule" (Tacule Pond) reads phonetically like "les tentacules" (the tentacles) and is a spoonerism for "L'Etat t'encule" (the State fucks you).

* VerbalTic: Achille has two, "Hop!" and "Bof", which seem to be used as approximately verbal equivalents of a smile and a shrug respectively.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: The mystery man from ''The mystery of the two-headed man'' is definitely this. A running gag in the album has him confusing people to the point of head-splitting headaches, and engaging in constant [[InsaneTrollLogic logic-defying quips and reasonings]].
--> Constable: "How would I know your name? I've never seen you!"
--> stranger: "The police is incompetent! Nobody saw Neptune, yet everyone knows his name! I'm filing for a lawsuit for theft of identity! If you meet someone whose name I can't remember, they stole mine!"

--> stranger:"The police is incompetent! Nobody saw Neptune, yet everyone knows his name! I'm filing for a lawsuit for theft of identity! If you meet someone whose name I can't remember, they stole mine!"

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: The mystery man from ''The mystery of the two-headed man'' is definitely this. A running gag in the album has him confusing people to the point of head-splitting headaches.

* SimSimSalabim: Subverted with the Nayghorjo-ray ("Nosethroatear") in ''[[ArtifactOfDoom La Main du Serpent]]''. It's a modern country using submarines and a computer-selected crew for their operations... and a fakir.

* BluffWorkedTooWell: ''Le Grain De Folie'' revolves around two kinds of sand that, when mixed together, produce a gas that causes temporary insanity in anyone breathing it. One of these sands is on an island occupied by the US Armed Forces, and while the plan to get them off the island so as to blow up the beach works, they retreat to the island where the ''other'' kind of sand is found.

* DarkestAfrica: Lampshaded in ''Le coquin de sort'' (and somehow parodies ''[[Franchise/{{Tintin}} Tintin in the Congo]]''). All inhabitants of Doduduba ("Fatinbottom") speak in absolutely perfect French and the primitive bush village where everybody walks around half-naked with spears has a big contract with a pet food canning plant in Chicago.
** Papa Talon, while in the [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores African Disciplinary Battalions]], encountered some rain-making witch doctors, among others.

-->Gentlemen, if there's one thing I hate more than the Chinese it's racism.

** At one point, a crook wants to nail Achille in between the eyes with his gun. He aims, they have a silent faceoff... and he breaks down in tears.

* GenghisGambit: In "Le Roi des Zôtres", Achille finds himself becoming King of [[{{Ruritania}} the Zotrland]], which is so rife with internal quarrels and conspiracies that it is only one step away from civil war. Achille manages to unite everyone against himself by announcing overly warlike laws that convince every subject to give peace a chance and embrace the rightful heir, a Hippie, as King.

* DepravedDentist: While he doesn't do horrible things to people's teeth, he does knock them out with a special gas that causes recurring nightmares. Then his accomplice shows up with the (very expensive) miracle cure [[spoiler: which is only tap water or rain water, and not a cure at all]].
* {{Eagleland}}: Mostly Type 2s.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* PunnyName: Does a character have a name? Then it's a pun: Achille Talon (Achilles Heel), Hilarion Lefuneste (hilarious the fatal/disastrous), Séraphin Dumonde (it's the end of the world), Hector Pedeau the auto mechanic (Torpedo, a kind of car), Doctor Samson Fo-Pli (with the french pronunciation of his first name, "without his crease")... Talon even ''lives'' on the corner of the Rue Tilante (shiny) and l'Avenue Dumessie (the Coming of the Messiah). Séraphin Dumonde is another example of MultipleReferencePun. Lefuneste suggests that he [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Morris imitate]] this famous ape dressed for painting.

* RunningGag: A common gag is to have Achille spend nearly two pages explaining various dirty tricks comic book editors use to fill pages, such as large empty spaces, or consisting of single blocks of color (the lowest point of a mine at midnight, a polar bear blinking in a snowstorm, the Sahara, etc.), ending with a bloodthirsty Goscinny running after Talon with every intention of removing his head.

* SeriesContinuityError: One album has Achille claiming his father only ever left Europe for three days to South America, when he spent a good portion of his early life in the African Disciplinary Batallions. Not only that, but this is in the context of finding out if he picked up a tropical disease or a black magic curse from Africa, when Alambic's knowledge of witch-doctor magics are essential to the plot.

* SoundDefect: A Mafia henchman in ''Le Quadrumane optimiste'' has a strange illness that causes every sound he makes to be rendered as a completely unrelated onomatopoeia (like whacking someone on the head with a huge "gulp" sound or flipping a car over with a "tadidadituuut", for instance), and his boss regularly complains about it. The henchman is overjoyed at the end of the story to discover that he's cured when the manacles he's handcuffed with make a correct "click" sound.

* StereotypesOfChinesePeople: Averted with Professor Fo-Pli ([[PunnyName "crease"]]). Speaks perfect French, huge [[TheProfessor specialist in chemistry and geology]], wears occidental outfit and quotes things such like ''"The wise man, and a few others before him, peremptorily told it: 'better a little drawing than a long speech', and the television executives added: 'and it doesn't cost any more'."''

* WhyWontYouDie: The radio in ''La Traversée du Disert''.

* ZeroApprovalGambit: In ''Le Roi des Zotres'', Achille is crowned king of [[{{Kaiserreich}} Zôtrland]], and in order to bring political stability back to the fractious country, he connives with his elderly predecessor to make himself so unpopular that the people will topple him and welcome as a savior the legitimate (and lazy) heir to the throne.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: One strip has Talon and Lefuneste worried sick about Papa Talon, who is over the moon at the idea of going to work (for a construction company, no less!) instead of slacking around drinking; doubly so when the company's foreman keeps praising Papa Talon's performance. [[spoiler: His job turns out to be drinking countless beers so the company, which specializes in anti-theft walls, can smash them up and put the glass shards on top of walls as a deterrent for climbing]].

--> "Of course they're here. The bad guy is defeated and we're not pressing charges. Being perfectly useless, it is only logical that the police show up."

->''Van Daag :"It will be ecological!"''