Only six issues of the children’s comic Zig Et Puce were ever published. Our correspondent Fatima Gilliblat has spent the last ten years writing a definitive study of this milestone in Latin tot literature. Here is an extract from her forthcoming book, a brief summary of the content of each issue.

Zig Et Puce, Number One. Zig steals eggs from the Mavis Nest. Puce whittles a stick. Zig glows like a lightbulb. Puce bangs a pan. Zig clocks off. Puce wears blue pyjamas.

Zig Et Puce, Number Two. Zig, in an extremity of barbarian anguish, pops a cig into a dovecote. Puce outbids a flapper at an auction. Zig melds tarp with gauze. Puce takes part in a testimonial match for a retiring football ace who now has but the one leg. Zig meets Tod. Puce murmurs, like the sea.

Zig Et Puce, Number Three. Zig crunches twigs underfoot as he stalks his quarry. Puce spies a window of opportunity. Zig goes to the gallows. Puce mucks about with currants. Zig looks like Eve Marie Saint in On The Waterfront. Puce reads Simone De Beauvoir in her American circumstance. Zig spits. Puce clanks.

Zig Et Puce, Number Four. Zig is embalmed within the tomb of a great but anonymous ancient Egyptian monkey god king. Puce blots her copybook. Zig has gum disease. Puce clings to the raft of the Medusa. Zig makes much of much that has not panned out as planned. Puce goes for the Bob Stokoe Memorial Bucket.

Zig Et Puce, Number Five (the notorious banned issue). Zig shows grit. Puce, in tumbling, dislodges the Buttons of Beb, which cascade down the mountainside and are scattered about the lanes of a village in a Swiss canton. Zig foots the bill. Puce goes rogue. Zig is in a ditch with Tod and a cup and an owl. Puce dissolves in water. Zig hails the chief. Puce watches Cowards Bend The Knee, or The Blue Hands, with Latin intertitles.

Zig Et Puce, Number Six. Zig milks a cow. Puce milks another cow. Zig pays a visit to the place where it goes “clunk!”. Puce keeps milking cows. Zig is a harbinger of harbours and binges. Puce milks more and more cows. Zig crashes upon the rocks, like the sea. Puce sashays along Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse. Zig whimpers. Puce bangs.