Gaston is allowed to be reborn. A new Lagaffe album signed by the Canadian Delaf could be published at the end of the year, after the resolution of a dispute between the publisher Dupuis and Isabelle Franquin, daughter of the creator of the famous comic book character.
The day after an arbitration award handed down in Brussels, the historic publisher of Belgian comics said on Wednesday that it had “definitively” closed the dispute between it and Ms. Franquin for a year.
A version slightly nuanced by the lawyers of the latter, even if one of them told AFP “not to question the principle of the resurrection of Gaston”.
At the heart of the dispute which broke out in the spring of last year: the possibility for a third party to draw a sequel to the adventures of the famous blundering antihero created in 1957 by André Franquin (1924-1997).
By learning that Dupuis has entrusted this mission to Delaf for an album release scheduled for October 2022, and that certain boards will quickly be pre-published in The Diary of Spirouthe daughter and sole beneficiary of Franquin, took legal action in Belgium.
She asserts the exercise of “an inalienable moral right” arising from statements by her father according to which “he did not want Gaston Lagaffe to be taken over by another cartoonist after his death”. The 21 albums published to date (excluding reissues) were all signed by Franquin during his lifetime.
Consult Franquin’s daughter
If a first gag by Gaston Lagaffe drawn by Delaf, whose real name is Marc Delafontaine, appeared in March 2022, the trial brought in summary proceedings in Brussels had the consequence of suspending the other prepublications.
And, under pressure, Dupuis announced in May 2022 to give up the release of the new album. The time for the dispute to be settled on the merits by an arbitration procedure, entrusted to a Brussels lawyer appointed by mutual agreement by the two parties.
Nine months after the pleadings before this “arbitrator”, the sentence finally fell on Tuesday evening.
It authorizes the principle of a sequel to the adventures of Lagaffe, provided that Isabelle Franquin is consulted before any publication. She must be able to “exercise her father’s moral rights” and “communicate her possible remarks based on ethical or artistic reasons”, according to extracts from the decision communicated to AFP.
“Incomparable Creator”
For Dupuis, who has always ensured benefiting from Franquin’s property rights (via the acquisition of Marsu Productions), it is the open door to the release of the album already completed by Delaf.
The latter assured to be “delighted” with the arbitration.
“I look forward to sharing the fruits of my labor. […] I hope that by closing the album, readers will feel all the love and respect I have for Gaston and his incomparable creator André Franquin, ”said the Quebec designer, quoted in a press release from the publisher.
The new Lagaffe should be published “soon, if possible by the end of the year”, a spokeswoman for Dupuis in Belgium told AFP.
Alain Berenboom, lawyer for the publisher, estimated that the limits set by the arbitration only applied to possible future albums after this first opus signed Delaf.
To say that “the edition, publication and marketing of the album Le Retour de Lagaffe, drawn and scripted by Delaf, is lawful” (as the decision stipulates), “this means that this one can be put in press and sold”, assured Me Berenboom.
Provided that Isabelle Franquin can see “the final boards” of the Quebecer, qualified his lawyer Claude Katz, also joined by AFP.
“We do not have the will to go back to litigation, but Ms. Franquin can only approve what she has seen,” argued Me Katz.
He explained that, since December 2021, André Franquin’s daughter had only been presented with “about forty boards at various stages of their completion”.