Editing Gaston (comics) (section)

==Politics, activism and promotional material==
Authors at ''Spirou'' could only go so far in expressing anything resembling politics within the magazine, and so the author of ''Gaston'' generally stuck to a gentle satire of productivity and authority.  However, the pacifism and concern for the environment that formed the basis of Franquin's politics and would be expressed much more bluntly in ''[[Idées noires]]'' were already surfacing in ''Gaston'' (and ''Spirou et Fantasio'').  Very occasionally, Franquin stepped over the mark, as in an uncharacteristically angry strip where Gaston uses a toy [[Messerschmitt]] plane to strafe the whole office in protest at their (real life) appearance in the magazine's modelling column (while building the model, he says: “''… and now, the [[swastikas]]. They are very popular amongst idiots''”).  Outside of ''Spirou'' however, Franquin had a free rein, and used Gaston in promotional material for diverse organisations such as [[Greenpeace]] and [[Amnesty International]]. In the former, activists scare whales away from whalers by plucking the dreaded gaffophone.  For the latter, Franquin produced a gut-wrenching sequence where Gaston is beaten and tortured and forced to watch M'oiselle Jeanne raped in front of him, before being sent to a prison camp. In the penultimate frame he faces capital punishment which the punters hope "serves as an example". Awaking in a sweat, Gaston shouts at the reader that "although this was a nightmare, it's happening right now around the world", urging membership.

Gaston has also appeared in advertising campaigns for batteries, a soft drink (Orange Piedboeuf),<ref>These strips were later collected in ''Le lourd passé de Lagaffe'' and Série définitive ''Gaston n°2''. Piedboeuf is now part of [[Interbrew]]</ref> and in a campaign to promote bus use. The material was always drawn by Franquin himself rather than under licence, and has been reprinted in books. The latter campaign is interesting in that it shows Franquin's evolution from car enthusiast inventing the ''Turbo-traction'' and other fancy sports vehicles for ''Spirou'' in the 1950s, to disillusioned citizen concerned over traffic and pollution in later years. One topical strip had the seagull boycotting Gaston's car after seeing a bird stuck in an oil spill on television.  "Life is becoming more and more complicated", its owner concludes gloomily in a very rare joke-free ending.