Accused of racism, the comic strip “Spirou and the Blue Gorgon” will be withdrawn from points of sale, Dupuis editions announced this Thursday, after several days of controversy. She starts on Tiktok at the beginning of the week. A user films herself in front of the camera and denounces “the most racist comic book of 2024” while holding the album, written by Yann and drawn by Dany. In this album, published in September 2023, we can see caricatured drawings that represent black women and men like monkeys.
The TikTok video provokes a reaction and is taken up on social networks. Internet users express their anger. “I find it hard to believe that such an old-fashioned drawing has passed”writes one person on X. “Spirou in Congo”denounces another, in reference to the comic strip “Tintin in the Congo” by Hergé, accused of highlighting racial prejudices.
“A caricature style of representation inherited from another era”
Faced with the controversy, Dupuis editions apologized this Thursday in a press release. “We are deeply sorry if this album could shock and hurt.” admitting that “this album is part of a caricature style of representation inherited from another era”.
In this same press release, Dupuis announced that he had “implemented the removal of the work from all points of sale”. “More aware than ever of our moral duty and the importance of comics as a publisher and more broadly of books in the evolution of societies, we take full responsibility today for this error of assessment “also write Dupuis editions.
“Spirou and the Blue Gorgon” does not fit into the main series. The album comes, as Dupuis specifies in his communication, from a derivative series, “seen by”, composed of special albums, and highlighting the reappropriation of Spirou by certain authors.
