Lucky Luke, an extraordinary animated cowboy

Perhaps some don't know him, others may have heard of him. Well Lucky Luke is one of the most famous cartoon cowboys. Known for shooting faster than his shadow.

Lucky Luke is both a tribute to the Wild West and a parody.. Of Franco-Belgian origin, he was created by Maurice de Bévère, also known as Morris, for the Spirou Almanac 47 in 1946.

Lucky Luke is a nomadic cowboy who fights crime and injustice. With the help of Jolly Jumper, "the smartest horse in the world" and Rantanplan, "the dumbest dog in the universe"“. Facing off against the clumsy Dalton brothers, consisting of Joe, William, Jack, and Averell. And sometimes their mother, Ma Dalton, joined them.

It is worth noting that in the cowboy's adventures Real-life figures appear, such as Billy the Kid, Calamity Jean, Jesse James' gang, and Judge Roy Bean..

And not only that, they also appear historical events of the United States of America, such as the creation of the Pony Express, the custody of the Well Fargo proceedings, the appearance of the telegraph, the colonization of Oklahoma, the construction of the coast-to-coast railway and one of the tours of French actress Sarah Bernhardt.

Without a doubt, Lucky Luke along with Blake and Mortimer, Johan and Peewit, The Smurfs, Titeuf, The Adventures of Tintin and Asterix the Gaul are among the most popular comics in Continental Europe. Therefore, the famous cowboy has appeared in comics, cartoon series, movies, and even video games.

Lucky Luke comics

The cowboy comics were made in several stages. It all started with the Belgian publisher Dupuis, with 31 installments, the first being La Mine d'or by Dick Digger (1946) or Dick Digger's Gold Mine. The Spanish translations were handled by the Grijaldo publishing house. Thus, the last issue of this run was published in 1967, titled Tortillas pour les Dalton or The Daltons Go to Mexico.

The following year, In 1968, publications continued under the Dargaud publishing house and Lucky Comics. Starting with La Diligence / La diligencia. 41 issues were published with this company, until 2002.

From 2002 to 2018, the cartoonist Achdé took over and produced 8 new comics with Lucky Comics.. Furthermore, in 2016, artist Matthieu Bonhomme developed a graphic novel titled The Man Who Killed Lucky Luke, as a tribute to the cowboy and his creator, Morris.

His entertaining feature films and animated series

Many of his funny comics have been adapted into films and television shows.

There are four animated feature films, starting with Lucky Luke in 1971. Then came The Ballad of the Daltons in 1978. He continued with The Escape of the Daltons in 1983 and, as his last film to date, Tous à l'Ouest in 2007.

As for animated series, one premiered in 1984 with 26 episodes produced by Hanna Barbera and you can watch it on YouTube. Because it was his television debut, certain aspects of the character had to be modified.

For example, he didn't smoke. Instead, he used a straw. Ethnic minorities like the Chinese and people of color also disappeared. For this reason, Rantanplan appears in almost every episode, and Jolly Jumper speaks more frequently. All of this was done to avoid media censorship.

Then, in 1991, a new Lucky Luke series premiered. This time produced by IDDH Studios, it also consisted of 26 episodes.. After the failure of the first series in the United States, Hanna Barbera decided not to continue.

However, IDDH incorporated ethnic minorities and maintained the same prominence as Rantanplan and Jolly Jumper. This series adapted comics that had not been produced previously. Although the animation wasn't very good, its adaptation was faithful to the comics.

Then, in 1993, the series The Adventures of Lucky Luke, produced by Terence Hill, premiered with 8 episodes.

Later, in 2001, the series *The New Adventures of Lucky Luke* was released, consisting of 52 episodes. It was produced by Xilam Productions with Marc Pontavice. at the head of the project. The idea was to bridge the gap that existed between previously produced series, with the aim of attracting more young fans, both comic book readers and older ones.

The movies

The franchise currently consists of three films, the first of which was released in 1990, directed by and starring Terence Hill.. Then came a second production in 2004, directed by Philippe Haim. Following that was a final installment in 2009, directed by James Huth. It's worth noting that none of the films generated much buzz.

And video games

When a character is successful, video games are obviously developed about him. Lucky Luke is no exception. There are quite a few developed for the cowboy of the Wild West.

The first platform video game, called simply by the name of the cowboy, was released in 1997 by Infogrames for Super Nintendo and Windows.

Due to its positive reception, the same company decided to develop Lucky Luke: Sur la piste des Dalton in 1998 for PlayStation and in 2000 for Windows.. Later, it was adapted for Game Boy Advance under the title Lucky Luke: Wanted in 2001.

That same year also saw the release of the Lucky Luke: Western Fever video game. It was developed by Kalisto Entertainment and published by the well-known Infogrames.. It was a third-person shooter game that received mixed reviews.

Go West! A Lucky Luke Adventure was released in 2007 for the Nintendo DS, Wii and Windows consoles. This video game becomes a shooter, but in first person.

Finally, they released Lucky Luke & The Daltons in 2015 for Nintendo DS. In this game, as a player, you will face the Daltons and test your aim.

As you may have read, Lucky Luke has been a character who appeared in comics, cartoons, movies and video games. More famous in Europe than in America. That's why we're sharing the link to the entire first animated series about the cowboy who's faster than the hills. Now, tell us, were you familiar with our famous character? Have you played any of his video games?

Image: Portal 180