The Cowboy effect III-Paper hero
June 19, 2015
He shoots faster than his own shadow, but he never shoots to kill...
He is poor, but money has never been his aim, if you take my meaning...
He is lonesome, but in the sense of feeling comfortable with himself...
He has a horse that talks back to him, and he can even play chess with...
Lucky Luke is mostly minimalistic, in form, appearance and character... Thin, a man of few words, self-absorbed without being in the slightest egotistic. He is distant to most of man’s doings, just like a philosopher would, and at the same time so simple, one might mistakenly think he is simplistic...
The events and the characters he meets are mostly real historical facts and persons which actually existed...
His silent criticism is a true thunder, every time he disappears into a sunset at the end of each of his stories...
1949 Lucky Luke, a comic creation by Morris, started out as a “paper cowboy” right after the end of the Second World War. From there on, and the many decades that followed, Lucky Luke issues where to be found literally everywhere on the planet. Translated in most languages and sold in countless of copies, I did notice myself as a young boy, that in some countries if you wanted a Lucky Luke issue, you could find it literally at walking distance...
So, many people, including myself, practically grew up with the constant presence of this fictional hero...
This is one of the reasons why Lucky Luke comes up in my book and in my writings...
And each time I say to myself “okay, let’s not mention Lucky Luke again” he comes out of nowhere, shoots his gun faster than his own shadow and vanishes with a hiss before I know it, leaving only dust behind him and a squeaking swing-door...
So, I was already happy and content, to have collected all his original issues, and every now and then through the years, I would take one down from my library and enjoy reading it one more time...
But no... He had to totally surprise me in the following manner...
1991 The famous spaghetti western actor Terrance Hill persuades Morris to re-invent and re-style Lucky Luke for a TV series, which did not last long, but totally got me off guard.
In this version Luke wears, a perfectly well suited for the desert, beige outfit with a perfectly beige, long to the ankles, raincoat...
He takes up a job, with great hesitation (!) by becoming the sheriff of Daisy Town and, to my endless delight, he at last finds a sweetheart, or shall I say she finds him?! He stays a “lonesome cowboy” but not a “lonely” one... Lotta Legs (played by actress Nancy Morgan) makes sure of that and stays by his side...
Terrance Hill looks nothing like Lucky Luke in fact he looks quite the opposite, blond, with those astonishing blue eyes, and his funny grin... But this actor, you cannot but give in to him!
And right here, in the middle of a narration about Westerns in the desert dust, comes out of nowhere my Aikido punch-line, that is not so “irrelevant” as some might think...
Lucky Luke, in this Terrance Hill version, does not shoot faster than his shadow... He does something better! First, he draws fast and then re-sheaths his gun, but faster than his shadow!
For those practicing Classical Japanese Martial Arts, THIS action is clearly a reference to the fast re-sheathing of the Japanese Sword, the Katana. Technically, anybody can draw fast a sword out of its scabbard, but re-sheathing as fast, or even faster, is an entirely different matter of Mastery... And yes, the innuendo of a Peaceful Warrior that goes with it, is right there!!!
So, now I was again happy... Along with all Lucky Luke issues in my personal library I also now had alongside them the DVD TV Series collection with Terrance Hill.
Was that the end? No, hardly...
2001...because two years after Morris’s death someone would take a huge step, in order to fill Morris’s shoes, and continue sketching new adventures. This transition could prove to be a disaster, because this is what usually happens when projects change hands... But to my surprise it did not! On the contrary, Lucky Luke’s image was propelled forward into a better future, without losing the slightest from his previous charm. The drawings stayed minimalistic and true to Morris’s concept, but at the same time they became richer...
Soon after the first issues circulated, I found myself waiting behind a long line of people, in a book store at the center of Athens, waiting for Achde to sign one of his copies for me...
I made sure to tell him that I thank him for taking Lucky Luke to a even higher level, but I was so proud and excited to meet him, I am sure he did not understand a single word I said...
It is so wonderful that right now, as I put down these lines, I am on the wait for a next Lucky Luke issue... An issue that is already in circulation, but since I don’t read French I am waiting for the English version which is soon coming...
So, one might rightfully assume that this is a happy ending, now I have all the above mentioned and still new issues to come. But believe it or not, there is still more!!!
2009 About six years from the time Achde took over, and literally out of nowhere, again, comes a Lucky Luke movie. Stating simply my own view and opinion here, I will say the following: Actor Jean Dujardin does the impossible. He plays Lucky Luke, but there is no way to describe this unless one see’s it for himself. He not only dresses, talks, shoots, looks, plus all the rest, like Lucky Luke. He is as if Lucky Luke escaped from the drawings and came to life... Period!
2016 Next year Lucky Luke will be 70 years young, if you take my meaning... I do not dare making assumptions of any kind of what this cowboy is up to for the future... But I am sure it will be fast and I will enjoy it!
If you give it some thought, you find the traits of what you want to become in the heroes that you chose. It very much looks like there are two kinds of heroes. The fictional and real... And like some kind of “Saints” of an undiscovered “Religion” they are being admired and worshiped, protectors which one can look up to and seek guidance from, choosing them according to the difficulties one is up against...
Funny thing, what a man’s imagination can do...
When I draw and re-sheath my sword, sometimes the corner of my eye catches my shadow, and I cannot but grin, thinking of Lucky Luke!