Young artist Jean-Claude Fournier then took over the series, updating slightly the look of the characters and giving the characters a more militant outlook.

By the beginning of the 70s, Franquin grew bored of the character and left the series (though he kept the rights of a few of his creations, including the Marsupilami and Gaston Lagaffe). At the end of Franquin's run, the series received the input of Michel 'Greg' Regnier for plots, grounding Spirou's adventures in a more realistic geopolitical context. He is credited for creating the most well-known parts of the Spirou universe, including Champignac, the Marsupilami, Zorglub and Gaston Lagaffe.

Andre Franquin took over Spirou and Fantasio around 1948 (though Jijé did a few stories after the formal switchover).

Overwhelmed by having to handle too many series at once, he gave most of them to the care of various young artists he had groomed for that purpose.

He introduced Fantasio, whose garish costumes and gaffes made the perfect wacky Sidekick.

Joseph 'Jijé' Gillain (already a well-known veteran, now mostly remembered for drawing the Western series Jerry Spring) then took over the series (as well as a lot of publisher Dupuis's strips).These adventures have never been reprinted and are mainly known for the introduction of Spirou's pet squirrel Spip. He wrote and drew Spirou's adventures from 1938 to 1943, after which the war prevented him from continuing his publisher bought the rights to the series and has had various creative teams work on it ever since. Robert 'Rob-Vel' Velter was commissionned to create the Spirou character to headline the new eponymous weekly 'Le Journal de Spirou' magazine.

As such, various authors worked on the main series over the years: This series has the distinction of being one the few 'work for hire' franchises of Franco-Belgian comics (most of them are owned by their initial creators or their estate). With his wacky/ComicallySerious/now wacky again sidekick Fantasio and his pet squirrel Spip, he has many adventures over the globe, fighting Mad Scientists and evil dictators, but also doing a fair bit of actual reporting on the side (Take That, Tintin!). Spirou is an intrepid hotel groom/reporter working for Le Moustique/Le Journal de Spirou/freelance.

Spirou et Fantasio is one of the most successful Belgian comic book adventure series, spawning various spin-off series and an Animated Adaptation.

Eralin et mereline