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"Lucky Luke, quicker than his own shadow", the classical series back cover

*Sous le Ciel de l'Ouest* (1952), cover of an early softcovered issue.

Lucky Luke is a Franco-Belgian comics series created by Belgian cartoonist, Maurice De Bevere better known as Morris, the original artist, and saw its best period written by René Goscinny. Set in the American Old West, it stars the titular character, Lucky Luke, the cowboy known to shoot faster than his shadow.

Along with The Adventures of Tintin and Asterix, Lucky Luke is one of the most popular and best-selling comic-book series in continental Europe,^[1]. Popular in Canada, about half of the series' adventures have been translated into English. Lucky Luke comics have been translated into 23 languages, including many leading European languages, some African and Asian languages.

Publication history

First appearance of Lucky Luke and Jolly Jumper in *Arizona 1880* (1946)

Both a tribute to the mythic Old West and an affectionate parody, the comics were created by the Belgian artist Morris who drew Lucky Luke from 1946 until his death in 2001. The first Lucky Luke adventure named Arizona 1880 appeared in the Almanach issue of the comics magazine Le Journal de Spirou on December 7, 1946.^[2] After several years of solitary work on the strip, Morris began a collaboration with René Goscinny who became the series' writer for a period that is considered the golden age of the series. This started with the story Des rails sur la Prairie published on August 25, 1955 in Spirou.^[3] Ending a long run of serial publications in Spirou, the series shifted to Goscinny's magazine Pilote in 1967 with the story La Diligence, subsequently leaving publisher Dupuis for Dargaud.

After the death of Goscinny in 1977, several writers have tried to fill the role of storyteller, including Vicq, Bob de Groot, Jean Léturgie and Lo Hartog Van Banda. In addition to continuing the series, Morris started the related spin-off series Rantanplan in 1987. At the 1993 Angoulême International Comics Festival, Lucky Luke was given an honorary exhibition.^[4]

After Morris' death in 2001, French artist Achdé continued drawing new Lucky Luke stories in collaboration with writer Laurent Gerra.

Lucky Luke comics have been translated into Italian, English, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese (both in the Brazilian and Portuguese forms), German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Turkish, Polish, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Serbo-Croatian, Greek, Finnish, Czech, Tamil, Hungarian, Indonesian, Icelandic and Vietnamese.

In India, Euro Books a division of Euro Kids International Ltd. published English versions of 24 Lucky Luke titles in 2009.

The stories

Luke, a wandering cowboy capable of drawing a gun faster than his shadow, fights crime and injustice, most often in the form of the bumbling Dalton brothers, Joe, William, Jack and Averell. He rides Jolly Jumper, "the smartest horse in the world" and is often accompanied by Rantanplan, "the stupidest dog in the universe", a spoof of Rin Tin Tin, usually guarding the Dalton brothers at their jail yet never preventing them from escaping. He refuses to smell Dalton's cloths and act as a reverse indicator to Dalton's whereabouts

In the albums, Luke meets many factual Western figures like Calamity Jane, Billy the Kid, Judge Roy Bean and Jesse James's gang, and takes part in historical endeavors such as guarding of Wells Fargo stagecoaches, the Pony Express, the building of the first transcontinental telegraph, the Rush into the Unassigned Lands of Oklahoma, and a tour by French actress Sarah Bernhardt. Some of the books feature a one-page article offering a historical perspective on the events featured.

"Except for the first album, Lucky Luke has never killed any opponent but still, he seemed to carry along a heavy burden, never committing to anything or anybody, and always riding off into the sunset." ^[5]

At the end of each story, except the earliest, Lucky Luke rides off alone into the sunset on Jolly Jumper, singing (in English) "I'm a poor lonesome cowboy, and a long way from home...".

Jesse James

In 1969, Morris and writer René Goscinny (co-creator of Asterix) had Lucky Luke confronting Jesse James, his brother Frank James and Cole Younger. The adventure poked fun at the image of Jesse as a new Robin Hood. Although he passes himself off as such and does indeed steal from the rich (who are, logically, the only ones worth stealing from), he and his gang take turns being "poor," thus keeping the loot for themselves. Frank quotes from Shakespeare, and Younger is portrayed as a fun-loving joker, full of good humor. One critic has likened this version of the James brothers as "intellectuals bandits, who won't stop theorising their outlaw activities and hear themselves talk."^[6] In the end, the at-first-cowed people of a town fight back against the James gang and send them packing in tar and feathers.

Smoking

Reuters claimed Maurice was forced to remove cigarettes Luke Luke smokes from his strip.^[7] Lucky Luke "used to be a heavy smoker, but he had to give up ... for commercial reasons".^[8] Belgian cartoonist won an award from the World Health Organization in 1988 when he replaced Luke's omnipresent cigarette with a plant. ^[9]^[10]

Racial stereotypes

Lucky Luke episodes contains many ethnic stereotypes of "sneaky" Chinese or "lazy" Mexicans^[11],Native Americans, Irish and Italians^[8], while others claim non-whites are not more stereotyped than some European immigrants like Irish or Italian, and it is a lesser degree than another Franco-Belgian comic Tin Tin^[8] According to the Forbidden Planet (bookstore) correspondent: "They played on the clichés of the genre, with humour that nowadays probably would be considered quite racist (lazy Mexicans, sneaky Chinese), but also with a special sort of being satire, mirroring contemporary social platitudes." ^[11]

In episode L'Héritage de Ran Tan Plan (Ran Tan Plan's inheritance), when the Dalton brothers are hiding in the Chinatown of Virginia City, one of them, in order to "blend with the crowd", starts uttering phrases like "ching-chong-chang-cheng". The leader of the Chinese community there tells him he wouldn't use such raw language even in reference to his worst enemy.

Though it should be noted, racial stereotypes does not necessarily equal to racism and racism perception of the world is much more different than it is in early 20th century.

Lucky Luke in other media

French DVD cover for the Terence Hill film

Animation

Four theatrical animated films were created. In 1990, Disney released one of them, The Ballad of the Daltons, on VHS. Three of the movies were part of a trilogy. The first of the films was titled Daisy Town (1971), followed by La Ballade des Dalton (1978) and finished by Les Dalton en cavale (1983), meaning The Daltons on the Loose in English. In addition to the theatrical animated movies, there was also an animated Lucky Luke television series: In 1983, Hanna-Barbera studios and Morris released 26 episodes, and in 1991, 26 more episodes were released. In 2001, Xilam produced a new series of 52 episodes known as Les Nouvelles aventures de Lucky Luke (Lucky Luke's new adventures). It is now available on 8 DVDs with French and English audio tracks. This series also featured colonel Custer, in this incarnation an Indian-hater and a dwarf. Xilam recently produced a theatrical animated film (the fourth film), Tous à l'Ouest: Une aventure de Lucky Luke (Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure), which was released in France on December 5, 2007. ^[12]

Live-action film and television

In 1991, two films (Lucky Luke and Lucky Luke 2) and in 1992 a television series (The Adventures of Lucky Luke) starring Terence Hill as Lucky Luke were produced, according to Morris, who helps the director in the making of.^{[citation needed]}

In 2004 a film titled Les Dalton featured Til Schweiger as Lucky Luke.

Yves Marmion and UGC, the producers of Les Dalton, are currently developing a €20 million stand-alone Lucky Luke feature, starring Jean Dujardin as the gunslinger, according to FilmDeCulte.com.^[13]

Video games

Over the years, several Lucky Luke video games were released for many platforms, most of them by Infogrames, and only released in Europe (the only ones released for the North American were the Game Boy Color and PlayStation versions). A Lucky Luke game was also developed for mobile phones by The Mighty Troglodytes.^{[citation needed]} Lucky Luke: Go West was released in Europe for the PC, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS in the end of 2007.

Bibliography

By Morris (1949-1958)

Dupuis

1. La Mine d'or de Dick Digger, 1949 (Dick Digger's Gold Mine)
2. Rodéo, 1949
3. Arizona, 1951
4. Sous le ciel de l'Ouest, 1952 (Under the Western Sky)
5. Lucky Luke contre Pat Poker, 1953 (Lucky Luke versus Pat Poker)
6. Hors-la-loi, 1954 (Outlaw)
7. L'Élixir du Dr Doxey, 1955 (Dr Doxey's Elixir)
8. Lucky Luke contre Phil Defer, 1956 (Phil Defer a French play on Fil de Fer - Iron Wire)
10. Alerte aux Pieds Bleus, 1958 (Beware of the Bluefoots)

By Morris & Goscinny (1967-1986)

Dupuis

9. Des rails sur la Prairie, 1957 (Rails on the Prairie)
11. Lucky Luke contre Joss Jamon, 1958 (Lucky Luke versus Joss Jamon)
12. Les Cousins Dalton, 1958 (The Dalton Cousins)
13. Le Juge, 1959 (The Judge)
14. Ruée sur l'Oklahoma, 1960 (The Oklahoma Run)
15. L'Évasion des Dalton, 1960 (The Daltons Escape)
16. En remontant le Mississippi, 1961 (Travelling Up The Mississippi)
17. Sur la piste des Dalton, 1962 (On the Daltons' Trail)
18. À l'ombre des derricks, 1962 (In the Shadow of the Derricks)
19. Les Rivaux de Painful Gulch, 1962 (The Rivals of Painful Gulch)
20. Billy the Kid, 1962
21. Les Collines noires, 1963 (The Black Hills)
22. Les Dalton dans le blizzard, 1963 (The Daltons in the Blizzard)
23. Les Dalton courent toujours, 1964 (The Daltons Always On The Run)
24. La Caravane, 1964 (The Wagon Train )
25. La Ville fantôme, 1965 (Ghost Town)
26. Les Dalton se rachètent, 1965 (The Daltons Redeem Themselves)
27. Le Vingtième de cavalerie, 1965 (The 20th of the Cavalry)
28. L'Escorte, 1966 (The Escort)
29. Des barbelés sur la prairie, 1967 (Barbed Wire on the Prairie)
30. Calamity Jane, 1967
31. Tortillas pour les Dalton, 1967 (Tortillas for the Daltons)

Dargaud

32. La Diligence, 1968 (The Stagecoach)
33. Le Pied-tendre, 1968 (The Tenderfoot)
34. Dalton City, 1969]
35. Jesse James, 1969
36. Western Circus, 1970
37. Canyon Apache, 1971 (Apache Canyon)
38. Ma Dalton, 1971
39. Chasseur de primes, 1972 (The Bounty Hunter)
40. Le Grand Duc, 1973 (The Grand Duke)
41. L'Héritage de Rantanplan, 1973 (Rantanplan's Inheritance)
42. 7 histoires complètes - série 1, 1974 (7 Full Stories - Series 1)
43. Le Cavalier blanc, 1975 (The Dashing White Cowboy)
44. La Guérison des Dalton, 1975 (The Daltons' Cure)
45. L'Empereur Smith, 1976 (Emperor Smith)
46. Le Fil qui chante, 1977 (The Singing Wire)
HS. La Ballade des Dalton, 1978 (The Daltons' Ballad)
50. La Corde du pendu, 1981 (The Rope of the Hanged)
51. Daisy Town, 1983
55. La Ballade des Dalton et autres histoires, 1986 (The Dalton's Ballad and Other Stories)

By Morris and various writers (1980-2002)

Dargaud

47. Le Magot des Dalton, 1980, by Vicq (The Daltons' Loot)
48. Le Bandit manchot, 1981, by Bob de Groot (The One-Armed Bandit)
49. Sarah Bernhardt, 1982, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche
52. Fingers, 1983, by Lo Hartog Van Banda
53. Le Daily Star, 1983, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche (The Daily Star)
54. La Fiancée de Lucky Luke, 1985, by Guy Vidal (Lucky Luke's Fiancee)
56. Le Ranch maudit, 1986, by Jean Léturgie, Xavier Fauche and Claude Guylouis (The Cursed Ranch)
57. Nitroglycérine, 1987, by Lo Hartog Van Banda
58. L'Alibi, 1987, by Claude Guylouis (The Alibi)
59. Le Pony Express, 1988], by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche (The Pony Express)

Lucky Productions

60. L'Amnésie des Dalton, 1991, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche (The Daltons' Amnesia)
61. Chasse aux fantômes, 1992, by Lo Hartog Van Banda (Ghosthunt)
62. Les Dalton à la noce, 1993, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche (The Daltons at a Wedding)
63. Le Pont sur le Mississippi, 1994, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche (Bridge Over The Mississippi)
64. Belle Star, 1995, by Xavier Fauche
65. Le Klondike, 1996, by Yann and Jean Léturgie (The Klondike)
66. O.K. Corral, 1997, by Eric Adam and Xavier Fauche
67. Marcel Dalton, 1998, by Bob de Groot

Lucky Comics

68. Le Prophète, 2000, by Patrick Nordmann (The Prophet)
69. L'Artiste peintre, 2001, by Bob de Groot (The Painter)
70. La Légende de l'Ouest, 2002, by Patrick Nordmann (The Legend Of The West)

By Achdé & Gerra (2004-2008)

Lucky Comics

71. La Belle Province, 2004 (The Beautiful Country)
72. La Corde au cou, 2006 (The Noose)
73. L'Homme de Washington, 2008 (The man from Washington)

English translations

Apart from the collections mentioned below, Lucky Luke comics were published in British comic book magazines such as Film Fun Comic or Giggle (in 1967). The Giggle version had Luke's name changed to "Buck Bingo"^[14].

Brockhampton Press (UK)

Jesse James, 1972
The Stagecoach, 1972

Knight Books (UK)

The Stagecoach, 1976
Apache Canyon, 1977

Dargaud USA and Canada

The Stage Coach, USA, 1980s
The Greenhorn, USA, 1980s
Dalton City, USA, 1980s
Jesse James, USA, 1980s
Western Circus, USA, 1980s
Ma Dalton, USA, 1980s
The Dalton Brothers' Analyst, Canada, 1982
Curing the Daltons, Canada, 1982

Fantasy Flight (US)

The Stage Coach, 1990s
Jesse James, 1990s

Ravette Books (UK)

The Dalton Brothers Memory Game, 1991

Glo'worm (UK)

Calamity Jane, 1998
Dalton City, 1998
Ma Dalton, 1999
Jesse James, 1998
The Tenderfoot, 1999
Western Circus, 2000
The Dashing White Cowboy, 2000

Cinebook Ltd

1. Billy The Kid, 2006, ISBN 1905460112
2. Ghost Town, 2006, ISBN 1905460120
3. Dalton City, 2006, ISBN 1905460139
4. Jesse James, 2006, ISBN 1905460147
5. In the Shadow of the Derricks, 2007, ISBN 1905460171
6. Ma Dalton, 2007, ISBN 9781905460182
7. Barbed Wire on the Prairie, 2007, ISBN 9781905460243
8. Calamity Jane, 2007, ISBN 9781905460250
9. The Wagon Train, 2008, ISBN 9781905460403
10. Tortillas for the Daltons, 2008, ISBN 9781905460496
11. Western Circus, 2008, ISBN 9781905460557
12. The Rivals of Painful Gulch, 2008, ISBN 9781905460601
13. The Tenderfoot, 2008, ISBN 9781905460656
14. The Dashing White Cowboy, 2008, ISBN 9781905460663
15. The Daltons in the Blizzard, 2009, ISBN 9781905460762
16. The Black Hills, 2009, ISBN 9781905460830
17. Apache Canyon, 2009, ISBN 9781905460922
18. The Escort, 2009, ISBN 9781905460984
19. On the Daltons' Trail, 2009, tbc
20. The Oklahoma Land Rush, 2009, tbc
20. The 20th Cavalry, 2010, tbc
20. Emperor Smith, 2010, tbc
20. A Cure for the Daltons, 2010, tbc
20. The Judge, 2010, tbc

Eurokids

1. The Alibi, 2009, ISBN 9788128620331
2. Ghost Hunt, 2009, ISBN 9788128620355
3. Kid Lucky, 2009, ISBN 9788128620379
4. Oklahoma Jim, 2009, ISBN 9788128620409
5. The Prophet, 2009, ISBN 9788128620416
6. Belle Star, 2009, ISBN 9788128620386
7. The Klondike, 2009, ISBN 9788128620393
8. The Pony Express, 2009, ISBN 9788128620348
9. Sarah Bernardt, 2009, ISBN 9788128620423
10. The bridge on the Mississippi, 2009, ISBN 9788128620362
11. The Hanged Man’s Rope and other stories, 2009, ISBN 9788128620430
12. The Ballad of the Daltons and other stories, 2009, ISBN 9788128620560
13. Daisy Town, 2009, ISBN 9788128620447
14. Fingers, 2009, ISBN 9788128620454
15. Marcel Dalton, 2009, ISBN 9788128620461
16. The Artist, 2009, ISBN 9788128620478
17. The legend of the west, 2009, ISBN 9788128620485
18. The Daily Star, 2009, ISBN 9788128620492
19. Lucky Luke’s fiancé, 2009, ISBN 9788128620508
20. Nitroglycerine, 2009, ISBN 9788128620515
21. The Cursed Ranch, 2009, ISBN 9788128620522
22. The Beautiful Province, 2009, ISBN 9788128620539
23. From the gallows to the altar, 2009, ISBN 9788128620546
24. The Dalton’s Loot, 2009, ISBN 9788128620553

References

Lucky Luke publications in Spirou and Pilote BDoubliées Template:Fr icon

Footnotes

^ Ratier, Gilles. "ACBD bilan 2006:new Lucky Luke had an initial run of 650,000 copies." ACBD.fr. Retrieved 2007-02-08.Template:Fr icon
^ BDoubliées. "Spirou année 1946" (in French).
^ BDoubliées. "Spirou année 1955" (in French).
^ Lambiek Comiclopedia. "Morris".
^ http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2009/from-our-continental-correspondent-lucky-luke-is-alive/
^ Fans de Lucky Luke website." fandeluckyluke.com. (in French)
^ http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200608/23/eng20060823_295966.html
^ ^a ^b ^c http://www.thelooniverse.com/strips/luckyluke/luckyluke.html
^ http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2006/08/looney_tunes.html
^ http://www.tv.com/story/5948.html
^ ^a ^b http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2009/from-our-continental-correspondent-lucky-luke-is-alive/
^ "Tous a l'ouest". Xilam Films. October 22, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-22. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ Engle, Liam (September 27, 2006). "Lucky Luke set to return". FilmDeCulte.com. Retrieved 2006-09-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ Lucky Luke as "Buck Bingo" on the Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

External links

Lucky Luke official site Template:Fr icon
Editorial on Lucky Luke
Lucky Luke English publications
List of Lucky Luke games at MobyGames
In Brussels, a wall is dedicated to Lucky Luke.
German editions of Lucky Luke
Goscinny website on Lucky Luke Template:Fr icon

[1] Ratier, Gilles. "ACBD bilan 2006:new Lucky Luke had an initial run of 650,000 copies." ACBD.fr. Retrieved 2007-02-08.Template:Fr icon

[BDO-s46-2] BDoubliées. "Spirou année 1946" (in French).

[BDO-55S-3] BDoubliées. "Spirou année 1955" (in French).

[lambiekM-4] Lambiek Comiclopedia. "Morris".

[5] ttp://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2009/from-our-continental-correspondent-lucky-luke-is-alive/

[6] Fans de Lucky Luke website." fandeluckyluke.com. (in French)

[7] ttp://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200608/23/eng20060823_295966.html

[smoking-8] ttp://www.thelooniverse.com/strips/luckyluke/luckyluke.html

[9] ttp://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2006/08/looney_tunes.html

[10] ttp://www.tv.com/story/5948.html

[forbiddenplanet-11] ttp://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2009/from-our-continental-correspondent-lucky-luke-is-alive/

[Tous_a_l'ouest-12] "Tous a l'ouest". Xilam Films. October 22, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-22. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)

[Lucky_Luke_set_to_return-13] Engle, Liam (September 27, 2006). "Lucky Luke set to return". FilmDeCulte.com. Retrieved 2006-09-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[14] Lucky Luke as "Buck Bingo" on the Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

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v t e Lucky Luke by Morris
Comic albums	Des rails sur la Prairie Lucky Luke contre Joss Jamon Les Cousins Dalton Le Juge Ruée sur l'Oklahoma L'Évasion des Dalton En remontant le Mississippi Sur la piste des Dalton À l'ombre des derricks Les Rivaux de Painful Gulch Billy the Kid Les Collines noires Les Dalton dans le blizzard Les Dalton courent toujours La Caravane La Ville fantôme Les Dalton se rachètent Le Vingtième de cavalerie L'Escorte Des barbelés sur la prairie Calamity Jane Tortillas pour les Dalton La Diligence Le Pied-tendre Dalton City Jesse James Western Circus Canyon Apache Ma Dalton Chasseur de primes Le Grand Duc L'Héritage de Rantanplan Le Cavalier blanc La Guérison des Dalton L'Empereur Smith Le Fil qui chante La Ballade des Dalton La Corde du pendu Sarah Bernhardt Daisy Town
Characters	Dalton brothers Jolly Jumper Rantanplan
Collection books	Lucky Luke – The Complete Collection
Films	Daisy Town (1971) The Ballad of the Daltons (1978) Lucky Luke: The Daltons on the Loose (1983) Lucky Luke (1991) Les Dalton (2004) Go West! A Lucky Luke Adventure (2007) Lucky Luke (2009)
TV series	1984 series 1991 series 1992 series The New Adventures of Lucky Luke Rintindumb The Daltons Kid Lucky
Real characters	Calamity Jane Billy the Kid Jesse James George Armstrong Custer
Collaborators	René Goscinny Bob de Groot Lo Hartog Van Banda Achdé

Lucky Luke: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:58, 29 August 2009

Publication history

The stories

Jesse James

Smoking

Racial stereotypes

Lucky Luke in other media

Animation

Live-action film and television

Video games

Bibliography

By Morris (1949-1958)

Dupuis

By Morris & Goscinny (1967-1986)

Dupuis

Dargaud

By Morris and various writers (1980-2002)

Dargaud

Lucky Productions

Lucky Comics

By Achdé & Gerra (2004-2008)

Lucky Comics

English translations

See also

Lucky Luke characters of non-fiction origin

References

Further Reading

External links