The fun chemistry, the bowling ball, the gaffophone, the cat, the seagull, and the whole gallery of characters… The Gaston Lagaffe gang returns in the aptly named album, The return of Lagaffe. If the return of the cult comic strip has not been without difficulty, it is because the daughter of Franquin, creator of the character, is keeping an eye on things. After a highly publicized exchange of arms with Dupuis, an agreement was reached and we can finally read the product of the efforts of Delaf, the valiant author who tackled this Everest of humor.
“When I was made this proposal, I had a feeling of disbelief,” Delaf laughs today. I felt like I was in an alternative world where you can make your childhood dreams come true. The adult in me said “wait, you have to think”, but the child wanted to go for it. I had to ask myself if it was desirable, if I was capable of doing it… I had to think for a while. »
An unparalleled genius
In addition to the millions of albums sold, Gaston Lagaffe is a monument by the respect he inspires among comic book creators. A cult character but almost never imitated (and even less equaled), he has no equal and has no real descendants. Humor in the office environment owes everything to him, but the character of Gaston remains a UFO: environmentalist but driver of a trash can, lazy but attached to productivity via his inventions, foggy but brilliant mind, congenital clumsy enthusiast of sport… Gaston Lagaffe cultivates contradictions, where Franquin’s gags nestle.
This explosive and skillfully measured cocktail, Delaf is one of the first fans. And like any fan, he is impressed by Franquin’s genius. “I was really scared at the start of the project,” he admits. After a while I understood that I had to concentrate on the reasons that pushed me to accept, for the little 10 year old boy that I was. I tried to stop thinking about fan expectations and what was at stake, because it was too paralyzing. »
“I owe it to the kid I was”
To reassure himself, Delaf could have discussed the subject with other comic book authors, notably FabCaro who recently took over the Asterix scenario after Jean-Yves Ferri. “I wasn’t too scared until the release of the album approached,” says the screenwriter of The white Iris. When I was writing the album, I didn’t really realize the weight that Asterix had in the minds of children, nor the expectations. » Without regrets, FabCaro is today “ready to go for a spin again if the opportunity presents itself. I owe it to the kid I was who was a fan of Asterix and Obelix. »
For his part, Blutch took on Morris and Goscinny’s character, Lucky Luke, for the album The Untamed. As with Delaf, this is a childhood dream. “I fulfilled a childhood fantasy,” he explains. “It’s the album I dreamed of having when I was a child. I was already drawing Lucky Luke when I was four or five years old. So I can say that I have been drawing it for around fifty years…”
The narrative challenge
If we understand the motivation of publishers to revive these cult characters (in one word: money) and that of readers to read these new adventures (in two words: nostalgia and laziness), the authors’ driving force is It’s not just the desire to satisfy a childhood dream.
“From a narrative point of view, it’s a real challenge,” says FabCaro. Blutch and he had very specific albums in mind whose plot they wanted to replay, in their own way. FabCaro had in mind The cauldronwhere Blutch quotes Emperor Smith. “It’s not a question of copying this album but of pulling the thread,” explains FabCaro. Certain Asterix albums shaped my way of thinking about stories. I wanted to confront that. »
“The album I wanted to read”
Delaf, for his part, seized with delight the many imposed figures of a Gaston Lagaffe album: the inventions which do not work, De Mesmaeker who refuses to sign the contracts, Mademoiselle Jeanne hopelessly in love, the agent Longtarin who fines Gaston … “I tried to imagine the album that I would have wanted to read, instinctively,” explains Delaf. I chose to be as close as possible to Franquin’s Gaston, even if it was the solution that required the most work. I started by rereading the 900 gags, I took notes, I created a sort of specifications. I did a lot of pre-production work to give myself the means to get there. »
Homage to the genius of Franquin sometimes bordering on radical mimicry, The return of Lagaffe However, in its second half, it explores a new side of the character. And all thanks to a failed designer…
“As a child, I really liked this character of the bad designer who tries to sell his boards to Spirou. But when I reread the albums, I realized that it only appeared about ten times. So he had an impact on me for other reasons. I also read that Franquin regretted not having developed this nameless character more.
Alter ego and mise en abyme
Delaf therefore makes this designer his alter ego. “When I started, I was like him, I dreamed of having my boards published. So I used the character to testify. » Blutch also says a little about himself thanks to his interpretation of Lucky Luke which he chose to confront with children, an avenue never explored by Morris: “I didn’t look very far for inspiration! I have the same phenomena at home. It is also a tribute that I pay to them. » Finally, FabCaro adopts the Goscinny-Uderzo method of taking a teasing look at contemporary society through that of the imaginary Gauls. “That’s what drives me in all my books, revealing a little of the absurdity of the world. »
Finally, these covers of cult heroes allow these authors to express all their admiration for the creators of yesteryear. If FabCaro and Blutch slip in discreet tributes to Goscinny, Delaf has chosen – undoubtedly to defuse criticism – to mention Franquin by name in his boards.
“Franquin already cited himself as an irascible author who was always late. Like a mise en abyme, I imagined that the character of the failed designer enjoyed ephemeral glory thanks to an incident where Franquin’s boards were lost…”