Madame Mim (comment to ancient discussion)

[Daniel van Eijmeren]

FRANCOIS WILLOT to GILLES MAURICE, 05-03-2003:

> Moby [Duck] represents Kay Wright's & Gil-Bao's style to me. He 
> is like Madame Mim. A no-character, a ghost, a zombie, a nobody. 
> I'm surprised you like him so much... He disappeared long before 
> I bought my first comics, and you are younger than me.

I don't know Moby, but IMO there are some great stories with Madame Mim.

A recent creator who IMO writes remarkable Mim-stories, is Frank Jonker. 
Some of his Mim-stories are inspired by a (partly erased) Dutch 1970s 
children television series titled "Kunt u mij de weg naar Hamelen 
vertellen, mijnheer?" This series had a typical, magical atmosphere.

Here are two Mim-stories which I like very much:

Vader Tijd (H 99130, 4 pages)
Written by Frank Jonker, art by José Ramon Bernadó.
This story is about visiting Father Time. Father Time is not at home 
and Mim screws up his workroom by turning the time back and forth. 
A zany joke that really got me laughing out loud for minutes, was the 
special, difficult, magic abracadabra used by Father Time, in order to 
restore Mim's mess. In fact, these words are directly taken from the 
opening tune of a Dutch television soap titled "Goede Tijden Slechte 
Tijden" ("Good Times Bad Times"). It's hard to explain what got me 
laughing. I just found it hilarious to see Father Time standing in an 
all-mighty pose, with a big magic wand, suddenly reciting the lyrics 
of a dull soap tune.

Geest in de put (H 22120, 2 pages)
Written by Frank Jonker and Paul Hoogma, art by José Ramon Bernadó.
This story may be hard to translate. Mim has to cheer up a ghost on 
the bottom of a well. This is one of the best gag-stories I've ever 
read. The story is about (lame) jokes, with a great overall effect.
In Dutch, being on the bottom of a well (being "in de put") means 
being unhappy/depressed. In this story, the saying is visualized with 
a grumpy wishing well. If you manage to cheer up this grumphy wishing 
well, it grants you a wish. (Mim wants to be the most beautiful witch 
of the Witch Ball, so that's why she consults the wishing well.)

I think Bernadó has a great feeling for the Mim-stories. Even though I 
cannot really explain the two stories I just mentioned, the artwork 
alone will already be very convincing.

--- Daniël