Belgian publisher Dupuis may revive Gaston Lagaffe provided it consults cartoonist Franquin’s daughter, who is entitled to raise objections to such a project, a private arbitration requested by both parties in the legal dispute ruled on Tuesday.
“The principle of resurrecting Gaston is lawful, but Dupuis and Dargaud-Lombard have not respected the contractual approval process, and Isabelle Franquin still has the right to make her observations,” Ms. Franquin’s lawyers said on Tuesday evening on announcing the decision.
At the Angoulême festival in March 2022, Dupuis had created an event in the world of Franco-Belgian comics by announcing the forthcoming release of a new episode of Gaston Lagaffe’s adventures.
The new album, entitled “Le Retour de Lagaffe” (‘The Return of Lagaffe’), was sketched by Canadian cartoonist Marc Delafontaine (aka Delaf).
However, Dupuis had not counted on the combativity of Isabelle Franquin, daughter and sole beneficiary of cartoonist André Franquin, who died in 1997.
Refusing to allow her father’s star character to be revived by another cartoonist, Isabelle Franquin took her case to the Belgian courts.
She first obtained, in summary proceedings a year ago, the suspension of the publication of 'Le Retour,' initially scheduled for October 2022. Dupuis undertook not to publish a new album before 2023 at the earliest, while the dispute was being decided by private arbitration, in this case a Brussels lawyer chosen by both parties.
Editions Dupuis believe they own the economic rights to Franquin’s characters as a result of the 2013 takeover of Marsu Productions, with which Lagaffe’s creator had signed a transfer agreement in 1992.
Isabelle Franquin, on the other hand, has argued that her father “did not under any circumstances want Gaston Lagaffe to be taken over by another cartoonist after his death.”
This is “an inalienable moral right” that Isabelle can exercise, her lawyer Martine Berwette had insisted in May 2022.
Ultimately, the arbitration, a procedure that is not subject to appeal, concludes that Lagaffe can be reborn “on condition that the prior approval of Isabelle Franquin is sought, in accordance with the forms set out in a contract concluded between the parties in 2016.”
“The Gaston by Delaf project has not been approved by Isabelle Franquin” and “the moral right” exercised by her “stands intact,” it stipulated.
“Her agreement is essential for any new creation, including on the choice of author,” the press release quotes the arbitrator as saying. However, “any refusal on her part must be justified on ethical or artistic grounds.”