Canadian cartoonist Delaf’s continuation of André Franquin’s Guust Flater series, initially met with criticism and legal opposition, has received praise from former critics. Dupuis published the first continuation two years ago after Franquin’s daughter, Isabelle, challenged in court whether her father had authorized the series to continue. She could not prevent publication, but the judge granted her the right to approve the new Guust albums on quality grounds. The latest album has reportedly been published without a renewed dispute, with a first French-language edition of one million copies.

Delaf worked with French writer Lewis Trondheim on the jokes. He said he was not trying to imitate Franquin, but to portray Guust as convincingly as possible. The album continues to use the Brussels-inspired setting and the period in which Guust’s stories take place. Critics and readers have increasingly embraced Delaf’s version of the disobedient, somewhat lazy antihero who follows his own path.