La Ribambelle (French for "flock" or "throng") is a Belgian comics series about a gang of kids living in the same neighbourhood.

In the 1920s, the Sunday pages of American artist Martin Branner's Winnie Winkle the Breadwinner focused on the adventures of her little brother Perry and his gang the Rinkydinks, which included a Chinese boy called Chink.

Perry was renamed Bicot for the French market and European artists made new comics about him and the Rinkydinks when Branner's weekly pages were no longer sufficient.

Franquin suggested a gang of kids similar to Branner's Rinkydinks, coming up with the name "Ribambelle" (French for "flock" or "throng"), which "sounded right".

[2] Based on a script by Marcel Denis, Loeckx, under the pen-name Joël, drew a four-page strip called Opération ciseaux (French for "Operation Scissors").

Most of them appeared to be in their teens and included Tony, the blond-haired leader; Filasse, the artist; Michette, the fiery and heavy-handed only girl; Michel, the slingshot champion; Dizzi, the musician; and a much younger boy whose name was not mentioned.

A few years later, at Franquin's suggestion, artist Jean Roba started his own series called La Ribambelle but changed most of the characters, giving them varied nationalities and racial backgrounds, the only connection to Loeckx's original being Dizzi.

A new adventure of the Ribambelle was published in 2011, written by Zidrou (pen-name of Benoît Drousie), best known for L'Élève Ducobu, and drawn by Jean-Marc Krings.

The Ribambelle is a gang of friendly kids who attend the same school in a typical mainland European town, probably in France.

James is himself a Scot and is the epitome of the stiff-upper lip manservant, often putting on airs but remaining friendly and good-humoured and well liked by the children.

The others, Rodolphe and Alphonse, are in awe of him, even when his plans go disastrously wrong, and he addresses them as "mes p'tit gars" ("me little laddies"), even though he is half their size.

Having won a competition to the Galopingos Islands in the Caribbean, the gang discovers that it is only for one person and thus give it to their friend Mister Berlingaud, sweet shop owner and amateur scientist who has never so much as seen the sea.