While on an expedition in Antarctica, the Count of Champignac makes an extraordinary discovery: a still-viable dinosaur egg! Having brought the precious find back to his castle, he invites a few colleagues over – along with Spirou and Fantasio – and sets about hatching the egg. But working towards scientific progress isn’t easy when one is somewhat absent-minded ... and saddled with a whimsical Marsupilami ‘assistant’! Soon, life in the village of Champignac becomes rather complicated ...

1971, Monaco Grand Prix. Jackie Stewart has a perfect racing weekend. Meanwhile, after a series of setbacks, Michel Vaillant is nursing doubts about his life and his career, and shares them, his feelings, and some of his racing secrets with a journalist. As for Steve Warson, contacted by the FBI, he agrees to exfiltrate an injured special agent from a hotel in Marseille – could the French Connection interfere with the race?

Over time, Zorglub has become a friend of Champignac, and is no longer the enemy of old. Yet when he comes to see the Count one morning, he uses his deadly Zorglwave on him – the infamous brain- scrambling ray. Two weeks later, Spirou and Fantasio receive a call for help from their old friend: apparently, there are monsters in Champignac! And when our two fearless adventurers reach the outskirts of the village, they are stopped by an Army blockade ...

Spirou and Fantasio’s friend, the Count of Champignac, asks them to join him in Australia, where he has heard that an ancient monolith is still standing. When they arrive, Champignac’s colleague Walker Donahue informs them that Champignac has been abducted by local gangster Sam. The monolith they’re after stands in the vicinity of an aboriginal mining village, which is constantly prey to white prospectors trying to steal indigenous resources. Spirou and Fantasio must save Champignac from Sam’s clutches and help him find the legendary monolith while standing by the aboriginal people.

"First published in France in 2011 by Ankama Editions."

Spirou and Fantasio are famous – among other things, as the official discoverers of that legendary creature, the Marsupilami, one of which often accompanies them on their adventures. So when one of their conferences is cancelled in favour of a documentary film from an unknown author, they are understandably irritated... until, that is, they realise the film is the very first to record the family life of wild Marsupilamis!

This memoir synthesizes all the data from the Cambridge, Bristol and Clermont groups, and integrates data from other research groups on the caldera volcanoes of Santorini. It provides interpretations of the tectonic and magmatic evolution of Santorini. The volcanic field has been remapped and a picture of cyclic volcanic activity and magmatic evolution has emerged from this work.