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- "When Guy Vidal of Humanos brought me into contact with Jean Giraud at the time, he presented me with a story that I liked very much. But Giraud had written the script as a novel. The page division was still lacking, as were the dialogs. Furthermore he had planned to spread the story over two books. I suggested to expand that to three books. After I had finished the first Marshal Blueberry, I did not want to do all the work alone anymore. I did not have the time, nor did I want to do the work, others should have rightfully done. Thierry Smolderen subsequently worked out the script. But then I procrastinated. Dargaud had bought back Blueberry, Giraud had rejected part of Smolderen's script, altered the page divisions, etcetera. In the end I became fed up with the third book, and threw in the towel". (en)
- "I have twenty completed pages, the rest consists of annotations and loose ideas...I was not quite on board with the development of the story yet, we still had not decided upon anything. There were some great ideas, which needed to be finalized". (en)
- "From the very beginning, I did not want the classic type of fearless lawman like Red Ryder, The Lone Ranger or Jerry Spring as a hero. That kind of character had, in my opinion, already been done to death. That is why I made Blueberry the very opposite of these classic heroic archetypes. He is dirty, ugly, and bad-tempered. He drinks, smokes, gambles and swears. And also, to make him even more different from the other characters, who are more the wandering kind, I decided to make him a soldier. But again, I did not want him to be a good little soldier who follows orders and does what he is instructed to do. Blueberry is the exact opposite of that; he is undisciplined, cynical and hates authority." (en)
- "Everything was bought back by Dargaud, halfway through [Marshal Blueberry]. It was not that bad; At Dargaud, they are more active on the editorial level. During the entire time I was at Humanos, I had not received a single call to start a new project. I profited from it... life profited from it for that matter... If Blueberry had remained with Humanos, there still would not have been a new album! At Dargaud, the late Guy Vidal became a true series editor-in-chief, active, pugnacious, committed to continuous series. When I did ask to start, along came Mister Blueberry, followed suit by Tombstone and Geronimo... I do the best I can. I'm not saying it's all entirely successful. I do recognize that there are some surprising issues at the script or drawing level, but it has the merit of not being routine!" (en)
- "What started to irk me a lot was the cartoonish writing style - the brawls, the sleazebag comedians, the clichés, the never-ending out-of-the-blue coincidences, these unbelievable, unrealistic situations that were weaved more and more into the scenarios". (en)
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- "With that biography, we encumbered ourselves with a mind-boggling task. We had created the possibility to highlight Blueberry in a panoramic manner by concurrently publish several different series, in which he is young, less young and, why not, old eventually. We even could have told the story of his death without ending the series. Blueberry is a particularly intimate life companion. He is part of me, but it should not become an obsession. That is the reason why I have given him the chance to escape me by entrusting him to others. In essence, it has become Blueberry's fate to be condemned to life by his creators". (en)
- "The story involves the assassination attempt on President McKinley. Neither Jimmy McClure nor Red Neck will appear in it. Additionally, I had the following for Blueberry 1900 in mind: President McKinley is lying in a coma and starts to levitate. Subsequently, they tie him to the bed so he does not float off, but then the whole bed starts to levitate. So now they have to nail down the whole bed. Blueberry 1900 – it has its origins in a smart dream, I have dreamt in the Pyrenees in 1981". (en)
- "Colin Wilson helped me out with "Le bout de la piste". I was extremely backlogged; he helped me with the three last pages in particular. I carefully did the penciling and some of the faces and all the Blueberrys in detail, and Colin did the rest. But this was a special case, a kind of favor from a friend. I like Colin and his wife Janet very much. That I reverted the task to him, was not laziness on my part, but rather a gesture of friendship; I wanted to demonstrate to him that he could draw Blueberry every-bit as good as I did". (en)
- "[The idea of giving Blueberry Belmondo's face] originated from the both of us. That came about this way: To have Blueberry come across as a non-conformist, I described him right from the start as uncombed, disheveled, unshaven, broken nosed, etc. After he had read that, Jean exclaimed to me, "That's Belmondo!"" (en)
- "After the first three volumes [of Marshal Blueberry], I've a scenario ready for Michel Blanc-Dumont. Curiously, it resembles several outings of his Jonathan Cartland series, because it has indians, a magical aspect, is dreamlike with a main character who is truly down on his luck. My mind is in a certain way fully taken up with the scenario and the theme of the first album as I've structured the story much like a cinematographic adaptation with more modern, more contemporary, pessimistic concepts by introducing the dreamlike aspects associated with the magic of the Indians". (en)
- "Obviously, I could have never imaged that I would be drawing Blueberry one day. That is why I deliberated for so long when they asked me to do the Young-series. I mean, what I am doing is so close to Giraud, that everybody will think me a mere Giraud-imitator. Especially the first few pages. I think, as we go along, we will build something that is recognizably different from what Giraud has done up until now. Both publisher Novedi and writer Jean-Michel Charlier told me that they want me to make the series my own as soon as possible. That is why it is such a challenge. I'm looking for my own way. That will be the greatest task for the first album". (en)
- "Philippe Charlier, son of Jean-Michel, was opposed because he guards over the consistency of the series. The Blueberry 1900 scenario was indeed very free and quite transgressive compared to the original depiction of Mike, even more pronounced so than the evolution of Jim Cutlass in his relationship to magic. I could not start this series anyway, as long as the Marshal Blueberry trilogy had not yet come to a conclusion. This would have caused too much confusion in the mind of the reader. François Boucq therefore could only start drawing after Vance had finished the third volume of Marshal...which he never did! In the meantime, Alexandro offered him Bouncer, which he naturally accepted. Of course, Blueberry 1900 would have been pretty good, but Bouncer is so great that it would have been unbearable for me to have prevented such a series seeing the day of light. Even so, my frustration with my own scenario became total, forcing me to rework and update it, no doubt improving it as I go along, and I in particular will have to decide on how to proceed". (en)
- "There were thousands of professionals who knew my work. That has always amazed me every time I entered some graphics, or animation studio, at Marvel or even at George Lucas'. Mentioning the name Jean Giraud did not cause any of the present pencillers, colorists or storyboard artists to even bat an eye. Yet, whenever I introduced myself as "Mœbius", all of them jumped up to shake my hand. It was incredible!" (en)
- "That was a coincidence all right. It coincided with the break between Jean-Michel and Dargaud, where questionable issues in regard to authors' rights were in play". (en)
- "That was an idea I had with Jean-Marc Lofficier. After we had acquired the approval from the [Charlier] heirs, it was Fabrice Giger, Alpen's editor-in-chief, who came up with the idea to select William Vance for the artwork. For the moment, the cycle with Vance is over [note: Giraud is referring to his scenario writing] and we give the series a little breather so it can sink in a little." (en)
- "Charlier, together with Goscinny the editors-in-chief, wanted a western. He already had outlines in mind, but asked me to come up with a name. He suggested a couple of names, which sounded not bad, but I wanted something softer for this rough and basic character. It was then that I saw that somebody had signed with the name "Blueberry" in Geographic Magazine, which was lying opened in front of me, purely by coincident. That was the right choice, and Charlier liked the name as well. For the hero's facial traits, I chose Belmondo, as he was at the time something of an art symbol for guys my age". (en)
- "In my function as literary editor, I also amused myself by mounting a massive hoax. It was meant to expand a bit upon the knowledge of Blueberry's past that I had introduced in the full Jeunesse stories. As an aside, I humbly apologize to the respectable professors and other eminent historians who have rock solidly believed in it, and who have overwhelmed me with requests for my sources. The idea came to me at the National Archives in Washington, when I was looking for old pictures for a television show. One of them caught my eye on a pile of documents dating from the Civil War. It showed a young, anonymous officer, serving in the cavalry of the Union, who resembled the young Blueberry as drawn by Jean Giraud. It was too beautiful! I could not resist! I acquired a lot of other pictures of the era, representing southern plantations, black slaves in cotton fields, scenes of the Civil War, trains, forts, Mississippi Show Boats ... And, using them as starting point, I wrote the detailed biography of Mike Steve Donovan, alias Blueberry, which can now be read at the start of the album "Ballade pour un cercueil". I mingled many real facts and characters that had really existed into my imaginary biography. Thanks to the photos brought back from Washington, it became a flagrant truth. To complete this forgery, that amused me immensely, I commissioned my graphic artist Peter Glay for the superb false historical portrait that you can also admire. A detail that should not be lacking in all this pizzazz, the officers represented on Blueberry sides are, in reality, comic artists Jean-Marc Reiser and Jean Tabary, who were relatively unknown at the time, but who have come a long way since the time they posed as Blue Coats! This hoax worked beyond all hopes: thousands of readers believed in the real existence of Blueberry, following the publication of this false, with authentic photos illustrated, biography. That my victims may forgive me: si non è vero è bene trovato!" (en)
- "It is a good series, keeping Blueberry alive, but I'm otherwise not involved in the least. If Colin wants, I can assume the role of a mentor. I told Colin he should in no way feel tied down, he should take all the freedom he needs; it is his series now. We have never cooperated [on Young Blueberry], but when I introduced Colin to Charlier, it was already clear to me that he was good. He was as impressed with Blueberry as I was with Jerry Spring, back in the day. He did not create Westerns then, but SF, yet you could already see his potential". (en)
- Christian Rossi is a dream artist, he is perfect! This is the ideal that I would love to achieve when I draw my own stories. His depths of field, his perspectives, his sets and his costumes are very neat, precise, exact, clear and seamless. However, like me, Christian suffers from his deficiencies, imaginary or not, and he is never content. I really like Cutlass, it's a fabulous series and the scripts are really great, because it's like the work of film scriptwriters. Christian reacts to what I write to him and he reworks the whole page layout, adapting it to his narration. Sometimes, he rewrites certain scenes that seem drifting to him. Christian has this rare quality of loving stories and serve them to the maximum." (en)
- "For purely commercial reasons, Dargaud wanted the adventures of the main heroes of the weekly to appear as complete stories in this quarterly. Neither Jean Giraud nor I were particularly interested to have concurrent, both long and short but similarly themed stories, published in two different magazines. But abundant, enduring fan-mail from readers, who gave us their friendship by faithfully following his tumultuous adventures, told me that the Blueberry character posed many irritating enigmas for them. Why did he have a broken nose? Why did he stay in the army as he clearly did not possess the disposition, his bravery excepted, befitting a good soldier? And why this ridiculous name Blueberry? Blueberry is English for myrtille: Lieutenant Myrtille, that was not a name for a Western hero! The questions came from all sides. Unfortunately, it was impossible for me to further encumber stories that were already quite heavy. Then the idea struck me to forge out a past for Blueberry through the stories we were asked to do for this Superpocket Pilote. A past in which our readers would find answers to satisfy their legitimate curiosity. The idea excited Giraud, who decided, in order to differentiate between two series, to adopt a more lively style, more edgy, but less convoluted. Thus was born «La Jeunesse de Blueberry»". (en)
- "About 2,000 copies of each title are sold every year. It's pretty good, although there has been unfortunately nothing new since "Dust", the 28th volume published seven years ago". (en)
- "I was working on the third Chariot de Thepsis when Jean-Claude Forest, who was working at Bayard at the time, asked me to collaborate with Charlier. He was nostalgic for the maritime adventures of Bernard Tempête which were published before the war. He wanted to make a "remake"” of it with Charlier as scenario writer. Jean-Michel Charlier was part of all my reading as a teenager, but I was swamped with my own work and, moreover, I no longer wished to be involved with those kind of genres. Later, I found myself in contact with Jean Amnestay and the people of Aedena. They were on a magazine project paid for by sponsors , with the reactivation of Charlier's series including Jim Cutlass. They then spoke about me to Jean-Michel and Giraud, who agreed to the idea of my possible takeover. My friends and had warned me of the inconveniences caused by Charlier's tardiness with scripts, but they were both happy for me! So I went to see Charlier with a kind of battle plan to show both my real interest but also a certain distance. With him, I never entered into a cronyistic relationship; on the contrary, I showed him respect. Knowing of his tardiness by now, my tactic was to call him systematically to ask him for work when I was doing something else or when I had not yet started drawing the four to eight pages he had previously delivered to me. He promised to send it to me within the week and, of course, it took around a month, which gave me time to finish up his previous delivery..." (en)
- "At the time of the end of the Aedena editions, I proposed to Charlier and Giraud, on the advice of Alain David, that Christian take over the Jim Cutlass series Humanos was about to lose. The art mini-portfolio that we published in 1987 was a sort of trial run. The series was intended to appear in a free magazine that we were trying to put together with Charlier. The publication then went to Casterman when I started working for them, but Charlier's death delayed the release of the publication." (en)
- "Blueberry can not die, I have the certainty and proof of that ever since I have read the biography, Charlier has written before he left us. He is such a rich character that people can not imagine him disappearing. According to Jean-Michel, Blueberry has even rubbed shoulders with Eliot Ness. The history of such a character can not have an ending". (en)
- "Jean Giraud has scrutinized the first trial studies of Colin Wilson: he supervised most of his drawings. This artist is quite capable of doing the series, but he is somewhat paralyzed by the fame of Blueberry and the personality of Jean Giraud. Ultimately, the most evident part of my work with him was to prevent him constantly wondering how Giraud would have drawn such and such panel in his place. La Jeunesse de Blueberry will not replace the series by Jean Giraud, who is absolutely not tired of drawing it. Quite the contrary, it is constantly on his mind! Since he has more or less identified with Blueberry, he is less and less inclined to drop the series. For example, the temples of the hero have turned white at the same time as those of the artist". (en)
- "He is an artist whose body of work I love for its lyric qualities. There is in his BDs a real attention to detail and investment rarely equaled. Jonathan Cartland is a very ambitious graphic work, but Colby with Greg, is somewhat below his potential. On Blueberry, I find him a little less invested, but it must be said that it is not really his series and the scripts don't possess the extraordinary quality of those of on Cartland. Even I find weaknesses in the scripts of François Corteggiani, but is not my place to stick my nose in his work. And of the script writers under consideration at the time for Young Blueberry, François was the better one". (en)
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- —Giraud, August 1989, on the script status of "Arizona Love" at the time of Charlier's death. (en)
- —Giraud, 2005, opining on the quality of La Jeunesse de Blueberry by Blanc-Dumont and Corteggiani. (en)
- —Charlier, 1989, on making Blueberry intentionally the opposite of the comic heroes he had hitherto created. (en)
- —Giraud, 1988, when asked if the format change of Pilote from a weekly to monthly magazine had anything to do with the creators leaving. (en)
- Charlier, in a latter-day accounting for his Blueberry biography. (en)
- —Charlier, on conceiving the Young Blueberry series. (en)
- —Cristian Rossi, 2011 on being suggested to, and working with, Jean-Michel Charlier. (en)
- —Giraud, on his thoughts and intents for Blueberry 1900 in several comments made for contemporary magazine interviews. (en)
- —, Aedena editor-in-chief, 2022, on his claim of suggesting Christian Rossi to the Jim Cutlass creators. (en)
- —Philippe Ostermann, Deputy Managing Director Dargaud, December 2012, on the lack of the economic incentive for releasing a general "intégrale" on the Francophone market before Giraud's death. (en)
- —Giraud, 2008, in a public reaction on Blueberry 1900 not coming to fruition. (en)
- —Giraud, 1988, on getting his protégé on his way as an established Blueberry artist. (en)
- —Charlier, 1978, on conceiving the initial countenance of Blueberry. (en)
- —Giraud, 1996, on his working experience with Rossi. (en)
- —Giraud, on the original series concept he came up with in 1993. (en)
- —Giraud, 1993, on conceiving the Marshal Blueberry spin-off series and somewhat contradicting his [[#Return to the parent publisher (en)
- —Giraud, 1989, on his notoriety as "Mœbius" in the United States. (en)
- —Wilson, 2000, expressing his growing displeasure over the Corteggiani scenarios. (en)
- —Giraud, on his firm conviction that, due to the biography, Blueberry is now for the ages, and how it has allowed the Blueberry universe to expand beyond the boundaries of the main series. (en)
- —Giraud, 1975, on his claim of inventing the name Blueberry. (en)
- —Wilson, 1984, on taking on Young Blueberry. (en)
- —Vance, 1996, on his experiences working on Marshal Blueberry. (en)
- —Giraud, 2010, on the return to Dargaud, being the sole artist on Blueberry, and somewhat contradicting his [[#Intermezzo: Marshal Blueberry (en)
- —Charlier, 1985, in France-Soir, reassuring Blueberry fans. (en)
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