Lucky Luke

Encyclopedia : L : LU : LUC : Lucky Luke

Sous le Ciel de l'Ouest, cover of an early softcovered issue.

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

Lucky Luke is a Belgian comic book series. Set in the American Old West, it stars the titular character, Lucky Luke, the cowboy known to shoot faster than his shadow.

After Tintin and Asterix, Lucky Luke is the most popular and best-selling comic-book series in continental Europe, but strangely enough unlike Tintin and Asterix only a handful of his adventures have been published in the English-speaking world.

Both a tribute to the mythic Old West and an affectionate parody, the hardcover comics were drawn by the Belgian artist Morris (1923-2001). The scripts of some (though not all) of the earlier books were written by Frenchman René Goscinny (1926-1977), best known for Asterix. After Goscinny's death many tried to fill the gap. After Morris' death, French artist Achdé continued drawing new Lucky Luke stories.

Luke, 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 (each one being taller and dumber than the previous one). He rides Jolly Jumper, "the smartest horse in the world". He is often seen with Rantanplan, "the stupidest dog in the universe", the name being an allusion to Rin Tin Tin. A cigarette was constantly at his lips in the early albums, but (since it was essentially a parody of abundant cigarette usage in Western movies to begin with), in 1983 Morris replaced the cigarette with a piece of straw, which earned him recognition from the World Health Organization.

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 such historical endeavors such as guarding of Wells Fargo stagecoaches, the Pony Express, the building of the first transcontinental telegraph, and the Rush into the Unassigned Lands of Oklahoma.

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

Contents

1 List of albums

1.1 By Morris only
1.2 Script by René Goscinny
1.3 Different writers
1.4 Art by Achdé

2 Lucky Luke in other media

2.1 Animation
2.2 Live-action movies and television
2.3 Video games

3 Real prototypes of Lucky Luke series characters
4 See also
5 External link

List of albums

By Morris only

1. La mine d'or de Dick Digger, Dupuis, 01/1949
2. Rodéo, Dupuis,
3. Arizona, Dupuis, 01/1951
4. Sous le ciel de l'Ouest, Dupuis, 01/1952
5. Lucky Luke contre Pat Poker, Dupuis, 01/1953
6. Hors-la-loi, Dupuis, 01/1954
7. L'élixir du Dr Doxey, Dupuis, 01/1955
8. Lucky Luke contre Phil Defer, Dupuis, 01/1956
10. Alerte aux Pieds Bleus, Dupuis, 01/1958

Script by René Goscinny

9. Des Rails sur la Prairie, Dupuis, 01/1957
11. Lucky Luke contre Joss Jamon, Dupuis, 01/1958
12. Les Cousins Dalton, Dupuis, 01/1958
13. Le juge, Dupuis, 01/1959
14. Ruée sur l'Oklahoma, Dupuis, 01/1960
15. L'évasion des Dalton, Dupuis, 01/1960
16. En remontant le Mississippi, Dupuis, 01/1961
17. Sur la piste des Dalton, Dupuis, 01/1962
18. À l'ombre des derricks, Dupuis, 01/1962
19. Les rivaux de Painful Gulch, Dupuis, 01/1962
20. Billy the Kid, Dupuis, 01/1962
21. Les collines noires, Dupuis, 01/1963
22. Les Dalton dans le blizzard, Dupuis, 01/1963
23. Les Dalton courent toujours, Dupuis, 01/1964
24. La Caravane, Dupuis, 01/1964
25. La ville fantôme, Dupuis, 01/1965
26. Les Dalton se rachètent, Dupuis, 01/1965
27. Le vingtième de cavalerie, Dupuis, 01/1965
28. L'escorte, Dupuis, 01/1966
29. Des barbelés sur la prairie, Dupuis, 01/1967
30. Calamity Jane, Dupuis, 01/1967
31. Tortillas pour les Dalton, Dupuis, 01/1967
32. La diligence, Dargaud, 03/1968
33. Le pied-tendre, Dargaud, 07/1968
34. Dalton-City, Dargaud, 01/1969
35. Jesse James, Dargaud, 07/1969
36. Western Circus, Dargaud, 01/1970
37. Canyon Apache, Dargaud, 01/1971
38. Ma Dalton, Dargaud, 10/1971
39. Chasseur de primes, Dargaud, 10/1972
40. Le Grand Duc, Dargaud, 04/1973
41. L'héritage de Ran-Tan-Plan, Dargaud, 10/1973
42. 7 histoires complètes - série 1, Dargaud, 09/1974
43. Le cavalier blanc, Dargaud, 03/1975
44. La guérison des Dalton, Dargaud, 07/1975
45. L'empereur Smith, Dargaud, 04/1976
46. Le fil qui chante, Dargaud, 10/1977
HS. La ballade des Dalton, Dargaud, 07/1978
50. La corde du pendu, Lombard, 06/1982
51. Daisy Town, Dargaud, 01/1983
55. La ballade des Dalton et autres histoires, Dargaud, 03/1986

Different writers

47. Le magot des Dalton, Dargaud, 03/1980, by Vicq
48. Le bandit manchot, Dargaud, 03/1981, by Bob De Groot
49. Sarah Bernhardt, Dargaud, 03/1982, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche
52. Fingers, Dargaud, 09/1983, by Lo Hartog Van Banda
53. Le Daily Star, Dargaud, 09/1983, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche
54. La fiancée de Luky Luke, Dargaud, 11/1985, by Guy Vidal
56. Le ranch maudit, Dargaud, 11/1986, by Jean Léturgie, Xavier Fauche and Claude Guylouis
57. Nitroglycérine, Dargaud, 04/1987, by Lo Hartog Van Banda
58. L'alibi, Dargaud, 12/1987, by Claude Guylouis
59. Le Pony Express, Dargaud, 06/1988, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche
60. L'amnésie des Dalton, Lucky Productions, 09/1991, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche
61. Chasse aux fantômes, Lucky Productions, 09/1992, by Lo Hartog Van Banda
62. Les Dalton à la noce, Lucky Productions, 09/1993, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche
63. Le pont sur le Mississippi, Lucky Productions, 08/1994, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche
64. Belle Star, Lucky Productions, 08/1995, by Xavier Fauche
65. Le Klondike, Lucky Productions, 08/1996, by Yann and Jean Léturgie
66. O.K. Corral, Lucky Productions, 08/1997, by Eric Adam and Xavier Fauche
67. Marcel Dalton, Lucky Productions, 10/1998, by Bob De Groot
68 Le prophète, Lucky Comics, 03/2000, by Patrick Nordmann
69 L'artiste-peintre, Lucky Comics, 03/2001, by Patrick Nordmann
70 La légende de l'ouest, Lucky Comics, 01/2002, by Patrick Nordmann

Art by Achdé

71 La belle province, Lucky Comics, 09/2004, by Laurent Gerra

Lucky Luke in other media

Animation

In addition to three 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 [link] 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 who is an Indian-hater and a dwarf.

Live-action movies and television

In the early 1990s, two movies and a television series starring Terence Hill as Lucky Luke were produced. In 2004, Til Schweiger starred as Lucky Luke in the movie Les Dalton.

Video games

Over the years, several Lucky Luke video games were released for many platforms, most of them by Infogrames. The last one is being developed for mobile phones by [The Mighty Troglodytes] and will be available by the end of 2005.

Real prototypes of Lucky Luke series characters

External link

[Official Lucky Luke site]

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