Review by Frank Plowright
In the 21st century it’s become increasingly common to have lavishly produced packages presenting the work of major European creators in English. This process has so far eluded Jean Giraud, either under his own name or his Moebius alias, with his Blueberry work an especially frustrating and expensive challenge for completists. The earliest four albums were published in the mid-1960s, but the sole English editions are the slim paperbacks from Egmont/Methuen in the late 1970s, and they don’t complete the introductory series.
Fort Navajo introduces the maverick Lieutenant Mike Blueberry, Jean-Michel Charlier beginning an ambitious five volume arc. Blueberry is seen lacking the niceties of society, and free with insults as he cheats at cards to fleece some thugs, although he’s hardly more respectful to officers from the army he represents. The iconoclasm was unusual for a Western hero in 1963, when the story was first serialised, and Charlier plays it up while also establishing Blueberry’s worth via pragmatism and accumulated knowledge.
These aren’t Giraud’s first comics, but despite the effort on show it’s also apparent Fort Navajo is the work of a relative novice. Later volumes have a more individual style, and Giraud’s learned how to make conversations visually interesting. This is also before Giraud settled on Blueberry’s distinctive look with a broken nose. Here he’s a relatively bland good-looking guy.
The translation’s by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge whose lively interpretations bring Asterix to life and who manage the same sparkle here. However, some language referring to Native Americans accurately represents historical prejudice, but would now be toned down. Charlier, though, doesn’t follow the usual pattern of Westerns, highlighting differences between different tribes and the bigotry of some American soldiers, which would also have marked Blueberry as different when originally produced.
Time, though, has caught up with Fort Navajo, and while still an acceptable Western, it’s been surpassed by what many others have produced, not least later work from Charlier and Giraud. By the end stupidity and racism has escalated a tricky situation to a life-threatening crisis to be continued in Thunder in the West.
