Tintin Forums

Yes, because Gomer Pyle, the sitcom character's first name was taken from a member of the writing staff.


As was pointed out in the Facebook thread, "Gaston" is not a common French name, and is seen as archaic; "Gomer" works the same way.


Well, I can't gainsay that, but it and "goof" are quite common words.

Even the character Goofy isn't even that tied to it as a name - he started life as "Dippy Dawg" (which didn't stop Terrytoons's "Deputy Dawg"), moved on to "Goofy", but clearly as a nickname, as the character was "in real life" (i.e. in cartoon continuity) "George Geef" or "G.G. Geef"; I see from his Wikipedia page that he has gone by Goof, G.G. Goof, and Goofus D. Dawg, as well as the somewhat surprising "James Boyd".
I also recall from childhood comic reading that he had an alter-ego as "Super Goof", which came from eating "goobers" (which were apparently another name for monkey nuts).

This is good news. Hope other French classics do get official English translations. I am in particular on the lookout for Luc Junior (Goscinny & Uderzo), Jehan Pistolet (Gosicny & Uderzo) and the reissues of Leornard (Turk & DeGroot).

Moderator Note: While enthusiasm is always a good thing, let's not hijack this thread about Gomer Goof and turn it into a "Wants" list for other comics, please! :-)

The Tidy Tintinologist Team

Gomer Goof is now available for digital reading at both Izneo and Comixology. Enjoy.