The album remained on bookstore shelves for more than a year without anyone reacting. Spirou and the blue gorgon, released in September 2023, will finally be withdrawn from sale, announced Editions Dupuis which publishes the album. The criticism which is at the origin of this late withdrawal arose on social networks, in particular TikTok with the videos of Charlotte (@chaa_pr), where several content creators expressed their indignation upon reading this comic strip .
Several black characters are represented as monkeys in this comic book while other white people like the hero Spirou have standard human features. The female characters, particularly sexualized, also shocked these readers. The Belgian designer Dany, 81 ansknown for his albums with erotic humor such as the comic series Are you interested?is at the origin of these drawings. He became known in 1968 with the adventures ofOlivier Rameauwhose drawings he signed.
In August 2023, interviewed by Paris Match for the release of The Blue Gorgonhe indicated that he had “shown (his) sketches and (his) plates to (his) editor”, who had “accepted and validated” them. He even specified that he had “redrawn” black women “because I was told that they had too big lips”, he justified.
@chaa_pr BRAVOOO TO US WSH, The RACIST comic book withdrawn from sales ???????? #fyp #spirou ♬ original sound – Charlotte
Dupuis editions have since recognized “an error of judgment” and offered their “sincere apologies”. “We have implemented the withdrawal of the book from all points of sale,” announces the publishing house in a press release on its site as well as on the multiply to express the anger felt at the representation of black people and women in the Spirou seen by Dany and Yann: The Blue Gorgon released in September 2023,” she wrote. “We are deeply sorry if this album may have shocked and hurt. This album is part of a caricature style of representation inherited from another era,” explains Dupuis.
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