André Franquin, Gaston Lagaffe, Gaffe à Lagaffe, Tome 15, 1971, Gag 673

Gaston Lagaffe?s cat has no name ? although his creator André Franquin had a cat called César. But Franquin acknowl-edges that César inspired the many gags relating to Gaston?s cat!In his 673rd gag, on 1 July 1971, the famously inventive Gaston causes hilarity among Spirou readers thanks to his capacity to miniaturise a strange accessory for Cheese, the mouse. Speaking to Patrick Pinchart, editor of Journal Spirou, in 1992, Franquin said that ?to create a gag, you could say that three things need to come together: a character, an accessory and a situa-tion or an atmosphere? (Signé Franquin, 1992, Dupuis). And this is exactly what we have here, where once again the accessory provides the pretext for putting his favourite animals ? including THE cat ? in the frame. As for the animals themselves, Franquin acknowledges that ?I?ve always been surrounded by animals. I used to breed white mice. I had a squirrel that I?d picked up liv-ing with me for years. When I went to my aunt Hortense?s house in the holidays, I?d spend time with the chickens, turkeys, guinea fowls, sheep, pigs... and I used to milk the goat. All that stuff is terrific for a kid. It?s part of childhood ? loving animals, enjoying their company. Gaston is an overgrown child, so naturally I made him like animals.?