Pipeline and Sundry: New Gaston La Gaffe “Suspended” (For Now)
The first judicial proceeding in the case of Franquin vs Dupuis happened at the beginning of the week. Dupuis pre-empted it, in public, with a press release announcing that they had temporarily suspended their plans to publish a new Gaston La Gaffe book until the lawsuit could be settled and everyone was happy.
The quote all the coverage cites from Dupuis’ publisher says,
“Editions Dupuis spontaneously took this decision in order to allow a serene and objective debate, and to preserve the quality of relations with Ms. Franquin while awaiting the judicial decision on the merits which will take place in September 2022”
This is a weird way to “preserve the quality of relations” with Andre Franquin’s daughter, if you ask me. If they were really concerned about that, they should have dealt with it before their Angouleme announcement.
They maintain that they are right, though, and won’t stop telling everyone.
“Editions Dupuis are certain that the next few weeks will make it possible to demonstrate their right, and to find a solution which allows Franquin’s work to continue to live to perpetuate the legacy of this comic strip genius.”
At least now they’re including language about a “solution” to their thorny little issue here.
And, yes, this isn’t about “perpetuating the legacy” of a character. This is about money. This book had a planned first printing of 1.2 million copies. In a non-Asterix year, that’s potentially the top-selling book in France for 2022.
On top of that, one report I read said that the plan was to publish a new book every other year, the same way Asterix works these days.
That’s a sizable publishing program. Who wouldn’t want to have a book on their schedule that sells a million copies in every even-numbered year?
I don’t blame them for trying to get this off the ground.
On the other hand, I still don’t quite understand what they expected to happen here. I’m in America and am only half educated on Franquin’s career, but even I knew that his estate would likely have a problem with this.
Even if Dupuis has the contracts they say they do, it’s a huge mistake not to get the blessing from the estate — namely, Franquin’s daughter, Isabelle.
What else did they expect?
Great, let’s say they have the contracts and they’re as air-tight as they say they are. So what? There are still going to be lots of bad feelings about the book, and it’s still going to have a cloud over it.
The company runs the risk of losing goodwill from current creators. Many, such as Zep and Philippe Geluck, signed that open letter opposing this new book.
We can put this story to sleep for now. Some closed room meetings are scheduled at the end of August between the two parties and their chosen arbitrator. The final decision will be made by the end of September, and that decision cannot be appealed.
It’s a bit of a gamble on the part of both parties, though. They talk a big game in public about how right they are sure that they are, but do they really want to leave it all up to a third party to decide on their behalf?
UNLESS! There’s always the chance this is all part of a negotiation process on both sides. Dupuis and Franquin can arrive at a middle ground before then. They have three solid months to work on this before standing before the arbitrator.
It’ll still be too late to put the book back on the 2022 schedule, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a press release this summer that Franquin and Dupuis are happy to work together to preserve her father’s legacy and his creations to the next generation of readers, etc. etc.
Everyone eats a little crow, Franquin buys a new summer home in the South of France, and the printing presses start back up.
Maybe?
Past Examples of Children and Their Famous Comics Parents
There is some amount of prior art to this, too. Other children of classic creators have gone through this process before.
Rene Goscinny’s daughter, Anne (seen above), happily sold off her inherited rights of Asterix to Hachette so that the next generation of readers and creators could continue the characters’ legacy.
In the same 2008 deal, Albert Uderzo also sold his rights in Asterix, which then started a family feud and legal matters with his daughter. She lost badly. There are echoes to what Stan Lee went through in his latter years there, but it’s far from a perfect parallel. Someday, I’ll write it all up.
Peyo’s wife and daughter took over his Smurfs production studio upon his death. His daughter still runs the Smurfs, while his son is a writer for the Smurfs comics.
I don’t know if Morris ever married, but I’m pretty sure he never had children. It’s not completely clear, but the official Lucky Luke website has a copyright notice for both Dupuis and Lucky Comics. The comics have been continuously published without missing a step. Achdé, the artist who continues the series, was an assistant of Morris’.
We’ll have to wait a few more months to see what Gaston La Gaffe’s fate is to be, and what Isabelle Franquin’s role is in all of it…
Yeah I think you answered your own question here on the Gaston kerfuffle, it’s all about $$$$$$$$$, I mean, all about €€€€€€€€€€€. They will find a way, and as a famous french comedian once said wisely, if people buy it, it will sell. Even if it’s bad, as Lucky Luke amply demonstrated over recent years. That’s how much of a staple of modern pop culture Gaston is, even after few decades past the glory days. A Gaston album is one of those things you’re likely to find in most households around here, on a shelf, or sometimes in the bathroom, you know what I mean. Gaston is comfort food for the soul, it all makes us better.
Feels like you’re overestimating slightly the “good will” thing, the love/hate feud between franco-belgian publishers and creators has been going steady and strong since the dawn of the Gutenberg era 🙂 , at least as far as I can remember. Sure there will be some grumps around if (when) the deal happens, but no one will quit in protest over it. In a business of freelancers there is almost none of that kind of solidarity, even here. Of course Albert René was created in reaction to publisher greed and contempt, so were Lucky Productions, Marsu and a couple others, but only the big sellers had the guts to go this route. And even then they kind of came back to the fold for distribution deals anyway. There never was a massive wave of splits and I don’t think there ever will. I’m not saying it couldn’t be good for the industry (well we don’t call it that here btw, they still see themselves as more like a craft), but that’s too much of a precarious position for a mid to low seller to gamble on a move like this. A proper union would help though.