Editing Blueberry (comics) (section)

====Continued publishing wanderings (1990–1993)====
Charlier's death coincided by chance with the growing problems at Novedi, and Giraud suggested to Philippe Charlier, the heir and steward of his father's legacy, to move all his fathers co-creations to Les Humanoïdes Associés (with whom Giraud maintained close personal and creative ties after his ''Métal Hurlant'' days &ndash; which had included "Nez Cassé" &ndash; among others by having them publish his acclaimed ''[[The Incal|L'Incal]]'' series), to step up to the plate vacated by Novedi. Yet, Giraud undertook no further action himself, partly because he was still residing in the United States, too preoccupied with his own projects and the wrapping up of his affairs over there before his return to France (and thus too busy to be engaged in secret negotiations with Novedi),<ref name="stripspeciaalzaak.beA">{{Cite web |title=Fransen Top 26: Blueberry 15 - Ballade voor een doodskist |website= Stripspeciaalzaak.be |url=http://www.stripspeciaalzaak.be/Toppers/FransenTop/26_Blueberry15.htm |access-date=10 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804064607/https://www.stripspeciaalzaak.be/Toppers/FransenTop/26_Blueberry15.htm |archive-date=4 August 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all |language=nl}}</ref> and partly because his marriage to his first wife Claudine was in the early stages of falling apart at the time.<ref>[https://www.whoswho.fr/decede/biographie-m%C5%93bius_42760 "Biographie Mœbius"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510082436/https://www.whoswho.fr/decede/biographie-m%C5%93bius_42760 |date=2017-05-10 }}, Whoswho.fr {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Charlier Jr. approached [[Fabrice Giger]], who had bought the by Giraud co-founded publisher previously in early 1989,<ref>[http://www.liberation.fr/livres/0101234875-special-bande-dessinee-giger-le-genre-humanoide-repreneur-des-humanoides-associes-en-1989-le-jeune-suisse-fabrice-giger-est-a-present-a-la-tete-d-un-groupe-multimedia-sans-egal-dans-le-monde-de-la-bd- "Spécial bande dessinée. Giger, le genre humanoïde".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200410232000/http://www.liberation.fr/livres/0101234875-special-bande-dessinee-giger-le-genre-humanoide-repreneur-des-humanoides-associes-en-1989-le-jeune-suisse-fabrice-giger-est-a-present-a-la-tete-d-un-groupe-multimedia-sans-egal-dans-le-monde-de-la-bd- |date=2020-04-10 }}, [[Libération]] 01.22.1998 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> but did not choose for that publishing house eventually, but rather go with Giger's original, founding publishing house, Alpen Publishers, the latter had set up in 1988 in Switzerland<ref name="Giger">{{Cite web|title=Le Blog de Giger, page 1|website=Humano.com|url=http://www.humano.com/blog/blog_de_giger/commentList/a-zapper-vite-fait/1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822141613/https://www.humano.com/blog/blog_de_giger/commentList/a-zapper-vite-fait/1|access-date=16 June 2017|date=May 2008|archive-date=22 August 2022|url-status=dead |df=dmy-all |language=fr}} and {{Cite web |title=page 2|website=Humano.com|url=http://www.humano.com/blog/blog_de_giger/commentList/a-zapper-vite-fait/2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822142509/https://www.humano.com/blog/blog_de_giger/commentList/a-zapper-vite-fait/2|access-date=16 June 2017|date=May 2008|archive-date=22 August 2022|url-status=dead |df=dmy-all |language=fr}}; Very little is known, or even disclosed afterwards by Giger, about Alpen's founding circumstances or motivations, most conspicuously its precise date, though Giger had given the year as 1988 which places a preconceived scheme by Giger and Charlier Sr. within the realm of plausibility.</ref> &ndash; even though comic artists themselves, due to the close entanglement of Alpen and Humanoïdes, always referred to Alpen as "Humanos" (''see quote boxes below''). It turned out that Philippe was actually picking up where his father had left off. Around the time he had established Alpen and unbeknownst to Giraud, Giger was already approached by Charlier Sr. in 1988. The veteran Charlier had already sensed the writings on the wall at Novedi and discussed plans with Giger to have ''all'' his comic creations moved over to the new publisher, arguably the very reason for the then 23-year old Giger to set up Alpen in the first place, and had to this end already arranged his old friend {{ill|Guy Vidal|fr}} from his ''Pilote'' days to be hired as editor-in-chief at the new publisher, incidentally in the process doing exactly what his son would later accuse Giraud/Novedi of.<ref>[[#Sources|Ratier, 2013, p. 295]]</ref> Giger disclosed in 2008 that it was on the occasion of his subsequent dealings with Philippe that the "JMC Aventures" foundation was established, intended to safeguard the commercial and artistic legacy of Charlier's body of work. Giger stated: "After the death of Jean-Michel, a project was born between his son, Philippe, his mother, and us, to create a structure dedicated to the continuation of the series co-created by Charlier, JMC Aventures. We were shareholders with the Charlier family", confirming the preliminary dealings with the author in his final year.<ref name="Giger"/>

The relatively short tenure at Alpen saw the release of "Arizona Love", which was actually started under the aegis of Novedi, but for which Charlier had not yet contracted with the publisher because of his hunch, thus leaving the title legally "free" for JMC Aventures to be signed with Alpen, according to Giger, adding that this had the "full and immediate blessing" from Giraud.<ref name="Giger"/> The artist himself though, taken completely unawares and having had little choice in the matter, has later expressed a slightly different opinion, where it was implied that he was not as happy with the behind-the-scenes machinations as Giger made it out to be, especially since his late script partner had kept him out of the loop in 1988. Ironically, it was Philippe Charlier himself who indirectly conceded that particular point when he accused Giraud of wanting "to settle scores" with Charlier Sr. with the later ''OK Corral''-cycle, which Philippe had issues with (see ''[[#Sequel: Blueberry 1900|below]]'').<ref name="flip"/> Additional Alpen releases included the ''La Jeunesse de Blueberry'' title "Trois hommes pour Atlanta", as well as the inception of the spin-off series ''Marshal Blueberry'' with two titles, aside from additions to the ''Les Gringos'' and ''Redbeard'' series, taken over by other artists after both Jijé and Charlier Sr. had passed away. While the initial intention was to have the entire body of work of Charlier published at Alpen, the corporation with the publisher did not pan out for undisclosed reasons &ndash; though Giger had mentioned increasingly difficult copyright negotiations with other copyright holders, predominantly heirs of other artists who had worked with Charlier, the widow of Jijé in particular,<ref name="annie">While Charlier Sr. had continued to provide both Giraud and Wilson with script pages even in times he was otherwise not involved in the ''Bande Dessinée'' world, he had no qualms whatsoever to abandon his other artists whenever it suited his own self-interest, leaving them often on a whim without any source of income. This held especially true for Jijé who as replacement artist for ''Redbeard'' and ''Tanguy et Laverdure'' was not only loyal to a fault to his longtime "friend", but had also seen his livelihood become entirely dependent on Charlier's willingness to provide him with work in the post-''Jerry Spring'' stage of his career, which, as history has shown, was not always the case, especially in the era 1972-1979 when he was "devoid of inspiration". Annie Gillian refusing to let Giger and Charlier Jr. further exploit her late husband's body of work for their own selfish gains should therefore not have come as a surprise in hindsight.</ref> who had successfully taken Giger and Charlier Jr. to court.<ref name="Giger"/> The relationship was ended in 1992, shortly thereafter followed by the demise of Alpen itself in 1994 with Guy Vidal moving over, or rather returning, to Dargaud (having taken on the writing for ''Les Gringos'' after his friend's death, until his own death in 2002),<ref>[https://www.stripinfo.be/lijst.php?uitgever=580&sort=jaar "Alpen"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416045245/https://www.stripinfo.be/lijst.php?uitgever=580&sort=jaar |date=2017-04-16 }}, stripINFO.be {{in lang|nl}}</ref> though Giger himself became successful with Humanoïdes, expanding into the United States as "Humanoids Publishing Ltd." in 1999, in the process reissuing much of Giraud's "Mœbius" science fiction work.

As Belgian publisher Dupuis had already shown interest, when they serialized "La dernière carte" in their ''Spirou'' magazine in 1983, Charlier Jr. now decided to try his luck at that publishing house in 1992, as Hermann had already done previously with his ''Jeremiah'' for that matter. While ''Jeremiah'' has remained with Dupuis ever since, for again unknown reasons the cooperation with ''Blueberry'' did not seem to pan out either. Even though Dupuis did reissue all the ''(Young) Blueberry'' titles of the EDI-3-BD/Novedi era (but none from Alpen Publishers, or indeed any of the other Charlier creations) under its own imprint in their "Repérages" collection,<ref>[http://www.bedetheque.com/search/albums?RechCollection=Rep%C3%A9rages&RechEO=1 Bedetheque.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416044918/http://www.bedetheque.com/search/albums?RechCollection=Rep%C3%A9rages&RechEO=1 |date=2017-04-16 }} {{in lang|fr}}; The "Repérages (French)/Spotlight (Dutch)" collection was conceived by Dupuis with the express intent to differentiate between comics with more adult contents and those with more juvenile, comic contents, for which the publisher was hitherto most well-known. The early acquisition of ''Jeremiah'' was actually a major consideration to proceed in this manner.</ref> no new titles were released during the equally short 1992-1993 tenure of ''Blueberry'' at that publisher.