Lucky Luke draws against racism in "A cowboy in the cotton"

Gone with Lucky Luke… Such could also have been the title of the new adventures of the lone cowboy, invented by Morris in 1947 and long scripted by Goscinny.

The album is finally called "Un cow-boy dans le coton".

But it transports the hero in the same settings, and more or less at the same time, as Victor Fleming's film: the southern United States, in its plantations where racism rhymes with ordinary and where the Klu Klux Klan dictates its law.

Countries in which, even shooting faster than his shadow, the cowboy had never dared to venture.

Signing his third scenario of Lucky Luke, Jul, decided to take him there and to add as an accomplice a black marshal, Bass Reeves (1838-1910), a true hero of the Wild West.

If the place is new, so is the theme, racial segregation.

It refers of course to current events and current debates, on both sides of the Atlantic: Black Lives Matter, debunking of statues, controversies over films or the titles of novels ... We asked personalities, their opinion on this new kind of "Lucky Luke".

/ Lucky Comics 2020  

Aïssa Maïga, actress: “It is important for artists to take up this question.

"

" This album allowed me to immerse myself in

, which I loved when I was little.

I find this album full of humor, well in line with the series, but also of great intellectual rigor.

We feel that Jul has documented a lot on the emancipation of slaves.

It is very important that artists can take up this question of memory, of the representation of blacks, especially in comics where it has long been carefully ignored.

"

Lilian Thuram, ex-footballer and author: “A collective awareness.

"

" I grew up with Lucky Luke but I didn't realize that there was never a black hero ... In this album, the marshal is the equal of Lucky Luke and he is the same. pulls out of the woods.

It's good that black children can have characters that look like them.

This allows them to project themselves, to change their perception of themselves.

More generally, comics can convey a lot of things and this can help advance collective awareness of discrimination.

"

Jean-Pascal Zadi, director: “Things are moving in the right direction.

»

« Honestly, I have a lot of trouble with comics since

.

I remember when my sister brought him home, it had provoked a real reaction of rage ... So, inevitably, I find it great that

puts in scene a black hero and recalls that 25% of cowboys were blacks.

Me, I did not have a reference like that to build me.

It's good that comics can open up a little more to minorities.

I also have the impression that things are evolving in the right direction: my children, who really liked the album, no longer live in the same world as me… ”

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Elisabeth Moreno, Minister for Equal Opportunities: “The best pedagogy is that which involves laughter.

»

« Like many French people, I like Lucky Luke and his somewhat caustic humor.

I was very touched that this album put forward a black hero and spoke of equality, of justice.

I believe a lot in the pedagogy in this matter and the best of all is that which passes by the laughter.

In the current climate, which is sometimes tense, it is important to unite and unite.

In this, culture is a good vector.

"

View this post on Instagram

Lucky Luke, a cowboy in cotton, from Jul and Achdé according to Morris, heading to Louisiana and the deep South of the United States!

🤠 👉 Divine surprise or poisoned gift?

Lucky Luke finds himself the owner of a huge cotton plantation in Louisiana.

Welcomed as one of their own by the great white planters, he will fight to redistribute this heritage to black farmers.

In his fight, he will be supported by Bass Reeves, the first black marshal of the United States 📚 In bookstores on October 23.

@jul_auteur @achde_aposaphyr #luckyluke #morris #cowboy #bassreeves #louisiane #etatsunis #slaves #sclaves #coton #sheriff #sherif #marshal #marshall

A post shared by Editions Dargaud (@dargaud) on Oct 20, 2020 at 7:00 am PDT

An album to put in all hands

No one would have imagined Lucky Luke as a wealthy owner of a cotton plantation in Louisiana just after the Civil War.

No one except Jul, the now screenwriter of the legendary series who decided to plunge the hero into this uncomfortable situation in “Un cowboy dans le coton”, the new album which comes out on Friday.

With this cumbersome gift, a legacy bequeathed by an admirer, the cowboy quickly decides what he wants to do: cede the land to the 400 former black slaves who still work there.

But as Bass Reeves, a black marshal who really existed and full-fledged hero of this album, warns: “Be careful, nothing goes as planned over there.

"

Ubiquitous racism, the anger of other owners, and therefore of the Klu Klux Klan, incomprehension of the blacks of the plantation, Lucky Luke discovered with amazement the harsh realities of the southern United States at that time.

He also has to deal with Dalton, even more dropped than him.

Humor, historical references and a nod to the present, pistol duels, all the ingredients for a very good "Lucky Luke" are there.

There is of course something to think about, especially young readers, on the painful history of black Americans, with lightness but lucidity.

This is not the least of the qualities of this album to put in all hands.

EDITOR'S RATING: 3.5 / 5

“A cowboy in the cotton”,

by Jul and Achdé.

Ed. Lucky Comics (Dargaud).

48 pages.

€ 10.95.

Release October 23.