Blueberry (comics)

Characters

Original publications in French

note: English titles in parentheses where they exist and when first mentioned, original titles only where none are available

Blueberry was first published in the October 31, 1963 issue of Pilote magazine^[12] – hence Charlier's corresponding October 30 birth-date for his fictional character, when the magazine was printed and ready for dissemination. Initially titled "Fort Navajo", the story grew into 46 pages over the following issues. In this series Blueberry – whose physical appearance was inspired by French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo^[13] – was only one of many protagonists; the series was originally intended to be an assemble narrative, but quickly gravitated towards Blueberry as the central and primary character, even though the series' (sub-)title Fort Navajo, une Aventure du Lieutenant Blueberry was maintained for a decade by original publisher Dargaud for the numerous reprint, and international, runs, before the "Fort Navajo" (sub-)moniker was finally dropped in 1973 with the book publication of "L'homme qui valait 500 000 $" ("The Half-a-Million Dollar Man"). Charlier came up with the name during his American trip: "When I was traveling throughout the West, I was accompanied by a fellow journalist who was just in love with blueberry jam, so much in love, in fact, that I had nicknamed him 'Blueberry'. When I began to create the new series, and everything started to fall into place, I decided to reuse my friend's nickname, because I liked it and thought it was funny. [...] I had no idea that he would prove so popular that he would eventually take over the entire series, and later we would be stuck with that silly name!"^[8] In an anecdote, Charlier related how caught off guard he had been, "My memory is a somewhat like a sieve. In the first album, Blueberry was called Steve. I forgot that first name and then I named him Mike. So, in order to get things straight, I coined him Mike Steve Blueberry eventually; This kind of forgetfulness happens to me often."^[14]

Due to the fact that Blueberry became the most popular character so early on in the Fort Navajo story-arc, Charlier was forced to do an about-face and started to write out the other main characters he had in place in order to make room for Blueberry. However, in one instance that had an unexpected side effect; when Charlier killed off the Native-American lieutenant Crowe in the fifth and last installment of the story-arc, "La piste des Navajos" ("Trail of the Navajo"), the editorial offices of Pilote received many angry letters from readers accusing Charlier of murdering a sympathetic protagonist. Taken aback, Charlier later stated, "It was too late to do anything about it, it was done. A strange experience, Giraud in particular took it very hard." Still, while all characters slated for prominence were written out, Blueberry excepted, one major, recurrent secondary character was written in over the course of the story arc in "Le cavalier perdu" ("Mission to Mexico"), Blueberry's trusted friend and sidekick Jimmy McClure. Actually, and by his own admission, Charlier had originally written McClure as a temporary, minor background character, but Giraud was so taken with the character that he asked Charlier to expand his role in the series, and which stands out as the earliest known instance of Giraud exercising influence on the scripts of his senior colleague.^[15]

In post-war Europe, it has been tradition to release comics in "pre-publication" as serialized magazine episodes, before publication as a comic book, or rather comic album (in North-American understanding though, "graphic novel" is the more applicable terminology in this case, the distinction being a non-issue in native France), typically with a one to two year lag. In French, Blueberry has firstly seen pre-publication in Pilote (issue 210, 31 October 1963 – issue 720, 23 August 1973) and fr:Super Pocket Pilote (issue 1, 1 July 1963 – issue 9, 19 October 1970)^[16] from publisher Dargaud, the parent and main publisher of Blueberry, with Giraud frequently creating original Blueberry art for the magazine covers and illustrations for editorials, aside from creating on occasion summarizing, introduction plates, none of which reprinted in the original book editions.^[17] Nonetheless, much of this material did find its way in later reprint variations, particularly in the editorials of the 2012 (trade) main series anthology collection – invariably called "integrals" in their respective languages in mainland Europe – of parent publisher Dargaud,^[18] and in those of their licensees such as Egmont for their earlier German/Danish/Norwegian 2006-2011 all-series integral edition collection^[19][20]

The very first (French) Blueberry comic album, "Fort Navajo", was released in September 1965 and originally appeared as the 17th (and last) volume of the La Collection Pilote series.^[21] Actually, this collection had been an initiative of Charlier himself in his function as publishing co-editor, and the 17 titles in the collection were in effect Dargaud's first comic album releases, and an influential release at that. In order to give these releases a more "mature" image, the books were from the start executed as hard cover editions. Favorably received and though not being the first, the hard cover format became the norm in France definitively, where henceforth all comic albums were executed in the format – becoming indeed generally accepted as a mature part of French culture eventually^[22] – , whereas the vast majority of the other European countries continued to employ the soft cover format for decades to come, somewhat reflecting the status comic books had in their societies at the time. These included for the time being French-Belgium as well, Charlier's native country, where exactly the same collection was concurrently licensed to, and released by Le Lombard, albeit as soft cover only. Charlier's initiative was not entirely devoid of a healthy dose of self-interest, as over half the releases in the collection, were, aside from Blueberry, titles from other comic series he had co-created. After "Fort Navajo", the collection was suspended and each comic hero hitherto featured therein, spun off in book series of their own, including Blueberry or rather Fort Navajo, une Aventure du Lieutenant Blueberry as it was then still coined.^[23]

After Dargaud had lost publishing rights for over a decade for new Blueberry titles to firstly German publisher de:Koralle-Verlag and subsequently to Belgian publisher Novedi, as a result from a conflict with the creators over Blueberry royalties, the series has seen, predominantly one-time only, French pre-publication in such comic magazines as Métal Hurlant,^[24] L'Écho des savanes^[25] and Super As.^[26] Other European countries followed the same template with local magazines. However, the format, for decades a staple in Europe and shaping entire generations of comic readers, went out of vogue in the late 1980s/early 1990s and the vast majority of European comic magazines have since then become defunct by the mid 1990s, including those from Belgium, the country were the phenomenon was born in the late 1930s.^[27] Ironically, while "Le bout de la piste" ("The End of the Trail") and "Arizona Love" became main series titles to see serialized pre-publication elsewhere, neither were serialized as such in France itself, where "La tribu fantôme" ("The Ghost Tribe") had previously become the very last Blueberry title pre-published as such in L'Écho des savanes.^[28] Henceforth, new Blueberry titles were directly released in album format, starting with the 1990 La Jeunesse de Blueberry (Young Blueberry) title, "Le raid infernal". Any subsequent French magazine, or newspaper serialized publication occurred after the initial book release while Blueberry was housed at Novedi and its successor, Swiss publisher fr:Alpen Publishers, and which had actually already included "Angel Face" in Nouveau Tintin,^[29] and "La dernière carte" ("The Last Card") in Spirou^[30] previously, both having been serialized after their respective book releases.

After Charlier had died on 10 July 1989, Giraud, aside from completing "Arizona Love" on his own, wrote and drew five albums, from "Mister Blueberry" to "Dust" (constituting the OK Corral story arc), until his own death in 2012. Additionally, Giraud also scripted the intermezzo series Marshal Blueberry (1991-2000), but had no creative input for the La Jeunesse de Blueberry prequel series, after the first three, original volumes.

By the time Giraud embarked on the OK Corral cycle, publishing rights had returned to Dargaud, and that publisher decided to revitalize the magazine serialized pre-publication format as part of their marketing effort on behalf of Blueberry's return (see below), albeit with a twist; As Dargaud no longer had a comic magazine of their own (Pilote had become defunct in 1989), it was decided to farm out pre-publication to parties who showed the most interest, resulting in that Blueberry titles in that cycle became serialized in different publications, not all necessarily comic-related by origin. The summer of 1997 saw the serialization of "Ombres sur Tombstone" in the French daily newspaper Le Monde, followed by the pre-publication of "Géronimo l’Apache" in the monthly fr:BoDoï comic magazine,^[31] directly before the album release in October 1999 as part of Dargaud's substantial marketing campaign for the album. The next title, "OK Corral", was published in a similar manner in the summer of 2003 in the "L'ExpressMag" appendix of the non-comic weekly news magazine L'Express.

The mere fact that serious newspapers and magazines were by then vying for the opportunity to run Blueberry in their publications first (aside from the above-mentioned publications, the newspaper France-Soir had already run the first two outings of the revitalized La Jeunesse de Blueberry series in 1985 and 1987 – see below), was testament to the status Blueberry and its creator(s) had by then attained in French society.

English translations

The first known English translation of Blueberry was that of the first title "Fort Navajo", and appeared 18 months after its original 1963 French magazine publication and before its very first book publication in September 1965. The first outing in the series was serialized in syndication through Charlier's own EdiFrance/EdiPresse agency (albeit on behalf of his employer Dargaud and the only Blueberry title known to have been disseminated in this manner outside Francophone Europe, Spain and Portugal^[80]) under its original title in the weekly British comic magazine Valiant, starting its edited and truncated black and white run in issue 15 May 1965 through issue 21 August 1965, fifteen issues in total.^[81] Together with the near-simultaneous and similar publication of the story in Dutch (in full and in color in Fix en Fox magazine, issues 26^[82]-41, 1965), both actually stand out as the very first known non-French publications of Blueberry, or of any other work by Giraud (but not Charlier) for that matter. However, the growing popularity of the comic elsewhere in Europe from 1967 onward^[80] notwithstanding, the Netherlands included, "Fort Navajo" remained until 1977 the only Blueberry title translated in English.^[83]

The first four English book translations of Blueberry comics were published in Europe for release in the UK in the late seventies by Danish/British joint venture Egmont/Methuen, when Egmont, holding an international license at the time, was in the process of releasing the series on a wider, international scale, for Germany and the Scandinavian countries in particular. While Egmont completed the publication of the then existing series in whole for the latter two language areas, publication of the English titles already ceased after volume 4. Parent publisher Dargaud had planned to reissue these titles and more for the North-American market in 1982/83 through their short-lived international (American) branch, but of these, only one was eventually released.^[84] That then unnoticed title, "The Man with the Silver Star", has, despite the fact that Giraud's art style had by now fully blossomed into his distinctive own, not been included in later North American collections, resulting in the book becoming an expensive rarity.

Since then better marketed English translations were published by other companies which included Marvel Comics (under its Epic imprint), Comcat, Mojo Press and Dark Horse Comics, resulting in all kinds of formats and quality—from b/w, American comic book sized budget collections to full color European graphic novel style albums with many extras. Actually this was the first time Blueberry was published under Giraud's pseudonym, Moebius. As Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier, the translator couple for all these editions, related, "This is quite ironic because Giraud first coined the 'Moebius' pseudonym precisely because he wanted to keep his two bodies of work separate. Yet, the artist recognizes the fact that he has now become better known in this country under his 'nom-de-plume,' and this is his way of making it official!"^[1] In effect, the ploy was more than opportune, as Epic had already started out with the publication of Giraud's better known science fiction work under his pseudonym – introduced to American readership through Heavy Metal in the mid-1970s – in the graphic novel format, and it was only when these were well underway that it was decided to add Blueberry as well to the array.^[86] All Giraud/Moebius titles were released by Epic in a for the US relatively modest print run of 20.000 copies per title. To make the project as economically viable as possible, it was decided to collect two of the original Blueberry titles in one book, to justify the by Americans perceived high price of around US$13, which, excepting the first two titles of the "Iron Horse" story-arc, made the Epic releases in essence "integrals" themselves.^[87]

It was for Epic that Giraud created new Blueberry book cover art (which he had only done once previously for the first four German book releases by Koralle,^[88] nor would he ever again), and to the chagrin of parent publisher Dargaud this art – as is indeed all outside the main comics proper Blueberry art, such as magazine covers, art portfolios, posters and the like, that Giraud created in this period of time for Koralle, Les Humanoïdes Associés, as well as his own publishing houses Gentiane, Starwatcher Graphics,^[89] and the subsequent Stardom – remain outside the legal purview of Dargaud, even after they had reacquired the Blueberry copyrights in 1993. In practice this means that Dargaud can not use this art at will for their own later publications, such as the 2012 anthology releases,^[18] without coming to some sort of legal and financial arrangement with the copyright holders – i.e. Giraud himself in the vast majority of cases (as of 2012, his heirs) – , as Dargaud licensees have to do as well on individual basis, and of which the short story "Three Black Birds" is the most glaring one (see below). German author Martin Jürgeit (co-author of the below-listed reference book) has confirmed being confronted with this when he served as editor-in-chief for the German-language version of Egmont's earlier mentioned anthology collection. Dead set on having all available Blueberry material included in his version, he found himself frequently frustrated in this regard on more than one occasion. He stated as late as 2012, "As things now stand, it is highly unlikely that the vast majority of this material will be included, as Dargaud does not own the copyrights. And it is only the Dargaud copyrighted material we can use for the Blueberry-Chroniken, as we have experienced to our dismay on several occasions," referring among others, aside from "Three Black Birds", to the covers for Epic as well.^[20]

The Epic publications were very shortly after their initial release collected by American specialty publisher Graphitti Designs in their "Moebius" collection – for whom Giraud created new book plate art, also outside the legal purview of Dargaud – , a deluxe limited edition anthology collection, released in a 1500 copies per volume edition, each volume at least containing two of the Epic releases. The collection, which ran for nine volumes, also contained Giraud's science fiction body of work, that was concurrently released by Epic in a similar manner. Volume Moebius #9, containing "The Lost Dutchman's Mine" and "The Ghost with the Golden Bullets", also included the non-Blueberry westerns "King of the Buffalo" (short), and the other Giraud/Charlier western strip, Jim Cutlass: "Mississippi River". Excepting the 1996 Mojo Press release, no additional Blueberry comics have been published in English since 1993, and, again excepting the Mojo Press release, no English Blueberry reprints have seen the light of day either, contrary to his other work as "Moebius".

The Epic collection earned Giraud his below listed American 1991 comic award, augmented with an additional 1997 award nomination for the Mojo Press release, whereas Blueberry in general had already earned him two American comic awards in 1972 and 1973, long before the series had even come to the attention of North-American readership.

• ¹ According to Bedetheque.com, the French books were until volume 18 published in simultaneous conjuncture with Belgian publisher Le Lombard who released these for French-Belgium, initially as soft cover editions, contrary to Dargaud who released these from the start as hard cover books. The same also held true for the first three Young Blueberry titles, then part of the main series. For expedience sake only the French editions from the parent publisher are mentioned. ISBN numbers were not issued until 1975, the Lombard releases actually never receiving any.
• ² The 2007 one-shot "Apaches" is an edited book collecting the flashback recollections Blueberry related from "Ombres sur Tombstone" through "Dust" to a journalist while convalescing from a gunshot wound he had sustained in the preceding story, detailing how he, after the war and suffering from a severe case of post traumatic stress syndrome, arrives in the South West in late autumn 1865, and his subsequent dealings with Apache warrior Goyaałé, before the latter came to national attention as Geronimo. There it was revealed that it had been Geronimo who had given Blueberry his Native-American nickname "Tsi-Na-Pah" ("Broken Nose"^[90]). For the book Giraud created new pages and panels to improve the flow of the story, and as such the book is readable as a stand-alone prequel title. Notable are the new, last two pages which shows Blueberry leaving his very first Far West posting, while wearing the outfit, he is first seen in, in "Fort Navajo", his second posting, providing a seamless continuity (even though Giraud had made a continuity error as one of the panels featured a tombstone engraved with 1881, the year in which the OK Corral story arc, centered around the historical "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" incident, was set). While the French themselves consider the book outside the main series ("Hors-Séries", the "HS" or "0"-volume) due to the prequel nature of the book, it is otherwise universally considered part of the main series as volume 29 in other countries.
• ³ IPC Magazines did not employ numbering for their magazine publications at the time, including Valiant.^[81]
• ⁴ The failure to publish "La piste des Navajos" in the English language, frustratingly left English readers with a cliffhanger, as it was the resolution of a five volume story arc that started with "Fort Navajo". As of 2017, only foreign language editions are available to them.
• ⁴ While it is above stated by Lofficier that Blueberry is not about a handsome cowboy who "rides into town, saves the ranch, becomes the new sheriff and marries the schoolmarm", the sixth, stand-alone title "The Man with the Silver Star" is ironically exactly that. Moreover, the story was clearly a take on Howard Hawk's classic 1959 Western Rio Bravo, a circumstance not lost on the passionate Western fan Giraud, who confronted Charlier with the similarities, "I have never understood why Charlier has written it. I talked to him about it, but it seemed he was not aware of it; he has never been one for cinema. He must have had unconsciously remembered the movie, and apparently completely suppressed the memory of it. You know, these things happen, and one can not automatically assume plagiarism. As the theme of Rio Bravo is so incredibly strong, it is hard to forget, even if you have forgotten the movie itself." Giraud paid homage to the movie by having the main cast appear in a few background cameos.^[91] The assertions of Giraud notwithstanding, the possibility of plagiarism allegations might explain why this title was left out by Epic, despite the already mentioned fact that Giraud's art style was by now fully his own. Still, "The Man with the Silver Star" has remained the only Blueberry title purely patterned after the template as set by the classic American Western genre.
• ⁶ As the title already suggested, "The Lost Dutchman's Mine"^[92] was a take on the real world "Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine legend", and in the original publications the Lückner and "Prosit" characters were from Prussia as specifically intended by Charlier, and as indicated by the "Allemand" (French for "German") reference in the French book title, therefore adhering to the actual legend in this respect. Translator Lofficier chose the for Americans familiar-sounding name of the real legend as title for the American book release, but changed the characters to being denizens from the Netherlands, in the process changing the original expletives from German to Dutch in his translations, aside from altering the German name spellings accordingly. Though Lofficier, married to a US citizen, had worked for decades in the US in the publishing world, acquiring an excellent knowledge of American English and idiom, he had made a mistake when he interpreted the moniker "Dutch" as currently – and originally – understood, too literally – as in from/of the Netherlands. Being of French descent, Lofficier had not realized that in the United States of the mid-to-late 19th century, the expression "Dutch" has had a different meaning (Charlier, who was aware of this, had by that time already passed away, and thus unable to set Lofficier straight), as it was by Americans invariably employed to refer to people and language of German descent/origin, due to the massive influx of German speaking immigrants in that period of time. These immigrants referred to themselves as "Deutch" in their own language, and the phonetic similarity is the more commonly accepted rationale for the phenomenon, and it was not until the turn of the century that "Dutch" regained its original meaning. The phenomenon has not applied for Canada.^[93]
• ⁷ In the case of Epic's "Chihuahua Pearl", "Ballad for a Coffin", "Angel Face", "The Ghost Tribe", and "The End of the Trail" book releases, Titan Books has issued the same, virtually identical books (save for the ISBN numbers and publisher's logo) for the UK market, with a few months delay. The other Epic Blueberry titles only saw a US release, the Titan editions thereby becoming the last British Blueberry publications. These editions were released in a relatively modest print run of 6.000 copies per title, as Giraud himself has divulged, though he has added, "Mind you, British readers were delighted; As a matter of fact, they adore [continental] European comics, which we had not quite recognized over here [France] at the time...".^[94]
• ⁸ "Le hors-la-loi" literally translates as "'The one outside the law", in meaning exactly the same as "L'outlaw". France however, is one of the few European countries where the use of anglicisms is actively discouraged by cultural authorities, resulting in the use of the more laborious expression as the book title.
• ⁹ Volumes 19-21 were in France and French-Belgium simultaneously released by two different publisher, albeit under the same ISBN number. The French publisher is listed first.
• ¹⁰ After Blueberry's rehabilitation in "Le bout de la piste", Charlier had planned to have him return to the US Army as captain, heading a unit of Apache Scouts.^[95] However, after Charlier's death, Giraud became of different mind when he embarked on the OK Corral story arc, turning the hero in to a loafing civilian, because of his new-found wealth and spending his days with poker, as he felt that it would have been too illogical and too implausible for Blueberry to return to the very same organization that had caused him so much grief and injustice.^[63]
• ¹¹ Mojo Press published a black and white, American comic book sized budget collection: The Blueberry Saga #1: The Confederate Gold in 1996. It contains the following stories: "Chihuahua Pearl", "The Half-A-Million Dollar Man", "Ballad for a Coffin", "The Outlaw", "Angel Face". It also featured the first-time book publication worldwide of the 14-page Blueberry short, "Three Black Birds" – the year previously released under the same title as a limited edition, 28-sheet mini portfolio by Stardom, Giraud's own publishing house^[96] – , which was actually set directly after the events depicted in "Arizona Love", though that title was not included in the anthology. As the title already implied, the book was coined after the actual, so-called "Confederate gold myth".
• ¹² There is a chronology gap of eight years between "Arizona Love" and "Mister Blueberry", which was specifically intended by Giraud, "Mister Blueberry takes place eight years later, which leaves room for further romantic speculations. Surely, many readers will ask themselves, what Blueberry has been up to in the intervening time."^[97] Yet, what the creators had overlooked however, was that they had made a continuity error, by placing the events in "Arizona Love" in 1889 in the opening panel, whereas Giraud clearly had meant 1873, amply demonstrated by him correcting the year in "Three Black Birds". In later reprints corrected to "late 1872", the original year mentioning had European fans initially and erroneously assuming that "Arizona Love" was the first part of the OK Corral story arc.

Non-English translations

Since its inception, the series has steadily gained a large following in Europe, and has, in part or in whole, been extensively translated in both serialized and book versions into multiple languages, to wit, Spanish (both Spain proper and the Americas),^[98] Portuguese (including Brasil),^[99] Italian,^[100] German,^[101] Dutch,^[102] Swedish,^[103] Danish,^[104] Norwegian,^[105] Polish,^[106] Finnish,^[107] Serbo-Croatian,^[108] Hungarian,^[109] Greek,^[110] Icelandic,^[111] Turkish,^[112] Tamil, Indonesian^[113] and, more recently, Japanese with an even more recent addition in Chinese.^[114] At least one title – "L'homme à l'étoile d'argent" – is known to have seen a relatively recent translation in Arabic in the Egyptian weekly New Wind Mag (بساط الريح الجديدة), issues 1-11, 2009.^[115] In Spanish and Portuguese Blueberry has seen (licensed) publications by local publishers in the Americas,^[116] as it has in the former Yugoslavia after it disintegration into its constituent parts.^[117] In the European Union, in case of trans-border language areas, it has become customary from the mid-1980s onward, to have publishing rights reside with one publisher only. Like it was in native France, most countries have seen Blueberry pre-published in magazine serials. The Portuguese 1969 "Fort Navajo" publication from Editorial Íbis is the earliest known instance of a Blueberry title to be released directly as album, without prior serialized magazine pre-publication,^[118] contrary to the 1965 French and 1968 Spanish album releases,^[119] the three of them – all executed in the hard cover format incidentally, save for the French-Belgian Le Lombard release – becoming the only available book versions of the story until 1974.

It should be noted that album publication of "Fort Navajo", due the fact that Charlier had chosen to disseminate the title outside the French, Spanish and Portuguese language areas in magazine syndication, has posed problems for publishers in other language countries, especially in Germany and north-west Europe, when Blueberry broke out in popularity in the late 1960s–early 1970s, well before the syndication term was to expire in 1974. It is not known why Charlier had chosen this format for "Fort Navajo", as the US derived syndication format was by that time already well on its way out for European comics, after the relative immediate post-war paper shortage was no longer an issue. Since "Fort Navajo" was the first part of a five book story arc, this caused continuity, or rather chronology problems as publishers were not yet able to publish the book in their countries. The respective publishers all went about the conundrum in their own way; in Germany the book was first re-serialized as a magazine publication,^[120] before continuing with the book releases of the subsequent titles; in the Netherlands and Flanders it was decided to push ahead with book publication regardless of "Fort Navajo",^[121] and in the Scandinavian countries it was decided to forego on the publication of the first five titles altogether for the time being, instead opting to start book publication with book six, "L'homme à l'étoile d'argent",^[122] leaving publication of the first five titles for a future point in time. No matter what solution was chosen, it became one of the reasons for the messed up book release chronologies for those countries (only aggravated by both the later addition of Young, and Marshal Blueberry book titles as well as the aforementioned publishing wanderings), confusing readership, especially in Germany.^[123] It was Finnish publisher Sanoma that became the first publisher able to release the first other language book edition of the title in 1974, directly after the syndication term had expired, as "Navaho: Väijytys Punaisessa laaksossa" ( OCLC 57920924, notice the Finnish adherence to the originally intended series name, by now dropped by the parent publisher), that country's very first Blueberry book publication, thereby avoiding the conundrum.^[124] Nor had the conundrum been an issue for the UK, as book publication only started in 1977.

In the United States, California based distributor Public Square Books (currently known as Zócalo Public Square) imported Blueberry books from Spanish publisher Norma Editorial, S.A. on behalf of the Spanish speaking part of the country. Having done so in the first half of the 2000s, these books were endowed with American ISBN numbers in the form of a bar code sticker, simply put over the Spanish ISBN number. For example, "Arizona Love" originally carried the Spanish ISBN 8484314103, but once imported in the US, received the new, American ISBN 1594970831. Latino-Americans therefore, have been afforded the opportunity to enjoy the then entirety of the Blueberry series (including the spin-offs), contrary to their English speaking counterparts.

Apart from Europe, the Americas, Japan and Indonesia, the series has been translated on the Indian subcontinent in Mizo by Mahlua of Cydit Communications, operating out of Aizawl, and in Tamil. It is in the latter language in particular, spoken in the south-eastern part of India, Tamil Nadu, and on the island state of Sri Lanka, that the Blueberry saga has amassed a large fanbase and where he is dubbed "Captain Tiger" (கேப்டன் டைகர்). The series has been published by Prakash Publishers under their own "Lion Muthu Comics" imprint. In April 2015, an exclusive collectors edition was published in Tamil, collecting Blueberry titles 13 through 22 – with "Arizona Love" added in first time Tamil translation – in one 540-paged book. This is considered to be a milestone release in the entire Indian comics history, as well as one of the biggest collector editions of Blueberry comics worldwide,^[125] although it had already been surpassed by the time of its release by an even more massive, entire main series – save "Apaches" – single book anthology of 1456 pages by parent publisher Dargaud in the original language, the year previously.^[126]

Prequel: La Jeunesse de Blueberry (Young Blueberry)

A later created prequel series, dealt with Blueberry's early years, during the American Civil War, relating how the racist son of a wealthy plantation owner turned into a Yankee bugler and all the adventures after that. The material for the first three albums, conceived by the original Blueberry creators, was originally published in the 1968–1970 mass market paperback sized Super Pocket Pilote series,^[16] as in total nine 16-page short stories, eight of them constituting one story-arc set in the war. The very first short story, "Tonnerre sur la sierra" ("Thunder on the Sierra"), was actually a post-war stand-alone adventure set before the events depicted in "The Lost Dutchman's Mine". With the exception of the very first and very last, "Double jeu" ("Double Cross"), all other shorts were originally published in black and white.

In 1995, Giraud slightly contradicted Charlier's birth account of La Jeunesse by divulging that he had already created the "Tonnerre sur la sierra" story by himself, before Charlier actually came up with the Civil War approach, "It was I who scripted the first episode of La Jeunesse de Blueberry. It very much resembled a regular series episode, but much smaller. Charlier subsequently presented me with another idea: the one concerning the Civil War. I found it an excellent idea; Writing started right away."^[128]

Giraud created his La Jeunesse art with the smaller digest size format specifically in mind, and adopted therefore a more loose, less "convoluted" art style which allowed him to create his pages more quickly, already applying the revised technique for "Tonnerre sur la sierra". Additionally, it was for these stories that he started to experiment with applying inks in pen – alongside the brush he had hitherto exclusively employed for the series – , a technique he would perfect later on as "Mœbius". While the resulting spontaneous art worked out fine for the smaller sized pages of Superpocket Pilote, it did suffer from the enlargement for the hereafter mentioned album releases, when compared to the larger, more detailed pages for the Pilote main series on which he concurrently continued to work.^[129] Still, the experience gained on the La Jeunesse shorts served him well, when he had to create Jim Cutlass in a hurry a decade later, utilizing a similar technique.^[130]

The publication of "La jeunesse de Blueberry" ("Blueberry's Secret") in 1975, the first album to collect the first three shorts of the Civil War story-arc, came as a surprise to Blueberry fans. Having left Blueberry on a cliffhanger with "Angel Face", when Giraud took his extended leave of absence (see above), clamor for new Blueberry titles became such, that publisher Dargaud decided to make the move as a temporary stop-gap solution. For the book publication, the original pages were blown up and by Giraud extended in width,^[127] rearranged, (re-)colored with some panels omitted in the process to fit the then standard album format of 46 pages, when discounting the two disclaimer pages. While the removal of individual panels was regrettable from a graphic art point of view – as it, besides the missing art, also broke up the integrity of Giraud's carefully designed page lay-outs, especially in "3000 Mustangs"^[129] – , it entailed no consequences for the plot of the shorts, save the first one; in "Blueberry's Secret" the in the synopsis mentioned Long Sam had witnessed the murder Blueberry was accused of and therefore able to prove his innocence, but is gunned down before he is able to do so by the real murderer, who in turn is gunned down by Blueberry, leaving Blueberry without any recourse to prove his innocence. However, for the book publication, the two panels which showed the real murderer being killed were cut, causing a discrepancy as it left readers, unfamiliar with the original publication, wondering why Blueberry was so despondent, as, from their point of view, the real killer was still alive.^[129]

The releases of the two follow-up collection albums, "Un Yankee nommé Blueberry" ("A Yankee Named Blueberry") and "Cavalier bleu" ("The Blue Coats"), four years later (in itself an indication that Dargaud had not planned to do so initially, if only for the substantial editorial effort it took in the pre-computer era to adapt the original digest size for the standard sized comic book), turned out to be in equal measure a stop-gap initiative. Unable to resolve the royalties conflict, which had dragged on for five years, Charlier and Giraud turned their back on the parent publisher, leaving for greener pastures elsewhere and taking all of Charlier's co-creations with them. Sensing that it might potentially turn out to be a costly defection, the two Young Blueberry titles were released to make the most of the fervor that had surrounded the return of Blueberry with "Nez Cassé". For Dargaud it indeed turned out to be a costly affair as the three 1979/80 titles were the last new titles they were able to release for nearly fifteen years, missing out on a period of time in which Blueberry reached the pinnacle of its popularity – seeing, besides new titles in the main series, the birth of two spin-off series as well – , even though the publishing rights of the older book titles remained where they were. As the "Thunder on the Sierra" short numbered 14 pages instead of 16, no editorial cutting was necessary for the third book. Apart from the editorial changes to fit the book format and the creation of new covers for the two additional albums, Giraud also made use of the opportunity to recreate a small number of panels to replace those he had felt unhappy about in hindsight, spread over all three albums.

Dargaud considered their three, original creator's, La Jeunesse de Blueberry book titles as part of the main series, until they regained the Blueberry rights in late 1993, and as such have therefore seen translations in most of the aforementioned languages as well. Apart from the expedited release of the two additional La Jeunesse titles, Dargaud also undertook a subsequent action in an attempt to further profit from the upsurge in popularity of Blueberry, by releasing the very first six-volume Blueberry integral edition of 1984.^[131] A co-production with French publisher fr:Rombaldi, each of the six volumes collected four titles of the then existing main series. Rombaldi was brought into the fold to act as an intermediary in order to negotiate a separate license from Novedi to have the then four Novedi main series titles included as well in volumes 5 and 6, though Dargaud performed a copyright infraction by making sure Novedi was not mentioned as copyright holder in the respective colophons. The three La Jeunesse titles were collected in volume 6. In recognition for their assistance, Rombaldi was retained for similar releases of the two other Dargaud Western series, fr:Jonathan Cartland (see also below) and fr:Mac Coy – each, like Blueberry, one of the "big five" 1970s Franco-Belgian realistic Western comics^[47] – , combining all of them in one overall, eleven-volume Les géants du l'Ouest collection, as promoted in contemporary advertisements.^[132]

The 1990 English language edition of these books by Catalan Communications in their "ComCat" line, gave track of the changes and presented the left out panels in editorials in which Giraud himself presented clarifications for the choices made. It was in effect American readership that was first afforded a clarification for the discrepancy in the first book and the editorial changes made, before European readers were, in the editorials by Lofficier of the releases. Only these first three books were published in English. The three American albums, again translated by the Lofficier couple, were also, unaltered and unedited, included in the above-mentioned anthology collection from Graphitti Designs. The Graphitti Designs "Young Blueberry" anthology title differed from the others in that it was not printed on high gloss paper, but on matte paper as in the original ComCat publications, indicating that by then inclusion in the Graphitti Moebius collection was already accounted for and that the original print run of the interior pages was adjusted accordingly.

• ¹³ "Uncut" anthologies have since then been published in Germany, Denmark and Norway by publisher Egmont and its German subsidiary Ehapa, as Volume 1^[133] of their massive 2006-2011 Blueberry collection project, an international effort collecting all Blueberry series in one integral, multi-volume anthology collection for simultaneous release in these countries.^[20] As of 2016 these releases stand out as the most compressive Blueberry release ever attempted, easily surpassing in scope similar efforts of parent publisher Dargaud.^[80] Stand-alone uncut anthologies of the shorts, typically in black and white as use was made of the original Super Pocket Pilote source material instead of the book versions, have previously been published in Denmark (the above-mentioned 1990 edition), Germany and Croatia, albeit it an illegal one in the latter case.^[134] None have seen the day of light to date in the rest of the world, including home country France.^[135]
• ¹⁴ In their haste to release the two follow-up titles, in the process also having to pay "renegade" Giraud for his input, the editorial office of Dargaud made a substantial editorial blunder. As stated, eight of the nine shorts constituted one long story-arc, but Dargaud placed "Chasse à l'homme" ("Manhunt", the fifth short in the story-arc) as the penultimate one in book 3, causing an awful continuity error. Readers, not familiar with the original Super Pocket Pilote publications, found themselves facing a baffling and inexplicable plot twist, only aggravated by the publisher who in unconvincing and confusing text captions tried to explain the discrepancy away, leaving uninitiated fans at the time erroneously suspecting that not all shorts were being published. In the publisher's defense however, it should be noted that Charlier had confusingly, but unintentionally, given two of his shorts an identical title in French and it is not that much a stretch of the imagination to assume the editors believing that the two stories belonged with each other. Fortunately for the American readership, the correct chronology, pursuant a first correction in a Danish Anthology earlier that year,^[136] was adhered to in the ComCat releases. Ironically, the French themselves, as indeed the rest of Europe, had to wait until 1995 (the Dutch actually beating the French to the punch by one year^[137]) before the publisher, pursuant regaining the Blueberry rights, could be bothered to correct the chronology for later reprint runs, after having it allowed to persevere for nearly two decades in numerous prior reprint runs for all language editions, the Danish and American editions excepted.
• ¹⁵ Despite the creators being entitled to royalties, Dargaud's ploy to capitalize on the upsurge in popularity of Blueberry did not sit well with Charlier, who recognized it for what it was. In order to vent his displeasure, Charlier again made use of the exemption clause of his syndication agency, and established the temporary Editions Presses Internationales (EPI) imprint, under which he published a small Lieutenant Blueberry Pocket series of three outings in 1982, again using Koralle's – in whose employ he had been shortly before – infrastructure. Making sure that these three digit-sized releases were technically and legally magazine releases, akin to the Super Pocket Pilote source publications, all the shorts from Dargaud's two additional albums were reprinted in the series ( OCLC 474042925). The shorts were presented uncut, with a new coloring, but featured the redrawn panels from Giraud. Ironically though, Charlier too failed to correct the chronology. To drive home the point, the pockets also contained Charlier's two Redbeard shorts, as Dargaud had also employed a similar ploy for that series, as indeed they also had for Tanguy et Laverdure for that matter. Charlier licensed Koralle to follow suit by establishing the equally temporary Gary Publishing imprint for identical publication in Dutch.^[138] These were actually among the very last known releases by Koralle, as the publisher was already in an advanced state of becoming defunct. That parent company Axel Springer even allowed the publications to go through at this late stage, should be considered another token of goodwill in recognition of Charlier's help in the smooth transition from Koralle to Novedi, as these pockets saw no release in the German home language, or in any other for that matter. Charlier concurrently farmed out a license to Danish publisher Interpresse (then the Novedi licensed Blueberry publisher) to publish the Blueberry shorts in their Jonah Hex monthly magazine.^[139] Dargaud at the time had license agreements with competitors Oberon and Serieforlaget for the Netherlands and Denmark respectively.^[140]

Intermezzo: Marshal Blueberry

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. 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 comic series. Vance, with whom Giraud had virtually no dealings in person, drew the first two outings in the series, 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^[148]), fans received the book with mixed feelings as Vance's style was a too radical departure to their tastes from that of Giraud.^[173] 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" – having been pleased with the first album, but less so with the second – , 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 only one artist, deeming the defection "disastrous" for the series.^[174] The unresolved story cycle lingered in limbo for seven years, before Giraud in person found fr:Michel Rouge – whose style was closer to his – willing to finish the cycle.^[175]

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 – 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." Though not Blueberry, Rouge did take over that other famed contemporary Franco-Belgian western comic series, Hermann's Comanche. Unfortunately, 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.^[176] 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.^[177]

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.^[27] No English language editions were released. 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.

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)

Jean Giraud and Michel Rouge

• 3: Frontière sanglante (Dargaud, 2000/06, ISBN 2205042777)

Sequel: Blueberry 1900

A third spin-off series, coined Blueberry 1900, was conceived by original creator Giraud in the early-1990s, intended as a bonafide sequel series. Set, as the series title already implied, in the era of the William McKinley presidency, it would not only have featured a 57-year old Blueberry, but his adult son as well, albeit in a minor role. The story line, intended to encompass five books, was to take place around events surrounding the assassination of President McKinley. Pegged for the artwork was French comic artist François Boucq whom Giraud had met at a comic event in honor of his lifelong friend Jean-Claude Mézières, and concurrently discussed the project with. Actually, Giraud had previously approached Michel Blanc-Dumont, whose "lyric" art work for Jonathan Cartland he adored, for the project around 1993, then still tentatively called Blueberry 20 ans après (Blueberry, 20 years later). Blanc-Dumont, despite being reciprocally an admirer of Giraud's art and aside from being still invested in his own Western comic, thought the project not suitable for him, deeming the script outline too Mœbiusienne for his taste, and had already suggested Boucq instead.^[180] Boucq showed interest and was enthusiastic about the project, and indeed embarked on the production of pre-publication art studies, but deemed a cycle of five books too much, managing to negotiate it down to a cycle of three books.^[181][182]

However, Philippe Charlier, son of the late Jean-Michel Charlier and proprietor of "JMC Aventures" – the foundation and legal copyright owner, set up back in 1990 with the specific intent to safeguard the creative integrity and legacy of his father, both in a spiritual as well as a commercial sense, but which had become dormant after the failed experiment at Alpen Publishers^[66] – , was nowhere near as enthusiastic as Boucq was. He became increasingly alarmed and downright aghast when reading commentaries, Giraud made in contemporary magazine interviews, clarifying his intentions and premises for the proposed series of a Blueberry residing with the Hopi tribe, meditating under the influence of mind-expanding substances,^[145] while President McKinley was levitating in the White House due to a Hopi spell. As heir and steward of his father's co-creations and legacy, being the 50% co-owner of the Blueberry brand, he still had the unequivocal right to veto any and all proposals regarding the trademark Blueberry and did not hesitate for a moment to exercise his prerogative in this case, going as far as taking Giraud to court, resulting in that the project fell through. As per a horrified Charlier Jr. in a contemporary statement, "The script is unbelievably horrifying. It is an effrontery, constructed out of implausible circumstances. Like in the new [OK Corral] story cycle, we find a totally passive Blueberry, only meditating, while the president, enchanted by Indians, is levitating in the White House".^[34] As he indicated, though he had given his seal of approval in this case, Charlier Jr., also became wary and disapproving of Giraud depicting the former lieutenant as a passive loafer in the OK Corral story arc, only aggravated from his point of view by the fact that Giraud could not refrain himself from including some elements from Native-American mysticism in "OK Corral" and "Dust" – though not anywhere near as extensive as he had apparently intended for Blueberry 1900.^[183]

Philippe Charlier, conservative by nature like his father, had, unlike his father,^[56] no patience whatsoever with Giraud's "New Age" predilections (also serving as an additional rationale for his decision to proceed with Alpen Publishers back in 1990, instead of Les Humanoïdes Associés, renowned for its catalog of more adult, "esoteric" comics, like those of Boucq and Alejandro Jodorowsky), particularly for his admitted fondness for mind-expanding substances. It was he (after his father's death), who testified in court, that his father had always "detested" Giraud's work as "Mœbius" and that he considered that work as "treason".^[58] While Philippe was unable to stop the OK Corral cycle, because of the "longest living survivor" main series covenant Giraud and Charlier Sr. had signed, he was able to stop Giraud in his tracks in court for Blueberry 1900 because it had never been presented by Giraud as a main series effort, but rather as a brand expansion (notice the legal difference), and on this Charlier Jr. had veto rights. Reinforced by the for him favorable court ruling, Charlier Jr. was therefore subsequently able to veto Giraud's 1999 scenario outline for a Fort Mescalero movie, which was to feature Blueberry in extensive substance-induced hallucinatory scenes, besides Giraud's intention to have the Jim Cutlass series merge with the Blueberry main series, due to the fact that later volumes of that series also increasingly incorporated likewise scenes, arguing that such a merging would indeed constitute another brand extension.^[34][35]

How far Giraud actually already was in his thinking was exemplified by the inclusion of his art featuring Blueberry with Hopi tribesmen, endowed with the caption "In Hopi Towns",^[184] as the interior flyleaf illustration for the regular 1990 "Arizona Love" French book release,^[185] reprinted as such, without the caption, in the last 1991 Graphitti Designs release, Moebius #9. Additionally, Giraud had sneaked in some Blueberry 1900 elements (including floating Washington dignitaries) in the non-Blueberry, Native-American themed, short story "The Words of Chief Seattle", which saw English publication in Epic's second Blueberry book release, "Ballad for a Coffin".

However, Giraud's fascination with shamanism went even further back than that, when he was introduced by Jodorowsky – during the failed Dune-project – in 1974 to the writings of Carlos Castaneda, who had written a series of books that describe his training in shamanism, particularly with a group whose lineage descended from the Toltecs. The books, narrated in the first person, related his experiences under the tutelage of a Yaqui "Man of Knowledge" named Don Juan Matus. Castaneda's writings made a deep and everlasting impression on Giraud, already open to Native-Mexican folk culture due to his three previous extended trips to the country (he had visited the country a third time in 1972,^[186] also see Giraud on Carlos Castaneda), and it did influence his art as "Mœbius", particularly in regard to dream sequences, though he was not quite able to work in such influences in his mainstream Blueberry comic.^[187] Yet, unbeknownst to writer Charlier, he did already sneak in some Castaneda elements in "Nez Cassé".^[188] Castaneda's influence reasserted itself in full in Giraud's later life, having worked in elements more openly after Charlier's death in "Geronimo l'Apache", becoming, as indicated, a major element for Blueberry 1900.

Awards

The series has received (world) wide recognition in the comics community, and the chief factor for Giraud receiving his first recorded international award in 1972. Listed are only those rewards, the author(s) received specifically for Blueberry, as Giraud in particular received an additional multitude of awards and nominations for his work as "Mœbius" from 1977 onward, including awards encompassing his entire body of works.

• 1969 & 1970: Prix Phénix^[201] Paris, for Lieutenant Blueberry in the category "La Meilleure Serie d'Aventures".
• 1972: Special Award, from the National Cartoonists Society for Lieutenant Blueberry as "Best Realistic Artist", Giraud only.^[202]
• 1973: Shazam Award of the Academy of Comic Book Arts for Lieutenant Blueberry: "L'homme qui valait 500 000 $" in the category "Best Foreign Comic Series".^[203]
• 1973: Prix Phénix, Paris, for among others Blueberry in the category "Scenario d'Aventures", Charlier only.
• 1975: Yellow Kid Salon Award, Lucca, in the category "Best Foreign Artist", Giraud only.^[204]
• 1978: Goldene Sprechblase Award of the Vereinigung für Comic-Literatur for Leutnant Blueberry in the category "Besondere Verdienste um die Comic-Literatur", Giraud only.^[205]
• 1979: Adamson Award in the category "Best International Comic-Strip [or comic book] Cartoonist".^[206]
• 1985: Angoulême International Comics Festival Grand Prix for the graphic arts, Giraud only.^[146]
• 1991: Harvey Award for the Blueberry saga published by Epic, in the category "Best American Edition of Foreign Material".^[207]
• 1996: Soleil d'Or of the Festival BD de Solliès-Ville for Blueberry: "Mister Blueberry", in the category "Best Comic Album", Giraud only. (Award statue sculpted by François Boucq, the intended Blueberry 1900 artist)^[208]
• 1997: Eisner Award nomination for The Blueberry Saga #1: The Confederate Gold published by Mojo Press, in the category "Best Archival Collection".^[209]
• 2000: Sproing Award for Blueberry: "Geronimo" in the category "Best Translated Strips", Giraud only.

While Giraud has garnered universal praise and acclaim for his work as "Moebius", Blueberry has always remained his most successful and most recognized work in mainland Europe, despite its artist developing somewhat of a love/hate relationship with his co-creation in later life, which was exemplified by him regularly taking an extended leave of absence from his co-creation. That Blueberry has always remained his primary source of income, allowing him to fully indulge in his artistic endeavors as Moebius, was admitted as such by Giraud as early as 1979, "If a album of Moebius is released, about 10.000 people are interested. A Blueberry album sells at least 100.000 copies [in France],"^[210][188] and as late as 2005, "Blueberry is in some ways the "sponsor" of Moebius, for years now."^[211]

Exhibitions

After Giraud had returned to France pursuant his extended stay in the United States, generic interest in his work steadily grew and resulted in an increasing number of latter-day exhibitions at museums and conventions, featuring his original art. However, due to his international renown as "Mœbius", virtually all of these exhibitions focused on his work as such, even if Blueberry art was included in some of them. Nonetheless, at least three such exhibitions were known to have been Western/Blueberry specific.

• December 1995: «Wanted: Blueberry» exposition at the Arthaud Grenette bookstore, Grenoble, also featuring original Blueberry art by Colin Wilson. Both he and Jean Giraud attended the opening on 1 December, making themselves also available for book signings. Prior to the opening a promotional leaflet was disseminated by the bookstore ("Arthaud BD News", issue 1, November 1995), featuring a three-page interview with Giraud.^[128]
• 19 September-9 October 1996: «Jean Giraud Blueberry» exposition at the Stardom Gallery, Paris, for the occasion of the upcoming release of the "Blueberry's" artbook by Stardom^[212] – Giraud's own publishing house/art gallery. The below-mentioned 1997 documentary was the registration of events surrounding the release, including the exhibition.
• 15 January-14 June 2009: «Blueberry» exposition at the Maison de la Bande Dessinée, Bruxelles^[213]

Adaptations

A 2004 film adaptation, Blueberry^[214](U.S. release title is Renegade), was directed by Jan Kounen and starred Vincent Cassel in the lead role, with Giraud himself making a walk-on cameo appearance in the movie. Many purists were appalled by this film.^[215]

Documentaries

• 1988:Jean-Michel Charlier: "un réacteur sous la plume" – Documentary by Jean-Pierre Delvalle (CNBDI, Angoulême, January, 25 min.). Overview of Charlier's career, with ample attention for Blueberry.^[216]
  • French SECAM tape release in 1997 as an outing in the Atelier Multimédia, «Portrait d'Auteur» collection.^[217]
• 1994:Blueberry – Documentary by Christophe Heili (Cendranes Films for Canal+/TVCF, October, 27 min.)
• 1997:Jean [Gir]aud's - Documentary by Hervé Eparvier (Stardom, Paris, 22 min.). Documentary produced on the occasion of the September 1996 Blueberry exposition at Stardom Gallery. The documentary title is a play on the title of the "Blueberry's" artbook, slated for release at the time. Pettigrew's 2000 documentary is modeled after the template set in this documentary.^[218]
  • French SECAM tape release in 1997, included as bonus for the boxed, limited edition of the artbook "Blueberry's" ( ISBN 2908706024)
• 2000:Mister Gir & Mike S. Blueberry – Documentary by Damian Pettigrew, registering two days in the life of Giraud in October 1999, when he visits his atelier with his family, the offices of Paris publisher Dargaud and the Parisian mega-chain store fr:Fnac for the launch of the Blueberry album, "Géronimo l'Apache", and when he travels to Saint Malo for its 1999 comic-book festival, on both occasions executing numerous sketches and watercolors for fans. Throughout the registrations, Giraud comments on his co-creation, and is intercut with additional remarks from Thierry Smolderen, Guy Vidal and Cristian Rossi, commenting on the place of Blueberry in the Franco-Belgian comic world and in (French) culture in general. In the film's last sequence, Giraud does a spontaneous life-size portrait in real time of Geronimo on a large sheet of glass (Musée de la Bande dessinée d'Angoulême, 55 min.)
  • French SECAM tape release in 2000 ( OCLC 812528584)
  • French 1-disc DVD release in 2011 ( OCLC 887535650), as an augment to Pettigrew's 2010 Métamœbius documentary.
• 2007:Mœbius Redux: A Life in Pictures – Biographical documentary by Hasko Baumann (Germany, England, Finland, Netherlands: Arte, BBC, ZDF, YLE, AVRO, 68 min.) Though most of this documentary is taken up by his work as "Mœbius", ample attention is also given to his Blueberry creation.^[219]
  • Non-commercial, but licensed, Australian 1-disc DVD release in 2008 ( OCLC 951516758)
  • German 2-disc DVD release in 2010, extended to 190 min. ( OCLC 891515384)