In 1968 the first
two "Sophie" albums, "Het ei van Karapolie"
(Original title: "L'Œuf de Karamazout") and "De bel der
stilte" (Original title: "La Bulle du silence", are published
by Dupuis. The series was created by Jidéhem (Jean De Mesmaeker)
(drawings) sometimes assisted by Vicq (Antoine Raymond) (stories).
The stories were pre-published in the Belgian comics magazine
Spirou/Robbedoes.
The series features
Sophie, an eleven year old dark-haired girl, created by her father
Mr. Karapolie (French: Karamazout) after the famous English saying
where girls are made of: “Sugar and spice and everything nice”.
She wears her long hair in two pigtails and she has an extensive
wardrobe. Unlike many comic characters Sophie almost never wears the
same outfit. Other characters are Mr. Karapolie, the father of
Sophie and electrical engineer by profession. Starter a mechanic, he
also tests vehicles for Spirou/Robbedoes. Pieters (French: Pipette),
the best friend of Starter, is also working for Spirou/Robbedoes as a
tester. Jozef (French: Joseph) is the butler of Sophie and her
father, he cooks and maintains the house. Bertje (French: petit
Bernard) is Sophies best friend. Zoef (French: Zoë), a black
old-timer equipped with an electronic brain by its creator Mr. Buis.
In 1957 Jidéhem
was given the car section of Spirou/Robbedoes so he created Starter.
Starter was also the main character of Jidéhems first own comic
series with two short stories, "La révolte des autos" (1959) and "Histoire de l'automobile" (1960) in Spirou/Robbedoes. The first
full story "Starter contre les casseurs" was published in
Spirou/Robbedoes in 1961. This was followed by "La maison d'en
face" published in Spirou/Robbedoes in 1963.
Jidéhem wanted to
introduce a female main character in Spirou/Robbedoes, his first
sketches of a sexy 17- to 18-year-old girl were not accepted by
publisher Dupuis. Dupuis was convinced that a female protagonist
would not appeal to the Spirou/Robbedoes readers. Jidéhem did get
permission to draw a little girl to play as a secondary role in his
stories. He called the girl Sophie Karapolie (French: Sophie
Karamazoet). Her first name he borrowed from the French actress
Sophie Desmarets. The original French name Karamazout is referring to
The Brothers Karamazov by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Jidéhems own newborn daughter was also named Sophie. Sophie would
initially play only in one story, "Het ei van Karapolie"
(Original title: "L'Œuf de Karamazout") (1964), but the
character became far more popular than Starter.
 |
| Cover No 1 "Het ei van Karapolie" |
No 1 "Het ei
van Karapolie"
- full-colour
- never published
in English
- story and
drawings by Jidéhem (Jean De Mesmaeker)
- Original French
title: "L'Œuf de Karamazout"
- pre-publication in
Spirou/Robbedoes no 1345 – 1365 (1964)
- contains the short
story “De Jan-allemachtig” (story by Vicq (Antoine Raymond))
(Original French title: “La Pelle mécanique”) (pre-publication
in Spirou/Robbedoes no 1476 (1966))
Synopsis "Het
ei van Karapolie" ("L'Œuf de Karamazout")
On a quiet day
Starter and Pieters (Pipette) are on a trip in Zoef (Zoë), passing
at the car junkyard they are almost hit by a red Fiat. At the junk
yard they find the beaten owner. After gaining consciousness he tells
Starter and Pieters the thugs were looking for a little girl. It
turns out that the little girl, called Sophie, was hiding in a
closet. The thugs wanted to kidnap Sophie to blackmail her father,
Mr. Karapolie, to force him to hand over his latest invention...
Main characters in
this story are Sophie, Starter, Pieters (Pipette), Mr. Karapolie (Mr.
Karamazout), Zoef (Zoë), Jozef (Joseph) and Zjuul.
 |
| Sophie, Mr. Karapolie and Jozef |
 |
| Sophie, Starter and Pieters |
 |
| Starter and Pieters |
 |
| Zjuul |
Cars:
- Zoef (Zoë)
probably based on the Guust Flater (Gaston Lagaffe) car a Fiat 509
- Fiat 1800/2100
- Citroën DS (4x)
- Citroën 2CV
- Citroën probably
B12
- Alfa Romeo 2600
Berlina
- Renault 4
- Renault 8
- Truck Berliet type
?
- Renault Goélette
- Peugeot 403
- Peugeot 404
 |
| Zoef and Fiat 1800/2100 |
 |
| Citroën DS |
 |
| Alfa Romeo 2600
Berlina |
 |
| Truck Berliet type
? |
 |
| Citroën DS, Citroën B12 (?) and Citroën 2CV |
 |
| Peugeot 403 and Zoef |
 |
| Peugeot 404 |
 |
| Renault 4, Renault 8, Citroën B12 (?) and Citroën DS |
 |
| Zoef and Renault Goélette |
Synopsis “De
Jan-allemachtig” (“La Pelle mécanique”)
Sophie and Bertje
(petit Bernard ) are on holiday at the seaside. Sophie proudly
displays the latest invention of her father, a mini-excavator that
radio can be controlled. Suddenly a number of banknotes arrive,
carried by the wind. All the ten dollar bills have the same number...
 |
| Bertje and Sophie |
 |
| Doris and Fred |
Main characters in
this story are Sophie, Bertje (petit Bernard), Doris and Fred.
 |
| Cover No 2 "De bel der stilte" |
No 2 "De bel
der stilte"
- full-colour
- never published
in English
- story by Vicq
(Antoine Raymond) and drawings by Jidéhem (Jean De Mesmaeker)
- Original French
title: "La Bulle du silence"
- pre-publication in
Spirou/Robbedoes no 1433 – 1458 (1965)
- contains the short
story “De toverput” (story by Vicq (Antoine Raymond)) (Original
French title: “Le Puits magique”) (pre-publication in
Spirou/Robbedoes no 1444 (1965))
Synopsis "De
bel der stilte" ("La Bulle du silence")
Starter and Pieters
(Pipette) visit the Karapolie (Karamazout) family. Sophie is playing
with her new toy the "super jokari", and Sophie's father is
happy to present his newest invention, a bubble that can silence all
sound within a certain radius...
Main characters in
this story are Sophie, Starter, Pieters (Pipette), Mr. Karapolie (Mr.
Karamazout), Jozef (Joseph), John Minzwijnoff, Bob, the captain of
the Giganticus and head of police
 |
| Bob |
 |
| Captain, Sophie, Pieters and Starter |
 |
| Mr. Karapolie, Jozef, John Minzwijnoff, Starter and Pieters |
 |
| Pieters, Starter and Mr. Karapolie |
 |
| Sophie |
 |
| Sophie and the head of police |
Cars:
- Ferrari type ?
- Peugeot 204
- Willys Jeep
- Rolls-Royce Silver
Cloud
- Austin Mini
- Renault 4
- Citroën Traction
Avant
- Ford Fairlane 500
Sports Coupe
- Citroën DS
- Peugeot 403
- Renault Dauphine
- Citroën H
- Truck Daf type ?
 |
| Citroën DS |
 |
| Citroën Traction Avant and Ford Fairlane 500
Sports Coupe |
 |
| Ferrari type ? and Peugeot 204 |
 |
| Peugeot 403 |
 |
| Renault 4 |
 |
| Renault Dauphine, Citroën H and Truck Daf (type ?) |
 |
| Rolls-Royce Silver
Cloud and Austin Mini |
 |
| Willys Jeep |
Synopsis “De
toverput” (“Le Puits magique”)
At Christmas time
Sophie walks through the snowy streets. She sees happy people but
suddenly she hears a cry, its Harrie (Bertje, petit Bernard). She
tries to comfort him and asks why he is so sad. He tells her he lost
his coin. Sophie gives him one of her own coins...
Main characters in
this story are Sophie, Bertje (here called Harrie), Pieters
(Pipette), Mr. Grijpstuiver and Hein.
 |
| Hein and Sophie |
 |
| Pieters and Sophie |
 |
| Sophie and Bertje (here Harrie) |
 |
| Sophie and Mr. Grijpstuiver |
Cars:
 |
| Austin Mini |
 |
| Citroën DS |
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