Lucky Luke was the cowboy who put the Dalton gang, Jesse James, and Billy the Kid behind bars, and gave Billy the Kid his overdue spanking. He also put various criminals, con artists, cheaters, and illegal arms dealers behind bars. He stopped Indian wars, oil wars, and prevented wars between farmers and cattle ranchers. He almost single handedly made sure that the settlement of Oklahoma occurred in an orderly fashion and that the "Sooners" could not cheat and take land before the designated date. In addition he protected Sarah Bernhard when she visited the Wild West, and he protected various stage coaches and trains from bandits. If you have never heard of this Texas Cowboy then you might be from Texas. Lucky Luke is the world's most famous Cowboy but he is unfortunately virtually unknown in the U.S.

Just like Super Man and Flash Gordon, Lucky Luke has a super power, and just like Super Man and Flash Gordon he defends the defenseless and he has a heart of gold. His super power is that he can shoot faster then his own shadow and always with perfect accuracy. Throw a coin in the air and he can hit it exactly in the middle while the coin is turned side ways, and thus cut the coin in two halves. He can do that so fast that you will never see him draw or put the gun back. Another of Lucky Luke's assets is his white horse Jolly Jumper. Jolly Jumper is not only more intelligent than most people. He understands English, knows how to cook, he can jump across canyons, walk up steep ravines, walk on ropes, he can do circus tricks, and he has no problem trotting backwards to confuse pursuers.

Lucky Luke is often depicted shooting at a wooden fence with his shadow on the fence. His shadow is still in the process of drawing the gun when the bullet penetrates the shadow. For this to be possible the bullet has to travel faster then the speed of light which might not be compatible with the laws of physics. Another issue is the energy it takes to draw that fast. Let's assume that the speed of his hand and the gun is 25% of the speed of light. This is a reasonable assumption considering that he is typically depicted as standing three yards from the fence and with his shadow still grabbing for the gun in the holster while he is shooting. Let's also assume that his revolver and hand weighs one kilogram. Using the relativistic formula for kinematic energy we get that the energy required for a draw is 2950 Tera Joules which is the same amount of energy as 47 Hiroshima bombs (63 TJ). So if Lucky Luke would travel the Wild West and draw faster than his own shadow he would end up blowing up every town in the Wild West. On the other hand I think Super Man has similar problems with the laws of physics. So let's ignore the issue. Lucky Luke is a cowboy super hero.

The Lucky Luke albums were created by René Goscinny who is a French comic book author. He is also known for the Asterix comic books. The illustrator was Maurice De Bevere (better known as Morris) a Belgian cartoonist. When I was a kid, growing up in Sweden, I read most of the Lucky Luke albums in Swedish and now my American kids are reading them in English. There are 73 Lucky Luke albums and about 20-30 of them have been translated into English. I should add that there are a lot more translated Lucky Luke albums coming this summer and in the fall of 2009. Unfortunately a couple of my favorites have not been translated to English yet. For those who do not know, an album is a comic book with the pictures in series like a photo album.

About the story

This is the story of a gang consisting of three criminals and their encounter with our hero Lucky Luke. The gang members are Jesse James, his brother Frank James, and their cousin Cole Younger. Jesse James admires Robin Hood and wants to emulate him. His brother Frank is a Shakespeare aficionado and the smart one in the family. Cole is the prankster in the family and also not very smart. Cole's lack of wits will sometimes get the gang into trouble. Jesse wants to rob the rich so that he can redistribute their wealth to the poor. The problem is that this would make the poor rich so that you then have to rob them. At the same time they also want to keep the money for them selves. To solve the problem they come up with a clever scheme. The plan is to rob rich people and give the money to poor Frank, who then becomes rich. Then Frank gives the money to Jesse who is still poor. However, now Jesse is rich so he gives the money to poor Cole who becomes rich, so he gives the money to poor Frank, etc. This way they can the have the money and still be poor heroes like Robin Hood.

They set out to rob trains en masse (and banks) and end up terrorizing their native Missouri. However, they decide to cross over to Texas and now they have to deal with Lucky Luke our hero. They settle in the town of "Nothing Gulch" where they try to make friends with the locals before robbing and terrorizing them. Lucky Luke tries to help the people of "Nothing Gulch" with the help of two bumbling detectives from the Pinkerton detective agency. However, the cowardice of the town's people and the ineptness of the two detectives result in Lucky Luke having to solve the problem on his own, or so it seems at first. In fact the cowardice of the people Nothing Gulch makes it impossible for Lucky Luke to help them. The population of "Nothing Gulch" will eventually realize the depth of their cowardice and how shameful it is. What they eventually will gain from the ordeal is something much more valuable then their gold. They will discover their courage and find their self-respect (with the assistance of Lucky Luke).


My opinion

The central theme of the story is how the cowardice of good people can empower the truly corrupt despite the presence of a hero. Another theme is that the truly corrupt are often able to justify their behavior and be heroes in their own minds. I think these are worthwhile themes for a comic book. The story is exciting and the humor superb. Even though there are some historical facts in the album it is far from a history book. However, it may inspire readers to find out more about Jesse James and the Wild West. The Jesse James album is not my favorite Lucky Luke but it is among the better ones. I would recommend "the Wagon Train", "Billy the Kid", "Calamity Jane", "Apache Canyon / coming September 25 2009", "The Oklahoma Land Rush / coming December 3 2009", ahead of the Jesse James album. I would give those other albums five stars and this one four stars (together with most other Lucky Luke albums). If you like comic books then I recommend that you buy all the Lucky Luke books that are available in English. However, unless you already have the other albums that I mentioned, or you cannot buy them, I would not recommend that you buy this one first. So in summary; Jesse James is a great comic book, however, a few Lucky Luke albums are even better.



I would like to add this entry to the French write off being held in Barbara Fields honor and hosted by Stephen Murray. I would also like to add this entry to Talyson's hero write off.

Recommended: Yes