Lucky Luke, and now black Americans are in the foreground

The upcoming album by Lucky Luke, the lone cowboy who "shoots faster than his shadow", will bring black Americans to the fore. This was announced by the screenwriter of the series created more than 70 years ago by the Belgian Morris.

"Lucky Luke's stories should take place during the American Civil War and beyond, and yet African Americans are never represented on albums, except in a marginal way," explained Jul, author of the two previous Lucky Luke albums, "The Promised Land "(2016) and" A cowboy à Paris "(2018).

In over 80 albums in the series, blacks appear sporadically, often without words. The album "A cowboy in cotton", designed like the previous ones by Achdé, will be released on October 23 by Lucky Comics.

"It was conceived long before George Floyd died," said Jul. The album cover shows Lucky Luke, the gun in his hand, in a cotton field next to a black sheriff. In the background, we can see the disturbing figures of four Ku Klux Klan members with burning torches. The story takes place in Louisiana. Lucky Luke has inherited a huge cotton plantation. Welcomed by white planters as one of their own, Lucky Luke will have to fight to redistribute his legacy to black peasants.