Editing Blueberry (comics) (section)

===Second tier ''Blueberry''-related spin-off series===
These concern spin-off creations that have very strong ties with the ''Blueberry'' series, but which differ in this respect from the aforementioned sub-series that neither Blueberry himself, nor any of the major secondary characters, appear in these creations.

====''Jim Cutlass''====
{{Infobox comic book title
 | title = Jim Cutlass
 | image = 
 | caption = 
 | format = [[Graphic novel]]
 | genre = [[Western comics|Western]]
 | publisher = [[Dargaud]], [[Les Humanoïdes Associés]], [[Casterman]]
 | date = 1979–1999
 | main_char_team = Jim Cutlass, Carolyn Grayson
 | writers = Jean-Michel Charlier (1976-1989†),<br>Jean Giraud (1991-1999)<br>{{ill|Christian Rossi|fr}} (1991-1999)
 | artists = Jean Giraud (1976-1979)<br>Christian Rossi (1991-1999)
 | colorists = Jean Giraud (1976)<br>Isabelle Beaumenay-Joannet (1979)<br>Christian Rossi (1991-1999)
 | creators = [[Jean-Michel Charlier]]<br>[[Jean Giraud]]
}}
Even though neither Blueberry nor any of the major secondary characters of the main series has made an appearance, or are referenced to, in this ''bande dessinée'' (BD) series, ''{{ill|Jim Cutlass|fr}}'' is of all the second-tier spin-off series the one that is most inextricably associated with the main series, even more so than all the hereafter mentioned productions &ndash; and even more so than the ''Marshal Blueberry'' intermezzo series in fact, due to that series complete lack of Jean-Michel Charlier involvement. In effect, the ''Jim Cutlass'' series exclusively owes its very existence to the ''Blueberry'' main series.

It was actually the [[#Royalties conflict (1974–1979)|1974-1979 ''Blueberry'' royalties conflict]] that lay at the very heart of the ''Jim Cutlass'' series origin history. Two years after the conflict had started and in which Georges Dargaud had stubbornly refused to budge,<ref name="fueri"/> he, acting like it was business as usual, brazenly asked Charlier for a ''Blueberry'' short story for a Western special he had planned as a June 1976 side publication of ''Pilote'' magazine. Charlier however, had no intention whatsoever to add yet another ''Blueberry'' title to a body of work that was already under contention, and found, as expected, his co-creator Giraud in full agreement. "The ''Blueberry'' magazine rights, " Giraud had declared, "were a year before I embarked on ''Jim Cutlass'' the subject of a dispute between the ''Pilote'' people and I. When they afterwards asked me for my contribution to a western special issue of ''Pilote'', the relationships had somewhat improved, but I was dead-set on not wanting ''Blueberry'' to appear in ''Pilote'' ever again. We were already in negotiations with other magazines for that ''bande dessinée''. It was therefore essentially a copyright issue that made Charlier and I invent another western hero."<ref name="bree70">[[#Soures|de Bree, 1982, p. 70]]</ref> The primary reason for both creators to give in to Dargaud's request after all with a western short story, can only be construed as a token of goodwill of not wanting to shut the door on their parent publisher permanently, thereby leaving some wriggling room for future negotiations. As implied by Giraud however, Charlier took great care that the story copyrights were covered by his EdiFrance/EdiPresse syndicate agency's magazine exemption clause &ndash; he had already reactivated two years earlier to have "Angel Face" appear in ''Nouveau Tintin'' instead of ''Pilote'' &ndash;, meaning that the two creators retained full ownership of their new creation, and ''not'' publisher Dargaud where its ''Blueberry'' ownership had been the very root cause of the conflict in the first place.

As intended, the 17-page short story, entitled "Mississippi River", appeared in the "Special Wéstern" companion issue of ''Pilote'' number 25 of June 1976,<ref>{{cite web |title=Numéro 25 bis: Spécial Western |url=https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/106317 |work=stripINFO.be |language=nl |access-date=2022-08-25 |archive-date=2023-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405105725/https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/106317 |url-status=live }}</ref> which had by then become a monthly magazine. At that time still lacking a series title,<ref name="epic8">Epic Graphic Novel Moebius TPB 8</ref> as it was originally intended as a one-off publication, the story involved a northerner who very shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War travels to New Orleans, Louisiana in order to claim his inheritance, a plantation. On his way, he meets several firebrand southern secessionists and as a decided [[Abolitionism|abolitionist]] runs into serious troubles with several of them after helping a slave escape. For "Mississippi River" Giraud used the very same, what Charlier had coined "less convoluted", art style he had already used for his ''Young Blueberry'' short stories as created for ''Super Pocket Pilote'' eight years earlier, even though the plates for the "Special Wéstern" issue were twice the size of those of ''Super Pocket Pilote''.

Three years later, the ''Blueberry'' royalties conflict had flared up again in full force, and Jim Cutlass found himself quite unexpectedly smack in the middle of the conflict, front and center. Charlier and Giraud had decided to turn up the pressure on publisher Dargaud by having the long and eagerly awaited "Broken Nose" ''Blueberry'' outing pre-published in ''Métal Hurlant'' magazine instead of ''Pilote''. In addition, they had decided to revisit their 1976 short story and expand it into a full-blown 60-page story, and have it pre-published in ''Métal Hurlant'' magazine a short while later as well, in order to make it crystal clear to publisher Dargaud that the ''Blueberry'' creators had options.<ref name="Moeb8">{{cite book |last1=Charlier |first1=Jean Michel |last2=Giraud |first2=Jean |last3=Lofficier (tr) |first3=Jean-Marc |title=Moebius 8: Mississippi River |year=1991 |publisher=Epic Comics|location=[[New York City]] |page=4 (editorial page)|isbn=0871357151}}</ref> In an effort to turn up the heat on Dargaud even further, the album was already released by the by Giraud co-founded publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés before the pre-publication in ''Métal Hurlant'' had even run its course, ''and'' before Dargaud had the chance to release the "Broken Nose" album. As already related, the pressure had no effect on Dargaud and the ''Blueberry'' creators left their parent publisher &ndash; definitively in Charlier's case, as it turned out &ndash; for greener pastures elsewhere. Incidentally, neither "Broken Nose" nor "Mississippi River" saw publication in ''Heavy Metal'' though, the US counterpart of ''Métal Hurlant''.

The original short story was either by coincidence or by design written by Charlier as an open-ended story, which made it suitable to expand into a full-blown history. The story picks up after the original short &ndash; which was republished completely unaltered &ndash; with Cutlass returning to Louisiana right after the war in which he had served as a Union lieutenant, to find his inheritance in a dilapidated state, only inhabited by his cousin Carolyn Grayson, his co-inheritor of the plantation, who had suffered greatly at the hands of Union marauders during the war. In his efforts to revitalize the plantation, Cutlass has to deal with all the woes that had befallen the South directly upon war's end, [[carpet bagger]]s, marauding ex-slaves, the [[KKK]], looting deserters from both armies, as well as the surviving enemies he had made just before the war, only to be embezzled out of his inheritance in the end by his cousin Carolyn, after which he has no other choice but to return to the army. Charlier was inspired in part by the 1939 classic movie ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'',<ref>[[#Sources|de Bree, 1982, pp. 72-73]]</ref> but mostly by his own ''Blueberry'' biography he had written five years earlier, as ''all'' immediate post-war events that befell Cutlass he had originally envisioned to be those of Blueberry himself. Though like Blueberry an anti-hero, Charlier took care to make the ginger-headed Cutlass as different as possible, making him in essence a deeply flawed self-serving loser, completely unencumbered by Blueberry's sense of morality and justice. In addition, none of Cutlass's plans seemed to work out as he also lacked his colleague's on his feet thinking in tight spots, only prevailing through blind luck.<ref name="Moeb8"/>

Realizing full well that the publication of the expanded story was time sensitive in order to have it out before the "Broken Nose" album release, Giraud was forced to produce the art at a breakneck pace, one page a day. To do so, he was forced to create his art in a seemingly even less "convoluted" manner than he already had employed for the original short. He stated in 1982, " Well, that BD needed an adapted drawing technique. I had to produce one page a day!! If you have to work at such speed, great detailing goes out the window and you can not reason out everything beforehand. Spontaneity and clarity are all-important in this story." Even though there is a difference of day and night between the art of this story and "Broken Nose", considerable thought did go into page layout and readability to make the story easily accessible, even more so than the very "convoluted"  "Broken Nose" in which the meticulously detailed "Mœbius" artwork style had made its appearance.<ref>[[#Sources|de Bree, 1982, pp. 21, 71]]</ref>

Fans were totally taken by surprise by the unexpected publication of ''Jim Cutlass'', but also puzzled why it was created in the first place. Not privy to the behind-the-scenes going-ons at Dargaud, an incorrect, by French BD critic Jean-Pierre Mercier initiated, rumor started to make the rounds that both ''Métal Hurlant'' publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés and Giraud were in desperate need of a financial injection, and that a western "quickie" by Giraud was the only way to get it. While Mercier was right in his assessment of the publisher's financial difficulties at that time, he was completely led astray by a flippant and prosaic statement Giraud had made around the same time he had made his "copyright issue" statement above. He then concurrently stated in another interview, "I started with ''Jim Cutlass'' because I needed the money to pay for the furnishing of my new house."<ref name="bree70"/> Incidentally, Giraud had already made a contemporary similar flippant remark in regard to "Broken Nose".<ref name="frederiks">{{cite news |last=Frederiks |first=Hans  |date=June 1980 |title=Een gespleten tekenaar... |work={{ill|Stripschrift|nl}} |issue=135/136 |location=[[Zeist]] |publisher=Vonk |pages=33–34 |language=nl}}; Giraud made this remark shortly before the spectacular upsurge in popularity of ''Blueberry'', additionally having stated that he only re-embarked on ''Blueberry'' because he needed the money to buy a house in Paris. In later life, Giraud has watered down the prosaic statement, claiming he only made this comment because he tired of having to explain himself over and over again at the time.</ref>

Still, ''Blueberry'' fans, pleased with another Giraud  western, took to the ''Jim Cutlass'' publication with a fervor, and the album did quite well in sales. Over time, it eventually saw almost as many foreign language translations as any outing of the ''Blueberry'' main series had, which included one in English.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mississippi River |url=https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/15532_Jim_Cutlass_1_Mississippi_River |work=stripINFO.be |language=nl |access-date=2022-08-31 |archive-date=2022-08-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831062814/https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/15532_Jim_Cutlass_1_Mississippi_River |url-status=live }}; includes other language editions.</ref> However, since the album failed in its primary objective, ''i.e.'' move Dargaud into the creators' desired direction, the creators deemed it no longer worthwhile to pursue the series any further.

{|| class="wikitable"
|+ Table of English translations of the original French title
|-valign="top"
!width="2%"|'''#'''
!width="20%"|'''French title (original magazine publication)'''
!width="20%"|'''French original book release (publisher, yyyy/mm, ISBN)'''
!width="15%"|'''English saga title'''
!width="25%"|'''English title and data'''
!width="18%"|'''Notes'''
|-valign="top"
| rowspan="2" | 1
|Mississippi River - Original short story (''Pilote'': "Special Wéstern", issue 25bis, Dargaud, 1976/06)
| rowspan="2" | Les Humanoïdes Associés, 1979/11, {{ISBN|2731600098}}
| rowspan="2" | ''n/a''
| rowspan="2" | '''Mississippi River''' (Epic, January 1990, {{ISBN|0871357151}};<ref name="epic8"/> ''Moebius #9'', Graphitti Designs, 1991, {{ISBN|0936211350}})
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|Mississippi River - Full extended story (''Métal Hurlant'', issues 44<ref>{{cite web |title=Métal Hurlant Numéro 44 |url=https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/96081_Metal_Hurlant__Maandblad_1979_8_Numero_44 |work=stripINFO.be |language=nl |access-date=2022-08-25 |archive-date=2023-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405105729/https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/96081_Metal_Hurlant__Maandblad_1979_8_Numero_44 |url-status=live }}</ref>-46, Les Humanoïdes Associés, 1979)
|-
|}
{{quote box|align=right|width=45%|quote="At the time of the end of the [[Aedena]] editions, I proposed to Charlier and Giraud, on the advice of Alain David, that Christian take over the ''Jim Cutlass'' series Humanos was about to lose. The art mini-portfolio that we published in 1987 was a sort of trial run. The series was intended to appear in a free magazine that we were trying to put together with Charlier. The publication then went to Casterman when I started working for them, but Charlier's death delayed the release of the publication."|salign=right|source=—{{ill|Jean Annestay|fr}}, Aedena editor-in-chief, 2022, on his claim of suggesting Christian Rossi to the ''Jim Cutlass'' creators.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bouster |first=Patrick |title=Christian Rossi : tout pour le dessin, en cavalcade ! |url=http://bdzoom.com/176480/interviews/176480 |work=BDzoom.com |date=14 April 2022 |language=fr |access-date=28 August 2022 |archive-date=3 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703084253/http://bdzoom.com/176480/interviews/176480/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
{{quote box|align=right|width=45%|quote="I was working on the third ''Chariot de Thepsis'' when [[Jean-Claude Forest]], who was working at Bayard at the time, asked me to collaborate with Charlier. He was nostalgic for the maritime adventures of ''Bernard Tempête'' which were published before the war. He wanted to make a "remake"” of it with Charlier as scenario writer. Jean-Michel Charlier was part of all my reading as a teenager, but I was swamped with my own work and, moreover, I no longer wished to be involved with those kind of genres. Later, I found myself in contact with Jean Amnestay and the people of Aedena. They were on a magazine project paid for by sponsors (''Hugh!''), with the reactivation of Charlier's series including ''Jim Cutlass''. They then spoke about me to Jean-Michel and Giraud, who agreed to the idea of my possible takeover. My friends {{ill|Alexandre Coutelis|fr}} and {{ill|Patrice Pellerin|fr}} had warned me of the inconveniences caused by Charlier's tardiness with scripts, but they were both happy for me! So I went to see Charlier with a kind of battle plan to show both my real interest but also a certain distance. With him, I never entered into a cronyistic relationship; on the contrary, I showed him respect. Knowing of his tardiness by now, my tactic was to call him systematically to ask him for work when I was doing something else or when I had not yet started drawing the four to eight pages he had previously delivered to me. He promised to send it to me within the week and, of course, it took around a month, which gave me time to finish up his previous delivery..."|salign=right|source=—Cristian Rossi, 2011 on being suggested to, and working with, Jean-Michel Charlier.<ref name="rossi2">{{cite web |last=Ratier |first=Gilles |title=Les Westerns de Christian Rossi (deuxième partie) |url=http://bdzoom.com/7987/interviews/le-coin-du-patrimoine-bd-les-westerns-de-christian-rossi-2 |work=BDzoom.com |date=21 March 2011 |language=fr |access-date=28 August 2022 |archive-date=28 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828082256/http://bdzoom.com/7987/interviews/le-coin-du-patrimoine-bd-les-westerns-de-christian-rossi-2/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
Because of its failure as a means of pressure, "Mississippi River" remained a one-shot publication for little over a decade. However, Jean-Michel Charlier had been busy since 1987 to revive most of his older BD creations for intended publication in a new, yet to be launched BD magazine, beyond the ones he had already revived/created for Koralle/Novedi,<ref>[[#Sources|Ratier, 2013, pp. 289-290]]</ref> explaining the pile of scripts Giraud saw on Charlier's desk when he visited him six months before his death. One of these older creations Charlier had intended to revive, was ''Jim Cutlass''. Acutely aware that Giraud had his plate full with not only ''Blueberry'', but also his various "Mœbius" endeavors, which included ''[[The Incal]]'' series, Charlier went in search for a replacement artist for the series, which he initially thought to have found in the Italian artist [[Tanino Liberatore|Gaetano Liberatore]], who at that time was riding high on his anarchistic ''[[RanXerox]]'' BD. An arranged meeting with French artist {{ill|Christian Rossi|fr}} though, eventually made Charlier decide to select him as the new ''Jim Cutlass'' artist.<ref>[[#Sources|Ratier, 2013, pp. 258-259]]</ref>

Giraud was not entirely left out the loop as it was his own publishing house Aedena, he had co-founded in 1984, where Charlier with the Aedena founders had planned to launch the BD magazine ''Hugh!'', in which his revived BD series were to be published, ''Jim Cutlass'' among them. And it explained the trial run "Rossi: Jim Cutlass" art mini-portfolio Annestay was referring to in the quote box above at Aedena, which thereby became one of the very last releases of that publisher in 1987.<ref>{{cite web |title=Portable |url=https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/70168_Jim_Cutlass_PF1_Portable |work=stripINFO.be |language=nl |access-date=2022-08-28 |archive-date=2022-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828082024/https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/70168_Jim_Cutlass_PF1_Portable |url-status=live }}</ref> The for Charlier inconvenient Aedena bankruptcy also served as a rationale why he subsequently [[#Continued publishing wanderings (1990–1993)|approached Fabrice Giger in 1988]] &ndash; behind Giraud's back this time &ndash; who ironically, had just bought Les Humanoïdes Associés, the very same Humanos ''Jim Cutlass'' was intended to be taken away from.

When Annestay eventually called Rossi to offer him the ''Jim Cutlass'' series, he "(...)needed about a quarter of a second to think it through, and say yes immediately". He was motivated to do so because, "[t]here was only one ''Cutlass'' album, but mostly because it was not ''Blueberry''. I have always loved the Cutlass character in a hot and intimate manner, because he is so full of temperament and passion, because he has a pathos that is less apparent in Blueberry. And because I loved the loose art style. And in this roundabout manner I was able to meet Jean - professionally."<ref name="svane77">[[#Sources|Svane, 2003, p. 77]]</ref> Rossi incidentally, was no stranger to offbeat western BDs, as he had already created his own 1982-1987 ''{{ill|Le Chariot de Thespis|fr}}'' series which ran for four volumes before he, due to the mediocre measure of commercial success, decided to drop it in order to take on ''Jim Cutlass''.<ref>{{cite web |title=''De huifkar van Hermes'' |url=https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/index/2076_De_huifkar_van_Hermes |work=stripINFO.be |language=nl |access-date=2022-08-28 |archive-date=2022-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828085017/https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/index/2076_De_huifkar_van_Hermes |url-status=live }}; includes other language editions. In the first 1982 series outing "Le chariot de Thespis" ({{ISBN|272340319X}}), Rossi had already paid subtle homage to Giraud's main series by having Blueberry's trusted sidekick Jimmy McClure make a [[cameo appearance]] on plate 20a as a Confederate cavalry irregular guarding the Texas-Mexican border at the end of the Civil War.</ref>

Shortly before Charlier's death, he was persuaded by Rossi to select Casterman as the publisher of the revived ''Cutlass'' series. "It was I who pushed Jean-Michel Charlier to go with Casterman! Jean Annestay found himself at Casterman after the bankruptcy of Aedena. The ''Hugh!'' magazine project did not see the light of day and Jean-Michel wanted to stop with Novedi. He no longer wanted to go with Dargaud but he had a contract offer with Alpen. I didn't know this publisher, the future Humanoïdes Associés [''sic.''], and we negotiated with the Casterman people; It went very well and we ended up with this completely atypical BD in their monthly ''[[À Suivre]]'' magazine, like ''Julius'' [note: a contemporary Rossi non-western BD series] had been in ''[[L'Écho des savanes]]''! But they liked it, did a little promotion and believed in it! This is how ''Cutlass'' escaped this intention of Fabrice Giger and Humanos to lay claim on all the Charlier material." Despite his very advanced negotiations with Giger, Charlier conceded in this particular case, because of his staunch conviction that ''bande dessinées'' were first and foremost magazine publications, which Alpen had not in place &ndash; nor would they ever have.<ref name="rossi2"/>

Charlier's death on 10 July 1989 delayed the debut at Casterman of the second ''Jim Cutlass'' outing. At the time of his death, Charlier's scenario, he had endowed with the working title "K.K.K.",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rossi |first1=Christian |author-link=:fr:Christian Rossi |title=Chevauchées|date=March 2022 |publisher=Editions i |location=[[Paris]] |page=196 |isbn=9782376500186 | language=fr}} (p. 138)</ref> was finished up until and including page 36, after which it was up to Giraud to finish it, much like he had to do with "Arizona Love".<ref name="svane77"/> Actually, it was Rossi who wrote a story synopsis for the remaining pages 37–64 and who asked Charlier's widow if he could proceed. After gaining her permission, he sought out Giraud for further advice and was given four pages with detailed dialog and scenario notes after which Rossi was able to rearrange the preliminary page layouts into the final ones. The freedom he got from Giraud became the template for their future cooperation together.<ref>[[#Sources|Svane, 2003, p. 78]]</ref> Neither were the negotiations with Casterman finalized yet, and Giraud in particular made use of the opportunity to hammer out a very advantageous deal for himself. He secured a compensation of 5,000 FF (roughly US$587 in 1989 prices) per page and an increase of his album royalties to 13%, which was double the then-going industry rate. He was able to do this by playing off Giger's Humanoïdes Associés and Casterman against each other, demonstrating he had learned well from his late writing partner,<ref>{{cite news |last=Schifferstein |first=Mat |date=June–July 1990|title=Prullebak (="news snippets") |work=ZoZoLaLa |issue=51|page=13 |publisher=Stichting Zet.El|location=Nijmegen|language=nl}}; In the pre-internet era BD reporters were often unable to verify the validity of their news items on the detail level. In this particular case they were wrong about who got the publication rights as they assumed it was the by Giraud co-founded Humanoïdes, on top of mistaking ''Cutlass'' for ''Blueberry''.</ref> but arguably ''also'' allowing his displeasure at Charlier's surreptitious negotiations with Giger to vent.

After the completion of the last 30 pages, the by Giraud to "L'Homme de la Nouvelle-Orleans" ("The Man from New-Orleans") re-titled story, started its belated serialized pre-publication in ''À suivre''{{'}}s July 1990 issue no. 150, accompanied by a proudly written two-page editorial (pp.&nbsp;45–46).

[[Jean-Michel Charlier]]/[[Jean Giraud]] and {{ill|Christian Rossi|fr}}
*2: ''L'Homme de la Nouvelle-Orleans'' (Casterman, 1991/01, {{isbn|2203347023}})
{{quote box|align=right|width=45%|quote=Christian Rossi is a dream artist, he is perfect! This is the ideal that I would love to achieve when I draw my own stories. His depths of field, his perspectives, his sets and his costumes are very neat, precise, exact, clear and seamless. However, like me, Christian suffers from his deficiencies, imaginary or not, and he is never content. I really like Cutlass, it's a fabulous series and the scripts are really great, because it's like the work of film scriptwriters. Christian reacts to what I write to him and he reworks the whole page layout, adapting it to his narration. Sometimes, he rewrites certain scenes that seem drifting to him. Christian has this rare quality of loving stories and serve them to the maximum."|salign=right|source=—Giraud, 1996, on his working experience with Rossi.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mouchart |first=Benoît |date=December 1996 |title=Giraud-Moebius |work=Auracan |issue=15 |page=19  |publisher=Graphic Strip ASBL |location=Jodoigne |language=fr}}</ref>}}
The publication of ''À Suivre'' was terminated by Casterman in 1997, which also meant the termination of the ''Jim Cutlass'' serialized magazine pre-publication. The last two series outings were therefore released directly in album format. As explored [[#Second change of artist|above]] Giraud had intended to incorporate Blueberry into the ''Jim Cutlass'' series, but this was met by an immediate veto by Charlier heir Philippe because he abhorred Giraud's "New Age" predilections; in the later volumes of the series [[Louisiana Voodoo|voodoo]] elements, dream sequences, and Afro-American sorcery started to play an ever increasing role in the story lines. And while Philippe Charlier was unable to veto the series proper as it too fell under the ''Blueberry'' "longest survivor contracts" Giraud had signed with his father, he was entitled to veto any "brand extension" that did not meet with his approval. And even though it did enjoy a certain following, being in some countries reprinted to this day, the series &ndash; its last two volumes particularly &ndash; was unable to achieve anything near the commercial success of the series that had spawned it, and the two artists decided to throw in the towel after volume 7 was released in 1999, leaving the original creators' debut album the series' most popular and successful one.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Jim Cutlass'' |url=https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/index/1301_Jim_Cutlass |work=stripINFO.be |language=nl |access-date=2022-08-24 |archive-date=2022-08-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220824114820/https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/index/1301_Jim_Cutlass |url-status=live }}; includes other language editions.</ref>

Jean Giraud and Christian Rossi
*3: '' L'alligator blanc'' (Casterman, 1993/09, {{isbn|2203364041}})
*4: ''Tonnerre au Sud'' (Casterman, 1995/01, {{isbn|2203364076}})
*5: ''Jusqu'au cou !'' (Casterman, 1997/08, {{isbn|2203364114}})
*6: ''Colts, Fantômes et Zombies'' (Casterman, 1998/10, {{isbn|2203364122}})
*7: ''Nuit noire'' (Casterman, 1999/09, {{isbn|2203364130}})

It has not hurt Rossi's BD career however, as he did create several successful series afterwards, including his latter-day ''{{ill|W.E.S.T.|fr}}'' western, which featured supernatural overtones.

====''Die Frau mit dem Silberstern''====
This German-language comic, which translates as "The Woman with the Silver Star", was created in its entirety by German comics artist Martin Frei. It debuted in September 2021 and concerned a sequel to "The Man with the Silver Star" and revolves around the later adventures of the two major protagonistic secondary characters introduced in that outing, the teacher Katie March &ndash; the German series' titular "Frau", or "Woman" &ndash; and the former deputy (but now full-fledged) marshal Dusty. Save for Katie March's single flashback memory at the start of the story, Blueberry does not make any kind of further appearance in the two-part mini-series.<ref>{{Cite web|title=''Duitse Blueberry-spin-off zonder Blueberry''|url=https://www.stripspeciaalzaak.be/stripnieuws/duitse-blueberry-spin-zonder-blueberry|work=stripspeciaalzaak.be|date=12 September 2021|language=nl|access-date=12 August 2022|archive-date=12 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812105519/https://www.stripspeciaalzaak.be/stripnieuws/duitse-blueberry-spin-zonder-blueberry|url-status=live}}</ref> It is unclear however, if Frei had obtained legal permission from the Charlier and Giraud heirs to proceed with his creation. Still, this was actually the kind of creation that came very close to what Philippe Charlier [[#Ramifications|had in mind nine years earlier]] as part of the by him envisioned grand, overall ''Blueberry''-franchise.
*1: ''Leutnant Blueskull'' ({{ill|Moasic-Zack|de|Zack (Zeitschrift)#Das Mosaik-Zack}}, issues 267, 09/21 - 270, 12/21, {{ill|Mosaik Steinchen für Steinchen Verlag|de}})
*2: ''Der Tod des Leutnants'' ({{ill|Moasic-Zack|de|Zack (Zeitschrift)#Das Mosaik-Zack}}, issues 283, 01/23 - 286, 04/23, {{ill|Mosaik Steinchen für Steinchen Verlag|de}})
A 120-page hardcover omnibus collection ({{ISBN|9783949987083}}) was announced by the publisher for a May 2023 album release under its "Blattgold"-imprint as "Die Ballade der Kate March: Die Frau mit dem Silberstern". Likewise endowed with an elaborate editorial, the omnibus was designed to fit in seamlessly in the ''Die Blueberry Chroniken'' format, the aforementioned 2006-2017 German omnibus collection from Egmont, as its volume 20.

However, and even though the publisher itself had reported in an April 3, 2023 posting on their own ZackMagazine facebook page that the publication was ready for release directly after Easter, no such release had after six months been forthcoming after all. It turned out that the publisher had indeed run afoul of legalities with the copyright owners when they confirmed in June on their own monthly editorial news site that it was in effect Philippe Charlier himself who had raised the legal objections, resulting in the publisher withholding the omnibus' release as well as ordering the entire printing to be shredded in order to avoid being taken to court &ndash; save for a handful of limited edition copies that were already delivered to customers, who had pre-ordered them directly from the publisher before the ban came into effect and on top of a few regular copies illegally saved by diligent publishing staff (some of which subsequently sold for considerable collector prices on German eBay). The publisher stated that, because licensing issues had been settled with parent publisher Dargaud, the Charlier heirs must have known about the comic and its serialized pre-publication for two years without raising any objections, thereby implying that they had intentionally waited until the album was printed and ready for dissemination, before taking legal steps after all.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gringo-logbuch.de/?p=10794|title=Drama um den Silberstern|date=22 June 2023|access-date=30 September 2023|website=Gringo-Lochbuch.de|language=german|archive-date=30 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030171357/https://www.gringo-logbuch.de/?p=10794|url-status=live}}; {{cite web|title=ZACK-Editorial 6/2023|url=https://www.zack-magazin.com/index.php/zack-magazin/editorial|date=June 2023|access-date=18 September 2023|website=ZackMagazine.com|language=german|archive-date=3 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230803221551/https://www.zack-magazin.com/index.php/zack-magazin/editorial|url-status=live}}</ref> Right before legal proceedings were initiated, Moasic-Zack had just sold the publication rights to Dutch publisher HUM! for the into that language translated version, slated for a 2024 release.<ref>{{cite web|title=ZACK-Editorial 5/2023|url=https://www.zack-magazin.com/index.php/zack-magazin/editorial|date=May 2023|access-date=18 September 2023|website=ZackMagazine.com|language=german|archive-date=3 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230803221551/https://www.zack-magazin.com/index.php/zack-magazin/editorial|url-status=live}}</ref>