Editing Blueberry (comics) (section)

====The commemorative omnibus collection series (2012–2019)====
{{quote box|align=right|width=45%|quote="About 2,000 copies of each title are sold every year. It's pretty good, although there has been unfortunately nothing new since "Dust", the 28th volume published seven years ago".|salign=right|source=—Philippe Ostermann, Deputy Managing Director Dargaud, December 2012, on the lack of the economic incentive for releasing a general "intégrale" on the Francophone market before Giraud's death.<ref name="casm54">{{cite news |last=Fuéri |first=Jean-Pierre |date=December 2012 |title=L'intégrale en 'attendant |work=Casemate |issue=54 |pages=48–49  |publisher=Pomme Presse |location=Paris |language=fr}}</ref>}}
Shortly after Jean Giraud had died on 10 March 2012 as well, Dargaud embarked in November that year on the release of the ''Blueberry'' main series 9-volume "Intégrale" anthology/omnibus collection, completed in December 2019.<ref name="integrale"/> Though there had been several (international) "Intégrale" versions released before, this version, each volume collecting either three or four individual volumes of the main series, was intended to become the definitive one and each volume was greatly enhanced with elaborate and richly illustrated editorials, written by France's preeminent comics scholars such as {{ill|José-Louis Bocquet|fr}}, {{ill|Patrick Gaumer|fr}} or Gilles Ratier, among others. It quickly evolved into an international release as it has by 2023 become translated into Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, (Brazilian) Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, and Swedish.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Integrale uitgave 1|website=stripINFO.be|url=https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/280311_Blueberry_INT_A1_Integrale_uitgave_1|language=nl|access-date=2019-10-03|archive-date=2019-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003114153/https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/280311_Blueberry_INT_A1_Integrale_uitgave_1|url-status=live}}; includes other language editions.</ref> Launched in 2019, the German and Danish editions were remarkable in this respect in that these countries had already seen their aforementioned and relatively recent 2006-2011/17 Egmont omnibus editions (which had themselves already been quite elaborate as well), constituting an enduring testament to the continuing popularity of Giraud's ''Blueberry'' in those countries, Germany in particular.

It turned out a half year later that such a collection had already been in the works in conjuncture with Giraud himself prior to his death, but not as a general release as eventually realized, but rather as a to 10–12,000 copies one-time-only limited "collector's edition" Francophone market exclusive. As Dargaud deputy manager Philippe Ostermann had explained in the quote box on the right, an economic necessity for a general intégrale release had not yet materialized by the time Giraud died. After Giraud's death though and pursuant securing the blessings of both his and Charlier's heirs, it was decided with the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of the series in mind to turn the project into a general release after all,<ref name="casm54"/> which effectively terminated the reprint runs of the individual volumes of the main series in each of the language territories where the collection was released, save for the aforementioned unique special license releases &ndash; in some countries, such as Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, individual volume reprint runs of the main series had already been suspended indefinitely long before the release in those territories of the intégrale edition. The German edition of the collection, carries the subtitle "Collector's Edition", as a reminder of the original intent of the collection, aside from distinguishing it from their Egmont edition. However though, and just as had been the case with the Egmont edition (see ''[[#English translations|below]]''), a glaring omission in the Dargaud collection remained the "Three Black Birds" short story, excepting a single page for illustrative purposes in the editorial of volume 8 only. That Isabelle Giraud had chosen not sign off on the collection publication of that story as a whole had everything to do with the intense, [[#Ramifications|below-explained animosity]] she harbored towards Philippe Charlier.

In 2017, a ''Marshal Blueberry'' intégrale, collecting the three individual volumes of the intermezzo mini-series, was additionally released by Dargaud, likewise seeing several international translations.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Marshal Blueberry: De Integrale|website=stripINFO.be|url=https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/343142_Marshal_Blueberry_INT_1_De_integrale|language=nl|access-date=2021-06-13|archive-date=2021-06-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613082855/https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/343142_Marshal_Blueberry_INT_1_De_integrale|url-status=live}}; includes other language editions.</ref> Though similarly executed, it was not released as part of 2012 intégrale series, but rather as a stand-alone, or Hors Séries (HS &ndash; "outside the series"), release. Furthermore, it also lacked any editorials &ndash; which ironically made the earlier corresponding Egmont release from 2006 the superior one, as that volume did feature editorials.<ref>{{cite web |last=Tomblaine |first=Philippe |title=" Marshal Blueberry : l'Intégrale " par William Vance, Michel Rouge, Jean Giraud et Thierry Smolderen |url=http://bdzoom.com/123671/patrimoine/%c2%ab-marshal-blueberry-l%e2%80%99integrale-%c2%bb-par-william-vance-michel-rouge-jean-giraud-et-thierry-smolderen |work=BDzoom.com |date=21 December 2017 |language=fr |access-date=27 August 2022 |archive-date=27 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827082029/http://bdzoom.com/123671/patrimoine/%C2%AB-marshal-blueberry-l%E2%80%99integrale-%C2%BB-par-william-vance-michel-rouge-jean-giraud-et-thierry-smolderen/ |url-status=live }}</ref>