Lucky Luke is a
Belgian comic book series created by Belgian cartoonist Maurice De Bevere,
better known as Morris, and for a period of time 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, Johan and
Peewit, The Smurfs and Asterix, Lucky Luke is one of the most
popular and best-selling comic-book series in continental Europe. About half of
the series' adventures have been translated into English. Lucky Luke comics
have also been translated into 23 languages, including many European languages,
and even some African and Asian languages.
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 (pictured above) appeared in the Almanach issue of the Franco-Belgian
comics magazine Spirou on December 7,
1946. 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. Ending a
long run of serial publications in Spirou,
the series shifted to Goscinny's Pilote
magazine in 1967 with the story La
Diligence, subsequently leaving publisher Dupuis for Dargaud.
After the death of Goscinny on November 5, 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.
After Morris' death on July 16, 2001, French artist Achdé
continued drawing new Lucky Luke stories in collaboration with writer Laurent
Gerra.
"Lucky Luke's famous cigarette not only identifies a
profile but allows the tempo to be modified and extended, expressing a feeling:
in Le Pied-tendre (The Tenderfoot), Morris shows Lucky Luke's feelings at the
death of a friend in a series of three frames in which the hero rolls and
spills a cigarette."
Morris, who had been criticized over Lucky Luke's
cigarette for a long time, answered his critics
: "the cigarette is part of the character's profile, just like the
pipe of Popeye or Maigret". 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".
Still in print today the latest issue #81 is pictured
above.
No comments:
Post a Comment