Editing Blueberry (comics) (section)

===Intermezzo: ''Marshal Blueberry''===
{{Infobox comic book title
 | title = Marshal Blueberry
 | image = 
 | caption = 
 | format = [[Graphic novel]]
 | genre = [[Western comics|Western]]
 | publisher = [[Dargaud]]
 | date = 1991-2000
 | main_char_team = Mike S. Blueberry (born as Michael Steven Donovan)
 | writers = Jean Giraud (1991-2000)<br>[[Thierry Smolderen]] (1993)
 | artists = [[William Vance]] (1991-1993)<br>{{ill|Michel Rouge|fr}} (2000)
 | colorists = {{ill|Petra (colorist)|fr|Petra (coloriste)|lt=Petra}} (1991-1993)<br>{{ill|Scarlett (colorist)|fr|Scarlett (coloriste)|lt=Scarlett}} (2000)
 | creators = [[Jean Giraud]]
}}
{{quote box|align=left|width=45%|quote="That was an idea I had with Jean-Marc Lofficier. After we had acquired the approval from the [''Charlier''] heirs, it was Fabrice Giger, Alpen's editor-in-chief, who came up with the idea to select William Vance for the artwork. For the moment, the cycle with Vance is over [''note: Giraud is referring to his scenario writing''] and we give the series a little breather so it can sink in a little."|salign=right|source=—Giraud, 1993, on conceiving the ''Marshal Blueberry'' spin-off series and somewhat contradicting his [[#Return to the parent publisher (1993–present)|later 2010 statement]].<ref name="Ledoux, 1993, p. 26">[[#Sources|Ledoux, 1993, p. 26]]</ref>}}
{{quote box|align=left|width=45%|quote="When Guy Vidal of Humanos brought me into contact with Jean Giraud at the time, he presented me with a story that I liked very much. But Giraud had written the script as a novel. The page division was still lacking, as were the dialogs. Furthermore he had planned to spread the story over two books. I suggested to expand that to three books. After I had finished the first ''Marshal Blueberry'', I did not want to do all the work alone anymore. I did not have the time, nor did I want to do the work, others should have rightfully done. [[Thierry Smolderen]] subsequently worked out the script. But then I procrastinated. Dargaud had bought back ''Blueberry'', Giraud had rejected part of Smolderen's script, altered the page divisions, etcetera. In the end I became fed up with the third book, and threw in the towel".|salign=right|source=—Vance, 1996, on his experiences working on ''Marshal Blueberry''.<ref>[[#Sources|Ledoux, 2003]], p. 66  (quoted from the Winter 1996 ''Sapristi!'', issue 36, magazine interview)</ref>}}
This spin-off series was the second attempt, this time by Alpen Publishers, to further capitalize on the huge popularity both the main, and Wilson's ''Blueberry'' series enjoyed at the time. Written by co-creator Giraud, the series was set around the events depicted in ''The Lost Dutchman's Mine'' and dealt with scrupulous gun runners arming Apaches, thereby instigating an uprising. Giraud, who had just permanently returned from his extended stay in the US, was in effect still mourning the passing of Charlier and could not yet bring himself to embark on the art for ''Blueberry'' again, but wanted to pay homage to the legacy of his long-time writing partner by creating a story in his spirit, or as Giraud had put it: "[A]nd [I] said to myself: Well, I'm going to see if I'm able to write a story à la Charlier. So I wrote this scenario, not too bad, but quite traditional, quite classic".<ref>[[#Sources|Sadoul, 2015, p. 221]]</ref>

Chosen by the publisher for the art work was William Vance, an accomplished Belgian comic artist in his own right and renowned for his [[XIII (comics)|''XIII'' comic series]]. Vance, with whom Giraud had virtually no dealings in person before, drew the first two outings in the series which were colored by his life-long colaborist and wife {{ill|Petra (colorist)|fr|Petra (coloriste)|lt=Petra}}, but declined afterwards to continue, partly because he was required to finish an album in only four months (in Europe, one year was the typical mean to complete a comic book of 48 pages, but not rarely exceeds this time span in recent decades) and that he was unaccustomed to Giraud's style as script writer. Additionally, even though the first book sold 100.000 copies (while respectable, relatively modest compared to the contemporary print runs of the two other series, they being printed in numbers at the very least double that,<ref name="Telegraaf"/>) fans received the book with mixed feelings as Vance's style was a too radical departure to their tastes from that of Giraud.<ref>[[#Sources|Ledoux, 2003, p. 66]]</ref> This actually was part of the reasons why Wilson's work for ''Young Blueberry'' was so favorably received and partly the reason why Blanc-Dumont's was not. While conceding that he found Vance's particular style "seductive but sometimes artificial" &ndash; having been pleased with the first album, but less so with the second &ndash; Giraud himself was disappointed and hurt by the defection of a professional like the established Vance for reasons of aesthetics and integrity, as he wanted the series to be executed by one artist only, deeming the defection "disastrous" for the series.<ref>[[#Sources|Svane, 2003, p. 38]]; [[#Sources|Sadoul, 2015, p. 221]]</ref>

[[Jean Giraud]] and [[William Vance]], page layout by [[René Follet]]
* 1: ''Sur ordre de Washington'' (Alpen Publishers, 1991/11, {{ISBN|2731609885}})
* 2: ''Mission Sherman'' (Alpen Publishers, 1993/06, {{OCLC|801093625}}, no first printing ISBN issued)

====Change of artist (II)====
After Vance had thrown in the towel, the unresolved story cycle lingered in limbo for a further seven years, during which Alpen editor Thierry Smolderen went in search for a replacement for Vance, at one point considering up and coming BD artist {{ill|Dominique Bertail|fr}} (who was even asked to produce a couple of test plates),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stripspeciaalzaak.be/flashback/onvoltooid-project-marshal-blueberry-door-dominique-bertail|title=Onvoltooid project: Marshal Blueberry door Dominique Bertail|website=stripINFO.be|date=22 December 2023|language=nl}}</ref> before Giraud in person finally found Michel Rouge &ndash; whose style was closer to his &ndash; willing to finish the cycle.<ref>[[#Svane|Svane, 2003, pp. 71-72]]</ref> For Rouge, Giraud modified his writing style by providing him with detailed page-layout sketches complete with dialog, which were quite faithfully adhered to by the artist.<ref>{{cite web|title=Schetspagina's Marshal Blueberry 3 door Jean Giraud|url=https://www.stripspeciaalzaak.be/flashback/schetspaginas-marshal-blueberry-3-door-jean-giraud|date=12 November 2022|language=nl|access-date=17 November 2022|archive-date=17 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117104117/https://www.stripspeciaalzaak.be/flashback/schetspaginas-marshal-blueberry-3-door-jean-giraud|url-status=live}}</ref> That Rouge's style resembled that of Giraud, was hardly a surprise, as Rouge was actually not a stranger to ''Blueberry''. Twenty years earlier, when Rouge was still a quite unknown and aspiring comic artist, Giraud took him on as an apprentice and had him ink pages 15–35 of "La longue marche" in 1980 &ndash; thereby doing for an aspiring artist what Jijé had done for him nearly two decades before that. At the time it gave rise to the rumor that Giraud was planning to abandon his co-creation and that Rouge was groomed to take over the series. Though a rumor, there was a nuanced morsel of truth in it, as Rouge clarified two decades later: "No, he did not want to abandon ''Blueberry'', but rather sought support and perhaps the opportunity to create books, like the ones he is currently doing [''Mister Blueberry'']. At the time, he was already playing with the notion of doing parallel series". Rouge's words notwithstanding though, and while he has never acted upon it in earnest, Giraud did later admit that there were "temptations" in that period of time.<ref>[[#Sources|Svane, 2003, pp. 39, 68-73]]</ref> Though not ''Blueberry'', Rouge himself ''did'' take over that other famed contemporary Franco-Belgian western comic series, Hermann's ''Comanche'', but Rouge was not able to regain the popularity that series once enjoyed, when it was still penciled by Hermann, and the series was suspended indefinitely after Rouge had only added five titles to the series.<ref>[[#Sources|Svane, 2003, pp. 68-73]]; In 2019, Rouge launched his own western comic series ''[https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/index/40843_Gunfighter Gunfighter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920171848/https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/index/40843_Gunfighter |date=2022-09-20 }}'' which was received with great acclaim.</ref>

Jean Giraud and {{ill|Michel Rouge|fr}}
* 3: ''Frontière sanglante'' (Dargaud, 2000/06, {{ISBN|2205042777}})

Originally intended to become a full-fledged series, the three ''Marshal Blueberry'' titles have remained the only outings in the series, though they too have seen several foreign language publications. Although not in France itself, several European countries have seen serialized magazine pre-publication of the first two titles. The third 2000 title though, was invariably directly released in book format for virtually all countries.<ref name="croa"/> No (formal) English language editions were released<sup>[[#footnote 5|5]]</sup>. Incidentally, in 2013 Giraud returned the favor Vance had provided for his co-creation, when he took on the art work of volume 18 for his ''XIII'' series, and which ''has'' seen English translations.

Despite Giraud's original intention to pay homage to his late co-worker, the series did not sit well with Charlier's heir, son Philippe. Citing his concerns for readers becoming confused by the addition of a third series taking place at a different point in time, he stated nine months after Giraud's death, "Thank God, ''Marshal'' was nothing more than a triptych. But some readers got a little lost by it." Considering his deep loathing of the deceased Giraud by then (see ''[[#Continued publishing wanderings (1990–1993)|above]]'' and ''[[#Sequel: Blueberry 1900|below]]''), Philippe Charlier's ostensible "concern for the readers" appeared duplicitous at least, as he on the very same occasion [[#Ramifications|advocated the inception of a plethora of spin-off series]] based on the secondary ''Blueberry'' characters.<ref name="casm54a">{{cite news |last=Fuéri |first=Jean-Pierre |date=December 2012 |title=Charlier Jr.: Blueberry, Demain |work=Casemate |issue=54 |pages=44–47  |publisher=Pomme Presse |location=Paris |language=fr}}</ref>