Tag: Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke: The Man From Washington

Lucky Luke: The Man From Washington

by Achdé & Gerra; trans. Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook, 2013)

Book cover: “Lucky Luke: The Man From Washington” by Achdé & Gerra; trans. Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook, 2013)

Visually engaging but narratively lacklustre. While Achdé has captured Morris’s drawing style (down to Luke’s enormous, cyborg-gunslinger hands), Gerra’s story is a plodding tour of American heartland stereotypes circa 1876. Without any sparkle to the script, Luke’s inherent blandness makes itself felt.

Lucky Luke: Billy the Kid

Lucky Luke: Billy the Kid

by Morris & Goscinny, trans. Luke Spear (Cinebook Ltd, 2006) [Original French language version published in Spirou magazine, 1962]

Morris_Goscinny_Billy the Kid

Morris’ illustrations are as playful as ever but Goscinny’s script lacks the usual sparkle, overmuch being made of the central conceit (ie. that notorious outlaw Billy the Kid is an actual child) and in-story repetitions similar to those in Goscinny’s Asterix stories.

 

 

Lucky Luke: The Bounty Hunter

Lucky Luke: The Bounty Hunter

by Morris & Goscinny, trans. Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook Ltd, 2010)

[from Chasseur de primes, Dargaud Editeur Paris, 1972]

Lucky Luke_Bounty Hunter

One could argue that Lucky Luke (‘the man who shoots faster than his own shadow’) lacks the personality of Goscinny’s Asterix characters, but there’s no denying the humour derived from pitting his laidback cowboy aplomb against a frontier bounty hunter’s grasping wiles.

 

Lucky Luke: The Daltons Redeem Themselves

The Daltons Redeem Themselves

by Morris & Goscinny, trans. Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook Ltd, 2012) [from Les Dalton se rachétent, Dargaud Editeur Paris, 1971]

Goscinny_Morris_The Daltons Redeem Themselves

For Asterix junkies who’ve been in withdrawal since René Goscinny’s death in 1977, a retrospective fix now exists in the translation of his collaborations with artist Morris on the American wild west Lucky Luke series: different characters but the same potent humour.

 

Derelict Space Sheep