In Italian. But in French, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/topo#Noun_3 sketch/rundown/short report/rough outline seems more likely the meaning in context here.

Maybe in an other language. But in French (and in this context) a "topo" is a summary or a synopsys.

I guess it comes from "topographie", a sort of map.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topolino .

Perhaps this is a connection to comics too.

But it is “place” in Greek, funny that it is different

Oh thanks! Also in Italian topo means mouse.

actually, in french mouse is souris (and bat is "shaved mouse", chauve souris)

i think the french just know the italian word. i think there have been other celebrity topi, like Topo Gigio. i wrote a little script tool to explore/confirm my network topology, and i call it gigio :) it's based on testing ad hoc knowledge of my network topology so it's not generally useful.

Bat is actually "bald mouse", not "shaved", which makes sense somehow !

The etymology of "chauve" (bald) in "chauve-souris" (bat) is debated, but I've often read that it could be a deformation of a word designating an owl or a crow (it would be a cognate with the late Latin "cavannus" (tawny owl), for example).

On a similar note, the "cerf" (deer) in "un cerf-volant" (a kite toy) probably derive from occitan sèrp (snake) as a reference to dragon-shaped kites from Asia.

Interesting, probably a cognate of latin serpens, also English serpent (=snake), the other is also from latin cervus (=deer).

Souris seems related to the Italian synonym / pejorative sorcio (for mouse) but I haven't checked.