Lucky Luke

Real Name: Luke

Identity/Class: Normal (?) human

Occupation: Cowboy

Affiliations: Jolly Jumper (his horse); Ra_n_tanplan (the dumbest dog in the world, a spoof of Rin-Tin-Tin)

Enemies: The Daltons (Joe, Jack, William and Averell), Ma Dalton, Billy the Kid, Jesse James

Known Relatives: None known

Aliases: Kid Lucky (his nickname as a youth), Buck Bingo (name used when reprinted in UK's Giggle)

Base of Operations: The Wild West

First Appearance: "Arizona 1880," Le Journal de Spirou (7th December 1946)

Powers/Abilities: Luke is the world's greatest cowboy. He can outshoot his own shadow (see picture on right), he can lasso a whirlwind, he can outride (he once raced the Mississippi and won), outdraw and outshoot anyone. Jolly Jumper is also pretty unique, being able to play Luke at chess, arm-wrestle him and run while asleep.

History: Lucky Luke is a cowboy in the Wild West who travels around delivering justice wherever he goes, accompanied by his faithful companion, Jolly Jumper, the smartest horse in the world. His main recurring foes are the dense but persistant Dalton cousins.

Comments: Created by Morris (a.k.a. Maurice De Bevere), who wrote the very first story - after that many of the early stories being written by the French co-creator of Asterix, Goscinny. Luke is still starring in new adventures to this day.

Thanks to Stuart Shankland for providing the following information about the Lucky Luke cartoons: "There was a cartoon series made in 1985 by Hanna Barbera Studios and a new series made in 1991 in France.

All 13 of the 1985 episodes were released as a box set in the USA. 23 of the 1991 episodes were released on video in the UK (which leaves me 3 more to find which is why at the bottom of the 1991 guide is 3 ? marks.)

Original Animated Movies

  1. Lucky Luke in Daisy Town (1971) - Luke was voiced by Marcel Bozzuffi.

  2. Lucky Luke in Ballad of the Daltons (1978)

1983 series - Luke voiced by Bill Galloway.

  1. Ma Dalton

  2. The Dalton’s In The Blizzard

  3. The Dalton’s Revenge

  4. Billy The Kid

  5. The Stage Coach

  6. Calamity Jane

  7. The TenderFoot

  8. Tales Of The Daltons

  9. On The Mississippi River

  10. The Rails Across The Prairie

  11. Phil Defer

  12. Doctor Doxey’s Elixir

  13. The Grand Duke

Second Season

  1. A Shade Of Derricks

  2. The Nest Egg Of Dalton

  3. The Wrinkle White

  4. On The Track of Dalton

  5. The Excorte

  6. The Rivals of Painful Gulch

  7. Of Barbed Wires On The Meadow

  8. The Wire Who Sings

  9. Jesse James

  10. The Black Hills

  11. Dalton City

  12. The Caravan

  13. Rush On Oklahoma

1991 series - Luke was voiced by Terence Hill.

  1. Ghost Town

  2. The Judge

  3. Dalton's Escape

  4. 20th Cavalry

  5. Against Joss Jamon

  6. Nitro-Glycerineer

  7. Tortillas For The Daltons

  8. The Pony Express

  9. Bounty Hunter

  10. Luke's Fiancee

  11. Prima Donna

  12. Traveling Salesman

  13. Dare For Luke

Second Season

  1. Apache Canyon

  2. Rantanplan's Heritage

  3. Daily Star

  4. Dalton Cousins

  5. Dalton's Still On The Run

  6. Luke Against Pat Poker

  7. Alibi

  8. Blue Foot Warning

  9. One Armed Bandit

  10. Western Circus

  11. Fingers

  12. The Dangerous Passage

  13. Battle Of Rice

The UK video releases of the 1991 series were:

  1. LUCKY LUKE - DAISY TOWN

  2. LUCKY LUKE - FINGERS/PRIMA DONNA

  3. LUCKY LUKE - BALLAD OF THE DALTONS

  4. LUCKY LUKE - THE ALIBI/ONE ARMED BANDIT

  5. LUCKY LUKE - DALTONS ESCAPE/20TH CAVALRY

  6. LUCKY LUKE - WESTERN CIRCUS/PONY EXPRESS

  7. LUCKY LUKE - A DARE FOR LUKE/LUKE’S FIANCEE

  8. LUCKY LUKE - NITRO-GLY-CERINE/BOUNTY HUNTER

  9. LUCKY LUKE - APACHE CANYON/RANTANPLAN’S HERITAGE

  10. LUCKY LUKE - DALTON COUSINS/LUKE AGAINST PAT POKER

  11. LUCKY LUKE - THE BLACK HILLS/JESSE JAMES/DALTON CITY

  12. LUCKY LUKE - BLUE FOOT WARNING/DALTONS STILL ON THE RUN

  13. LUCKY LUKE - AGAINST JOSS JAMON/TORTILLAS FOR THE DALTONS

In 1999 France made a new series called The New Adventures of Lucky Luke, which lasted for 52 episodes." This latter series has been released on DVD in France, complete with an English language option - it's available from Amazon France, among other places.

Vesa Lehtinen sent me the following comments about this character: "Lucky Luke also meets fictional versions of historical persons like "judge" Roy Bean, Jesse James, Billy the Kid and Calamity Jane. Some of the stories in albums also have historical basis - like building the cross-US railway, white settlement of Oklahoma and the first oil drills. The Dalton gang (who are brothers) is also based on real historical outlaw gang and supposedly their "cousins". Daltons are always incarcerated in the same prison where they always eventually escape and Lucky Luke receives a telegram (wherever he is) about the escape so he has to hunt them down again. I also remember a short story where Lucky Luke meets a young boy who is somewhat his antithesis as far shooting goes. He is so a bad shot that his bullets fly to the opposite direction he is shooting at...  Jolly Jumper can also cook and do laundry."

"Julie" adds "in the earlier comics, he always had a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. The writer got criticised for promotion of tobacco, so at some point it changed to a bit of grass or hay."

Karl-Kristian Skreppvin adds "did you know that he also became a sober non-alcoholic for the same reason and quit drinking beer and whisky - and started ask for Coke instead? I don't know how many liters with Coke that Lucky Luke have been drinking through the series, but it ain't few! So, due to the oppinion, LL became both a non-smoker and a sober non-alcoholic (he could have a glass of whisky or beer before this, but he was never drunk." So it seems that Luke could beat most anyone but political correctness.

CLARIFICATIONS: None

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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