The character of Gaston Lagaffe will return after 30 years of absence and the disappearance of its creator, Franquin, announced Dupuis Editions.
The Belgian comic book publisher, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, entrusted the series to Quebecer Delaf (Marc Delafontaine of his real name). The return of Lagaffe, an album in the classic 48-page format, should be released on October 19, with a print run commensurate with the notoriety of this gentle idealistic, lazy and inventive antihero: 1.2 million copies. “It’s risk taking. As long as to relaunch the series, we said to ourselves that it was useless to play small arms. Because he is one of the most emblematic characters of Franco-Belgian comics, ”explained to AFP the editorial director of Dupuis, Stéphane Beaujean.
“Few expected him to return. But, for him, it was time: if we hadn’t done it, he wouldn’t have had many more years of notoriety ahead of him, because most comic book heroes who don’t find a sequel die. simply,” he added. Legendary characters such as Asterix, Lucky Luke or, more recently, Corto Maltese, relaunched by Éditions Casterman in 2021, experienced a rebirth after the death of their creator. In the case of Lagaffe, the choice of Delaf was imposed after the publication in 2017 of a tribute to André Franquin, The blunder gallery, where the board drawn by the Quebecer had struck readers with the mimicry of the work of the Belgian designer (1924-1997). “This Delaf tribute perfectly imitated Franquin, everyone said so. It is therefore the return of Gaston in his canonical character, as close as possible to the original version”, underlined Mr. Beaujean.
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