Lucky Luke is aWesterncomic album series created by Belgian cartoonistMorris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborating with French writerRené Goscinny. Their partnership lasted until Goscinny's death in 1977. Afterwards, Morris collaborated with several other writers until his own death in 2001. Since Morris's death, French artistAchdé has drawn the series, scripted by several successive writers.
The series takes place in theAmerican Old West of the United States. It stars the titularLucky Luke, a street-smart gunslinger known as the "man who shoots faster than his shadow", and his intelligent horseJolly Jumper. Lucky Luke is pitted against various villains, either fictional or inspired by American history or folklore. The most famous of these arethe Dalton Brothers, loosely based on theDalton Gang of the early 1890s and claimed to be their cousins. The stories are filled with humorous elements parodying theWestern genre.
Lucky Luke is one of the best-known and best-selling comics series in Europe. It has been translated into 30 languages. 83 albums have appeared in the series as of 2024, and 3 special editions/homages, at first published byDupuis. From 1968 to 1998 they were published byDargaud and then by Lucky Productions. Since 2000 they have been published by Lucky Comics. Each story was first serialized in a magazine: inSpirou from 1946 to 1967, inPilote from 1968 to 1973, inLucky Luke in 1974–75, in the French edition ofTintin in 1975–76, and in various other magazines since.
The series has also had adaptations in other media, such as animated films and television series, live-action films, video games, toys, and board games. As of 2022, all 82 books in the series' regular albums are available in English.
First appearance of Lucky Luke and Jolly Jumper inArizona 1880 (1946)
Simultaneously a tribute to the mythic Old West and an affectionateparody, the comics were created by Belgian artist Morris, who drewLucky Luke from 1946 until his death in 2001. The firstLucky Luke adventure,Arizona 1880, appeared in the French version of theFranco-Belgian comics magazineSpirou in October 1946.[4] It later appeared in theAlmanach issue ofSpirou on 7 December 1946.[5]
After several years of writing the strip himself, Morris began a collaboration withRené Goscinny. He was the series writer during what is considered its golden age, starting with the story"Des rails sur la Prairie", published on 25 August 1955 inSpirou, until his death in 1977 (with the exception of"Alerte aux Pieds Bleus").[6] Ending a long run of serial publications inSpirou, the series was shifted to Goscinny'sPilote magazine in 1967 with the story"La Diligence". Later it was taken toDargaud publisher.
After Morris' death in 2001, French artistAchdé continued drawing newLucky Luke stories in collaboration with writers Laurent Gerra, Daniel Pennac and Tonino Benacquista. Since 2016, new albums are scripted by writer Jul.
Although always described as acowboy, Luke generally acts as a righter of wrongs or bodyguard of some sort, where he excels thanks to his on-hand resourcefulness and incredible gun prowess. A recurring task is that of capturing the bumbling but menacing gangsters theDalton brothers, Joe, William, Jack and Averell. He ridesJolly Jumper, "the smartest horse in the world" and is often accompanied by prison guard dogRin Tin Can, "the stupidest dog in the universe", a spoof ofRin Tin Tin.
The chronology of the albums is deliberately murky, and in most albums no particular year is given. The villains and incidental characters based on real persons lived over most of the mid-to-late-19th century. For example, in the albumDaily Star, Lucky Luke meets a youngHorace Greeley, prior to his moving to New York in 1831. JudgeRoy Bean, who was appointed judge in 1882, appears in another album, and in another album yet, Lucky Luke takes part in the 1892Coffeyville shootout against theDalton gang. Lucky Luke himself appears unchanged in all stories.
Except in the first few stories, where he shoots and kills Mad Jim and the old Dalton brothers gang in Coffeyville, Luke is never seen to kill anyone, preferring to disarm people by simply shooting weapons out of their hands.
Phil Defer was killed in the first publication inLe Moustique, but in the later album collection, this was changed into a debilitating shoulder wound.
In the final panel of each story, except the earliest, Lucky Luke rides off alone on Jolly Jumper into the sunset, singing (inEnglish) "I'm a poor lonesome cowboy, and a long way from home...". Luke first said this line in 1949 and it became a tradition afterwards. The song itself is based on a real life cowboy song, collected byJohn Lomax inCowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads.[9]
Lucky Luke's cigarette was replaced with a wisp of straw in 1983.
Morris, who had been criticized over Lucky Luke'scigarette for a long time, answered his critics: "the cigarette is part of the character's profile, just like the pipe ofPopeye orMaigret".[11] It is claimed that Morris was forced to remove the cigarettes Lucky Luke smokes from his strip and Lucky Luke who "used to be a heavy smoker", had to give up smoking for "commercial reasons", apparently to "gain access to the American market".[12][13][14]
Morris received an award from theWorld Health Organization in 1988 for replacing Luke's omnipresent cigarette with a wisp of straw in the storyFingers (1983).[12][15][16]In the 2007 animated filmTous à l'Ouest: Une aventure de Lucky Luke, Lucky Luke is seen using what appears to be anicotine patch and mentions that before that he had to "chew on a piece of straw for a while" right after he quit smoking. In the 1994 storyLe Pont sur le Mississippi (The Bridge Over the Mississippi), he is seen rolling a cigarette again, although he claims it was just to hide his boredom. And inSarah Bernhardt (1982), when Bernhardt's cook lights a fire to make a cake, despite Luke's strict orders not to, Luke is seen rolling a cigarette in an irate mood. He then strikes a match, only for it to be blown out by Jolly Jumper, who reminds him of his own "no fire" orders.
A spin-off series calledRantanplan and starring Luke's dimwitted canine sidekick began in 1987. It has been written over the years by several successive teams of writers and artists. The character also got a 76-episode animated television series in 2006.
A second spin-off series calledKid Lucky was created in 1995, aimed at attracting a younger readership. This starred Luke as a little boy, a format that had been very popular withSpirou. Two albums starring this version of the character were released as part of the main series:Kid Lucky andOklahoma Jim. These were credited to veteran writer Jean Léturgie and unknown artist Pearce, who was later revealed to be a joint pen name for Yann Lepennetier andDidier Conrad. The series was scrapped due to poor sales and the two albums removed from the official list of Lucky Luke albums. The series was however re-launched in 2011 asLes aventures de Kid Lucky d'après Morris, with Achdé now solely in charge of it. To date, Achdé has written four Kid Lucky albums,L'apprenti Cow-boy,Lasso périlleux,Statue Squaw andSuivez la flèche, released in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017, respectively. In June 2020, It was announcedKid Lucky will be adapted into an animated series.[17]
BetweenLe Fil qui chante andLa Corde du pendu isLa Ballade des Dalton, 1978 (The Daltons' Ballad orThe Ballad of the Daltons), an adaptation from the animated film.
Apart from the collections mentioned below, Lucky Luke comics were published in British comic book magazines such asFilm Fun Comic orGiggle (in 1967). TheGiggle version had Luke's name changed to "Buck Bingo".[19]
Brockhampton Press Ltd, Leicester, began publishing the books in hardcover and softcover, with six titles from 1972 to 1974, translated by Frederick W Nolan. Brockhampton became part of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd in 1976, and under their children's imprint, Knight Books, Hodder published mini-sized paperback editions of the first six books, in 1976 to 1977. In 1980 and 1982, Hodder & Stoughton published three new titles as Hodder Dargaud, as well as reprints of the previous six.
Cinebook Ltd have been publishing English language translations of Lucky Luke insoftcover album format since 2006. One new volume is released every two months. In India only, Euro Books, a division of Euro Kids International Ltd. published English versions of 24 Lucky Luke titles in 2009.
In 2019, Cinebook began releasing a hardcover collection ofLucky Luke, published in chronological order featuring three to four original albums per volume together with a vast amount of extras included, titledLucky Luke – The Complete Collection.
Cinebook also published translations of the two Matthieu Bonhomme homages:Wanted Lucky Luke (2016) andThe Man Who Shot Lucky Luke (2021).Untamed by Blutch was published in 2024.
In 1990, a new animated series of 26 episodes was produced by IDDH, with the collaboration of Morris, based on album stories not adapted in the prior series.
The 1992 live-action Italian television series,Lucky Luke, also known asThe Adventures of Lucky Luke, was based on the films of the previous year and again starred Terence Hill.
In 2001,Xilam produced the 52-episode animated seriesLes Nouvelles aventures de Lucky Luke (The New Adventures of Lucky Luke). It was made available on an eight-disc DVD set with French and English audio tracks. This series also featured ColonelCuster, who is an Indian-hater and a dwarf in this incarnation. Unlike the two earlier animated series, this series featured original stories.
Xilam produced two further animated series involving Lucky Luke:Rintindumb (2006) andLes Dalton [fr] (2010).
Mediatoon Distribution producedKid Lucky in 2020.[28]
Disney+ andFrance Télévisions has announced plans for a live-action French television series, which is set to premiere onDisney+ in 2025. It will consist 8 episodes.[29]
Lucky Luke video games have been released for many platforms, most of them byInfogrames for the European market.[30] OnlyGame Boy Color andPlayStation versions were released in North America.
A Lucky Luke game was developed for mobile phones by The Mighty Troglodytes.Lucky Luke: Go West was released in Europe forWindows,Wii, andNintendo DS in late 2007.
In 2013, French publishers Dupuis andAnuman Interactive announced the development of a new Time Management game:Lucky Luke: Transcontinental Railroad (set in the 1860s) for Windows, Mac,iOS, andAndroid.[31]
In theBelgian Comic Strip Center inBrussels, the permanent exhibition pays homage to the pioneers ofBelgian comics, with Morris being among them. In the room dedicated to his work, the entry hassaloon doors and Luke's shadow can be seen on the floor and on the wall.[38]
In 1992, as part ofBrussels' Comic Book Route, a wall in the Rue de la Buandrie/ Washuisstraat in Brussels was dedicated to Lucky Luke.[39] It was designed by D. Vandegeerde and G. Oreopoulos.
Since 2007, the Rue des Pierres/ Steenstraat in Brussels has acommemorative plaque with the nameRue Lucky Luke /Lucky Luke straat placed under the actual street sign.[40]
In 2000, statues of Lucky Luke, Ratanplan and Joe Dalton were erected in theJules Van den Heuvelstraat,Middelkerke, Belgium. They were designed by Luc Madou.[42]
In 1993, French rapperMC Solaar released his song"Nouveau Western" with references to Lucky Luke and theDaltons.
Lucky Luke is also referenced in the 2010Obsidian Entertainment-developed andBethesda Softworks-published video gameFallout: New Vegas. Posters appear in the game, as well as in some loading screens, stating "There's a new sheriff in town and he's looking for deputies ... Become a part of the human dignity bloc". Accompanying this text is an image of a frontier-erasheriff doing afinger gun motion with both hands. Aside from the star-shaped sheriff badge he wears, the sheriff is dressed identically to Lucky Luke, sporting his trademark white hat, yellow shirt, black vest, and red bandana tied around his neck.
In 2015, Danishreggaeton band Camilo & Grande released a single titled "Lucky Luke", in which they liken their lives to that of Lucky Luke.[43]
In 2022, the Belgian government included a tribute to Lucky Luke in the visa pages of its newly redesignedpassport. It features a blank silhouette of Luke and Jolly Jumper inMonument Valley, with the full detail of the characters being revealed under UV light.[44]
Lefèvre, Pascal. 1998. "Lucky Luke, a 'lonesome cowboy' for more than half a century. In The Low Countries, 1998–1999". InThe Low Countries: Arts and Society in Flanders and the Netherlands: A Yearbook, 1998-99. Stichting Ons Erfdeel.
