Dans une crise de désespoir temporaire, Iznogoud craque et annonce en hurlant qu’il ne veut plus être calife à la place du calife. Mais tout le monde l’a entendu, et cela mécontente le Calife; en effet, celui-ci a renié (sous l’influence d’Iznogoud) ses trois frères (Deroun, Troiroun et Katroun) pour qu’Iznogoud soit son seul successeur, et se sent vexé, puisqu’il doit maintenant les retrouver. Craignant d’être empalé par le frère du calife qui sera choisi, Iznogoud tente de les retrouver tous les trois pour s’assurer qu’ils ne reviennent pas. Pour compléter le tout, des conspirateurs tentent de profiter de ce qu’il a dit dans sa crise de désespoir pour le mettre en disgrâce et le faire condamner à mort…

#050822 (Name on fep, otherwise Fine)
The series made its debut in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Record on 15 January 1962 under the title, Les aventures du Calife Haroun el Poussah.[1] It was eventually recognised that the wicked supporting character ought to be the focus of the strip, and it was renamed Iznogoud.[2] In 1968, it resumed serial publication in Goscinny’s Pilote magazine.

Goscinny’s taste for sharp satirical writing keeps the repetitive format of the stories constantly fresh, making Iznogoud one of the most popular anti-heroes in the French comic strip world. Goscinny’s skills with puns, made famous in Astérix, is also evident in Iznogoud. Most of the puns in the original French make little sense if translated directly into English, requiring of translators (Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge in the case of the English translations) to find creative solutions for equivalent puns while still keeping within the spirit of the original text.

When Goscinny died in 1977, Tabary eventually decided to carry on the work himself, just as Albert Uderzo did with Asterix. While the Goscinny period was characterized by “albums” comprising several short-length tales each, Tabary turned the series in a new direction, by dedicating every new album entirely to a single story, larger and much more detailed, usually revolving around a new unique concept.