Papa Zoglu

Once upon a time, there was a little boy with a moustache, called Zoglu, who was brought up by an old crone... When Zoglu reaches the age of seven, the crone tells him that his biological mother is an actual cow, and Zoglu sets off to find her. This is the beginning of an epic quest, during the course of which the boy will meet a couple of gay Teutonic knights, misogynist lumberjacks, a lady who has not taken a vow of chastity, and a suicidal albino chimney sweep.

‘Papa Zoglu’ takes place in a surreal medieval setting and is a cross between a coming-of-age story and a social satire. This colourful, hilarious and tragic graphic novel is about identity and humanity, about not very intelligent design, about yesterday and tomorrow.

Surprisingly, even though the book, with its visual references to illuminated medieval manuscripts and stained-glass windows, is filled with the atmosphere of the Middle Ages, Simon Spruyt has succeeded in producing a very modern book. With ‘Papa Zoglu’, he has shown once again that he is one of the most ingenious and funniest comic-book creators in Flanders.