Spiff and Hercules
Encyclopedia
Spiff and Hercules is the English
translation of a French
comic strip
titled Pif et Hercule, featuring an anthropomorphic brown-yellow dog ("Pif") and a black-white cat ("Hercule") who, despite being best friends, are constantly fighting in a friendship/hate relationship. The character of Pif was created by José Cabrero Arnal
for the French Communist Party
newspaper
L'Humanité
on March 28, 1948, and the cat Hercules was introduced two years later. The characters' nemesis is Krapulax, who despite his infant
-like features always has a diabolical plot in store.
The adventures of Pif also appeared in the British communist newspaper the Daily Worker (later The Morning Star
) until the mid-1970s.
Spiff later got his own magazine ("Pif Gadget"), which was very popular as not only did it include several different comic strips, but offered a toy
gadget
in each issue.
Hercules also got his own version of Spiff's magazine, this one called "Super Hercule", but his magazine was more joke-oriented.
A series of 65 26-minute animated cartoons featuring the characters was produced in 1989 by Europe Images/M5 in France. Each program consisted of two episodes. United Kingdom
television station Channel 4
aired the series in 1993.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation of a French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
titled Pif et Hercule, featuring an anthropomorphic brown-yellow dog ("Pif") and a black-white cat ("Hercule") who, despite being best friends, are constantly fighting in a friendship/hate relationship. The character of Pif was created by José Cabrero Arnal
José Cabrero Arnal
José Cabrero Arnal or C. Arnal was a Catalan-Spanish cartoonist, who became a naturalized French citizen....
for the French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
L'Humanité
L'Humanité
L'Humanité , formerly the daily newspaper linked to the French Communist Party , was founded in 1904 by Jean Jaurès, a leader of the French Section of the Workers' International...
on March 28, 1948, and the cat Hercules was introduced two years later. The characters' nemesis is Krapulax, who despite his infant
Infant
A newborn or baby is the very young offspring of a human or other mammal. A newborn is an infant who is within hours, days, or up to a few weeks from birth. In medical contexts, newborn or neonate refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth...
-like features always has a diabolical plot in store.
The adventures of Pif also appeared in the British communist newspaper the Daily Worker (later The Morning Star
The Morning Star
The Morning Star is a left wing British daily tabloid newspaper with a focus on social and trade union issues. Articles and comment columns are contributed by writers from socialist, social democratic, green and religious perspectives....
) until the mid-1970s.
Spiff later got his own magazine ("Pif Gadget"), which was very popular as not only did it include several different comic strips, but offered a toy
Toy
A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
gadget
Gadget
A gadget is a small technological object that has a particular function, but is often thought of as a novelty. Gadgets are invariably considered to be more unusually or cleverly designed than normal technological objects at the time of their invention...
in each issue.
Hercules also got his own version of Spiff's magazine, this one called "Super Hercule", but his magazine was more joke-oriented.
A series of 65 26-minute animated cartoons featuring the characters was produced in 1989 by Europe Images/M5 in France. Each program consisted of two episodes. United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television station Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
aired the series in 1993.
Episodes
- 001. La guerre du feu
- 002. Taxi folies
- 003. Main basse sur l'orteil sacré
- 004. Suspicion
- 005. Farfouille s'embrouille
- 006. A la poursuite du grodeoptère
- 007. Ballade pour une valise
- 008. Hold up on the rock
- 009. Chercheurs d'or
- 010. Coup dur pour la sculpture
- 011. Pif détective
- 012. Père Noël en stock
- 013. La croisière infernale
- 014. Hot dog mic mac
- 015. Drôle de bobine
- 016. Herculopolis
- 017. Duel
- 018. Chut bébé dort
- 019. On a volé Sésame
- 020. Grand hôtel
- 021. Le match du siècle
- 022. Mini plaies mini bosses
- 023. Pif et la boule de cristal
- 024. Du rififi sur l'île
- 025. Le fakir va au tapis
- 026. Les toqués de la grande cuisine
- 027. Descente aux enfers
- 028. Pif et Hercule au bagne
- 029. Les as du ciel
- 030. Nos amis les bêtes
- 031. Les chevaliers de la Table Ronde
- 032. Pif et Hercule vont au ciel
- 033. Les vacances de Pif
- 034. Obstruction votre honneur
- 035. Farfouille suscite des vocations
- 036. Le fantôme misanthrope
- 037. Deux faux mages bien faits
- 038. N'oubliez pas le guide
- 039. Pôles d'attractions
- 040. Les envahisseurs
- 041. Têtes de l'art
- 042. Jour de chance
- 043. Pif et Hercule mènent la danse
- 044. Incident spatio temporel
- 045. Un peu mon neveu
- 046. Scoop toujours
- 047. C'est d'un commun
- 048. Week-end à Zutcote
- 049. Bon anniversaire
- 050. Gare au gourou
- 051. Hoquet choc
- 052. Pifok contre Herculax
- 053. Rien ne va plus au Matuvu
- 054. Un bateau pour Noidkoko
- 055. Le génie porte malheur
- 056. L'invention du siècle
- 057. Rubis sur l'ongle
- 058. En avant marche
- 059. Farfouille aux trousses
- 060. Mieux vaut appeller un chat un chat
- 061. L'héritage
- 062. Boom sur le violon
- 063. Promotion sur la prison
- 064. Hallucinations
- 065. Gros Talent a disparu
- 066. À vot'service m'sieur Grochoux
- 067. Farfouille et débrouille
- 068. Baby sitting bull
- 069. Viva Herculapatas
- 070. Taxi cassé
- 071. Rencontre du 3ème type
- 072. La crise d'Hercule
- 073. Les voies du ciel
- 074. Le SAMU s'amuse
- 075. Coquin de sort
- 076. Hot dog party
- 077. Faites un vœu qu'il disait
- 078. Hercule chasse la prime
- 079. Piques sous les tropiques
- 080. Tour de piste
- 081. Les mémoires d'Hercule
- 082. Le maître du monde
- 083. Pif et Hercule cascadeurs
- 084. Yéti et chuchotement
- 085. Le contrat
- 086. Pif des bois
- 087. Love story
- 088. Casse à tous les étages
- 089. Coup de froid
- 090. Le casse du siècle
- 091. Un amour de trésor
- 092. Pif et Hercule gladiateurs
- 093. La conquête de l'ouest
- 094. Paris Sud
- 095. Chaperon rouge et compagnie
- 096. Bon appétit shérif
- 097. Et que ça brille
- 098. Pas de pitié pour les bronzés
- 099. Les deux mousquetaires
- 100. Cessez le feu
- 101. Pif fait une cure
- 102. Les drôles d'oiseaux
- 103. Panique dans la bande
- 104. Dépan télé
- 105. L'île aux trésors
- 106. La guerre des trois
- 107. Hercule disparaît
- 108. Du gag à la hune
- 109. Souvenirs
- 110. La guerre des robots
- 111. Pif FM contre Radio Hercule
- 112. Hercule fait fortune
- 113. Astronautes
- 114. Cancres et chouchoux
- 115. Salade tyrolienne
- 116. Le cauchemar de Farfouille
- 117. Le coup du siècle
- 118. Le blues sur le lagon
- 119. Les frères de l'entrecôte
- 120. Hercule se met à table
- 121. Omnibus pour Roccoco
- 122. Le grand sommeil
- 123. Une partie de campagne
- 124. Super Pif contre Super Herculeman
- 125. Drôles de jeux
- 126. Gare aux fantômes
- 127. Aïe mon neveu
- 128. Les travaux d'Hercule
- 129. À l'aide les fans sont là
- 130. Échec et mat pour Hercule
International titles
- Пиф и Еркюл - Pif i Erkjul (Bulgarian Title)
- Pif a Herkules (Czech Title)
- Spiff and Hercules (English Title)
- Pif le chien (French Title)
- Pif und Herkules (German Title)
- Πιφ και Ηρακλής (Greek Title)
- Pif és Herkules (Hungarian Title)
- פיף ותלתול (Piff veΘalθol) (Israeli Title)
- Pippo e Menelao (Italian Title)
- Pif i Herkules (Polish Title)
- Spiff e Hércules (Portuguese Title)
- Pif y Hércules (Spanish Title)
- Pif şi Hercules (Romanian Title)
- Pif och Hercule (Swedish Title)
- Pif ja Herkules / Jeppe ja Kolli (Finnish Title)
- Пиф и Геркулес (Russian Title)
- Pifa piedzīvojumi (Latvian Title)