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The Belgian Comics (3)

LUCKY LUKE

Lucky Luke... the man shoots faster than his shadow!!!

FAR WEST PARODY
Lucky Luke is one of the results of a rather long journey his creator, Morris ( real name= Maurice De Bevere), did with some other famous collaborators to the Belgian Comics weekly magazine: Le Journal de Spirou (Spirou's Journal) in the USA. This was end of the forties(1948) and the American world of these days was a kind of dream world, image supported by the American pop culture that started to invade Europe after WW II. All of them were talented artists such as Jijé,Franquin and... Morris. Some of them even were thinking to stay there definitively. As a matter of fact, Morris stayed for 6 years! Of course, American comics with cowboys as central characters were already well known in Europe: Red Ryder, Lone Ranger ...etc. But all of them in the realistic style with "serious" stories.
So finally Morris by inclination and temper came with a comic series for the Spirou magazine that was on the humor and gag side. His West was full of fantasy. His drawing simple in its lines appealed the youngest and the parody was well received by the elders. It became very quickly a success and books were issued from the series.
Progressively the world of Luke was taking form: Jolly Jumper his faithful horse [see book cover,right] is a champion to collect Luke that jumps from everywhere ... right to the saddle. Billy the Kid is seen as a small person sleeping in a cradle while sucking his Colt Pacifier. Shootists are parodies of characters of excellent Western films of the fifties. Anyway Luke himself is able to beat them all, his sharp revolver shooting technique being unbeatable. The always present undertaker following the shootists takes permanently measurements to prepare coffins... In the small Western towns, blacksmiths, Chinese laundries, strong old ladies are all distinctive characters... All clichés of the West are aggravated and form a good base for a satirical (but very funny) description of the West. The precise and sharp style of drawing given by Morris to the series certainly was a decisive element of the quality and success.

AND GOSCINNY CAME IN THE GAME
Morris searching help for his stories and scripts finally teamed with Goscinny, the French humorist writing for comics and humor magazines. Goscinny understanding the great potential of the Lucky Luke world for hilarious and satirical situations, had accepted to collaborate with Morris. This injected a lot of funny ideas in the stories. Maybe you remember Goscinny: he,under others, wrote the scripts for Asterix... (another mega success!)
Goscinny worked with Morris until his death in 1977. The success of this team was phenomenal: only for Belgium and France, original printing of a new book (album) was counted by hundred of thousands in the seventies! From the Daltons (famous Western gangsters) that appeared in a story, Goscinny derivate a new set of characters: the Dalton cousins [see image on the left]. All of them looking alike, except for their height! The four thugs were aggressive and... stupid. Only the smallest one, hysterically irascible, has a little of brain and works hard to keep the others three going... and to get rid of Lucky Luke.
The Daltons became stars in the series as well and many albums were created around them. Other characters came to support the comedy like Rantanplan (name derivate from guess who...?), a dog being the opposite of the Hollywood canine stars: he cannot follow a trace, he does not understand orders and does not understand better what happens around him. You can guess the hysterical consequences of the dog's stupidity in the already more than funny plots!

1996: LUCKY LUKE 50th ANNIVERSARY
The Lucky Luke series were translated in all European languages, including English, and are amongst the best known characters of the European Comics.
Animated cartoon were done as well (mainly for TV).
Since the pre-releases in an Almanac with Spirou comics in 1946, it is estimated that more than 200 Millions albums were sold worldwide! Each album is average 48 pages, so just imagine the pile!
Morris is still active and its latest Lucky Luke album (book) was sold at more than 600.000 copies for the French edition only!! The series is a kind of cult comic in Europe, as well for adults as for the younger readers. Here, as with Tintin, success found in sales figures matches the quality of the comics...

INTERESTING LUCKY LUKE LINKS

• Lucky Luke -Official site - by the present publisher

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Copyright© 1996,1997 E.Borgers for text and set-up(see complete disclaimer in front page)
Most recent revision: 16 September, 1997