Okay Hear me out
I don’t really care about zantafios canon characterization like I’m literally just so normal about him but I AM crazy about the zantafio in my head where his relationship with Fantasio actually has WEIGHT TO IT and he is much more 3 dimensional
Like when franquin first introduced him (les héritiers album spoilers incoming) and made them cousins u could see it as just a plot point to show that fantasio would have to compete with someone for the inheritance and so. Hijinks occur which is FINE but at the end zantafio becomes apologetic and shows remorse for his actions which I think is really cool bc it shows that he’s human and bc of that it feels like he and fantasio being cousins might have weight to it and there might be an interesting relationship there that we can dive deeper into (this is less about the speculation of Fantasio motivating him to be a better person or whatever and more about how they set up Zanta’s character). But then after that he becomes a recurring villain but u don’t see that type of nuance in him anymore and now he’s a one dimensional character bc his motivation for showing up each time is bc of his greed and desire for power which is cool I like that but YOU DONT LEARN MORE ABOUT HIM OR HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH FANTASIO SO THEY MIGHT AS WELL NOT EVEN BE COUSINS AT THIS POINT and even though they acknowledge that he and fantasio are cousins they never DO ANYTHING WITH IT!! he just gets defeated and they call it a day until he comes back just to get defeated again. It’s disappointing bc u set him up to be a human and a character that should be taken seriously but then he’s reduced to a villain of the week…spirou 06 doesn’t fare any better imo
I think there are a few exceptions like la colère du marsupilami (where he’s more chill and they reveal that he has some personal Issues that could have been further looked into in future albums but now that they switched authors i doubt they’ll go back to that,,also some zanta fanta cousin momence if u look hard enough) and maybe l’homme qui ne voulait pas mourir but just barely?? (plot wise he and Fantasio’s relationship holds weight bc of the inheritance and that drives the story however character wise zantafio is too one dimensional lol)
TLDR My issue with zantafio isn’t that he’s this super messed up villain who does super messed up things I’m all for that it’s just that 1) the drastic change from the end of les héritiers to the dictator album and then on makes the les héritiers set up pointless and 2) if zantafio and fantasio weren’t cousins it literally wouldn’t change anything (their status as cousins is needed as a plot device for some albums but other than that it’s pointless). And honestly it doesn’t affect me much (that may or may not be a lie) but i would be happier with zantafios behavior if they offered an explanation for it and tied it back to him being a human being that’s just gone through some shit (trauma, relationships etc etc)
then again if zantafio wasn’t so one dimensional we wouldn’t be having these big brain headcanons and conversations so that’s a plus I guess?? Keeping us unsatisfied makes us a lot more creative and insane I gotta say and I’m loving it. So go dupuis keep giving us nothing girl /hj
Anyway Thanks for coming to my TED talk
