Editing Blueberry (comics) (section)

====Royalties conflict (1974–1979)====
{{quote box|align=right|width=45%|quote="That was a coincidence all right. It coincided with the break between Jean-Michel and Dargaud, where questionable issues in regard to [[authors' rights]] were in play".|salign=right|source=—Giraud, 1988, when asked if the format change of ''Pilote'' from a weekly to monthly magazine had anything to do with the creators leaving.<ref name="Sadoul, 1991, p. 163">[[#Sources|Sadoul, 1991, p. 163]]</ref>}}
With the growing popularity of ''Blueberry'' came the increasing disenchantment over financial remunerations of the series. Already in 1974, Charlier made his displeasure known in this regard, when he had "Angel Face" pre-published in ''Nouveau Tintin'' of industry competitor Le Lombard, the first time a ''Blueberry'' adventure was not serialized in ''Pilote'' &ndash; nor would it ever be again in hindsight. The magazine was forced to drop the announcement page it had prepared for the story.<ref>[[#Sources|Svane, 2003, p. 82]]</ref> Unfazed, Dargaud founder and owner [[:fr:Georges Dargaud|Georges Dargaud]], unwilling to give in, countered by having the book released before ''Nouveau Tintin'' had even had the chance to run the story. Then Giraud left on his own accord. While Charlier had no influence on this whatsoever, it did serve a purpose as far as he was concerned. Giraud had left ''Blueberry'' on a cliff-hanger with "Angel Face", resulting in an insatiable demand for more, putting the pressure on Dargaud. Whenever Georges Dargaud asked Charlier for a next ''Blueberry'' adventure, repeatedly, Charlier was now able to respond that he was "devoid of inspiration".<ref name="fueri">{{cite news |last=Fuéri |first=Jean-Pierre |title=Au nom du père, du fils et de St Blueberry |date=November 1999 |publisher=LZ Publications|location=Paris |work=BoDoï |issue=24 |pages=35–36, 38 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="stripspeciaalzaak.be">{{Cite web |title=Fransen Top 30: Blueberry 13 - Chihuahua Pearl |website= Stripspeciaalzaak.be |url= http://www.stripspeciaalzaak.be/Toppers/FransenTop/30_Blueberry13.htm |access-date=10 September 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080619114720/http://www.stripspeciaalzaak.be/Toppers/FransenTop/30_Blueberry13.htm |archive-date=19 June 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all |language=nl}}</ref>

As a matter of fact, Giraud was dying to leave ''Pilote'' and ''Blueberry'', partly because he was tired of the stifling publication pressure he was under in order to produce the series, partly because of the royalties conflict, but ''mostly'' because he wanted to further explore and develop his artistic "Mœbius" alter ego. For Giraud the conflict was actually a godsend: "At that moment Charlier and I also had a financial conflict with Dargaud which came at the exact right time, because it provided me with an alibi [to leave]".<ref>[[#Sources|de Bree, 1982, pp. 17-19]]</ref> The latter reason for him to leave, took on an urgency after [[Alejandro Jodorowsky]], impressed by his ''Blueberry'' art, had already invited Giraud to come over to [[Los Angeles]] to work as concept designer and storyboard artist on [[Dune (novel)#Early stalled attempts|his ''Dune'' movie project]] earlier that year, constituting the first Jodorowsky/Mœbius collaboration. Very eager to return to Los Angeles as Jodorowsky requested his presence again, Giraud &ndash; who had returned to France for his other work during one of the lulls in the ''Dune'' production &ndash; greatly accelerated his work on "Angel Face", then underway, breaking his "absolute record speed-drawing", as he had coined it, and sheared off weeks from its originally intended completion date.<ref>[[#Sources|de Bree, 1982, p. 24]]</ref> Giraud in overdrive was so fast that he even overtook Charlier's script pages (Charlier habitually fed his artists piecemeal with script pages, usually a couple at the time), forcing him to write ten pages of the story on his own, as Charlier was at that time on documentary assignment in the United States for French television. Upon his return, Charlier took one look at the pages completed in his absence, and continued where Giraud had left off without further much ado.<ref>[[#Sources|Sadoul, 1991, p. 157]]</ref> Charlier himself had actually already left Dargaud in 1972, because he additionally felt ill at ease with the editorial modernization of ''Pilote'', which resulted from the 1968 revolt at the editorial offices staged by key artists, chief among them Giraud (see also: "''[[Jean Giraud#Notes|Giraud on his part in the uprising at Pilote]]''").<ref>[[#Sources|Ratier, 2013, pp. 226-227]]</ref> Though Charlier continued to provide his younger colleague with scripts (but not his other artists<ref name=artists>Charlier had no qualms whatsoever about replacing artists for his own (ongoing) creations, or leave them hanging without a source of income whenever it suited his own fancy, as he throughout his entire life considered his artists as mere subservient disenfranchised draftsmen in his own personal employ, fireable and replaceable at will, and most definitely not as bonafide artists with a capital "A" of equal standing. As mentioned in [[#Sources|Ratier's 2013 biography]], Charlier therefore had always been strongly opposed to the 1968 artist's revolt at Dargaud of which Giraud had been an integral part, and which became his second major reason (besides the royalties conflict) to leave the ''bande dessinée'' industry in 1972 to pursue a new career as documentary maker for French television. Charlier did make an exception for his two ''Blueberry'' artists though.</ref>), he started working as documentary maker for French television. It was while he was working on two documentaries on the [[Mexican Revolution]] that he gained inspiration for his below-mentioned ''Les Gringos'' Western comic series, which started its run in 1979 at Koralle.<ref name="hoff">{{cite news  |last1=van der Hoff |first1=Marcel |last2=van Helden |first2=Wim |title=Charlier: De nieuwe bladen? "Veel geweld, veel porno, maar weinig of geen enkele rechtvaardiging voor wat ze brengen". |date=July 1977 |publisher=Thespa |location=Amsterdam |work=Stripschrift |issue=101 |pages=16–19 |language=nl}}</ref>

It was the first time that Giraud wrote for ''Blueberry'' by himself, and was, considering Charlier's easy acceptance of Giraud's writing, also testament to the close, and trusting working relationship both men had cultivated by that time. Incidentally, Giraud intimated that the deteriorating circumstances at ''Pilote'' had already left its mark on him before he left: "The story was started in 1972/73 but remained shelved until 1975 [sic.]. Yet, I think one can not discern its difficult birth; there are good scenes, pages I really poured heart and soul into. It is true that [the art for] "Le hors-la-loi" ("The Outlaw") had been quite weak, but "Angel Face" made up for it".<ref>[[#Sources|Sadoul, 1991, p. 161]]</ref>

Five years later, Giraud was ready to return to ''Blueberry'', at long last feeling the urge again to do so, but ''not'' into the employ of ''Pilote''/Dargaud, as he had formally terminated his position in 1974 with no intention whatsoever to return, instead plying his ''Blueberry'' trade as a [[freelancer]]: "Publishers were waving with those fat checks, so we started again. But it is no longer the same. I won't be taken in by ''Blueberry'' anymore!", referring to the first half of the 1970s when he felt smothered by his co-creation.<ref>[[#Sources|de Bree, 1982, p. 27]]</ref> Yet, the whole business surrounding ''Blueberry'' residuals itself remained unresolved, and in order to drive home the point the pe-publication of the eagerly awaited "Nez Cassé" ("Broken Nose") story was farmed out to ''Métal Hurlant'' magazine (published by [[Les Humanoïdes Associés]], co-founded by Giraud in 1974, and in the US released as ''[[Heavy Metal (magazine)|Heavy Metal]]'' in the mid-1970s, though the story was not run in the American version), instead of ''Pilote''. That Charlier was able to repeat this ploy after "Angel Face" stemmed from the proviso he had built in when he signed over the publication, and copyrights of his [[Print syndication|syndication]] agency EdiFrance/EdiPresse &ndash; co-established in 1955 with [[Victor Hubinon]], [[Albert Uderzo]], and [[René Goscinny]] for the express purpose to syndicate their own and other artist's comic creations &ndash; to Dargaud in 1960. On that occasion Charlier, owning a law degree,<ref name="Collective 1986, pp. 85-88">[[#Sources|''Collective'', 1986, pp. 85-88]]</ref> stipulated an exemption clause for magazine (pre-)publications of his own (co-)creations.<ref>''Blueberry'', "Intégrale 1", Paris: Dargaud, 2012, p. 5, {{ISBN|9782205071238}}</ref> Though never intended as such, the hitherto dormant exemption clause now served him well in his conflict with Dargaud, without having to fear for any legal ramifications on Dargaud's part. Yet, Georges Dargaud refused to take the bait and the creators subsequently put forward the ''[[#Jim Cutlass|Jim Cutlass]]'' western comic as a last ditch effort to spell out to Dargaud that the creators had other options. Dargaud still would not budge. It was then that it became clear to Charlier, that he was left with no other option than to leave, and this he did taking all his other co-creations with him, to wit ''[[Redbeard (comics)|Redbeard]]'' and ''[[Tanguy et Laverdure]]'', which, while not as popular as ''Blueberry'', were steady money making properties for Dargaud nonetheless.<ref name="pilote"/>