Lagaffe

Lagaffe refers to Gaston Lagaffe, a Belgian comic character created by André Franquin for the weekly Spirou in 1957. He is depicted as a lazy, good-natured office junior whose inventive gadgets and pranks repeatedly disrupt the workflow. The humor is gentle and observational, often satirizing office life and bureaucratic routines rather than aiming for overt violence.

The stories are set in a fictional European publishing office, with Gaston working alongside colleagues such as Fantasio and Prunelle. Gaston’s efforts to avoid work or to solve problems with improvised devices routinely backfire, producing a series of comic mishaps that form the core of each strip. The character’s charm lies in his optimism and innocence, even as his methods create chaos.

Gaston Lagaffe began as a sequence of short gags in Spirou and later evolved into a longer album format. The character became a central figure within Franquin’s Spirou universe, contributing to the creator’s reputation for visual humor and inventive design. After Franquin’s era, the strip was continued by other artists, who preserved the core premise and cast while introducing new situations and gadgets.

Lagaffe is regarded as one of the most recognizable figures in Franco-Belgian comics. The name Lagaffe has entered popular French as a term for a bungler or clumsy person, reflecting the character’s blend of naiveté and misadventure. The series has been translated into several languages and remains influential in European comic culture.