Lucky Luke special volume by Ralf König: “Zarter Schmelz”. – Culture

The idea of ​​giving the “lonesome cowboy” Lucky Luke, one of the most popular characters in comic history, a 75th birthday Tribute series to dedicate has charm. It remains to be seen whether the respective design will also look charming and not just intentional and hybrid. One danger is the simple repetition of plots and figures, another the exaggerated alienation, a third wanting too much to appear new. Musically speaking, it is therefore very welcome that Ralf König and Matthieu Bonhomme, who signed volumes four and five of the Hommage series, take on the matter as professionals according to the motto: Variations on the theme of “Lucky Luke”.

Ralf König, probably the most famous gay comic artist in the world, who landed a huge success with “The Moving Man”, among other things, relied on his specialties for his variation. “Zarter Schmelz” is the name of his love story between the white-skinned plump redhead Bud and the bear-like hairy but bald headed little Terrence, who have to cope with the rather blunt homophobia in the Wild West. The great Lucky Luke, who is known to be able to pull the Colt faster than his shadow, acts as a benevolent observer and corner stand, who always intervenes when it could be dangerous for the lovers, whose story takes up the decisive narrative and drawing space. Bud, who has grown old, portrays her and the encounter with Lucky Luke as a flashback at a rather slow pace. The subject is reminiscent of the tragically bitter film “Brokeback Mountain” by Ang Lee, which came out in 2005 based on a story by Annie Proulx.

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At König, the slim, elegant, smart Lucky Luke of his creator Morris becomes a knobbly-nosed boy with good-naturedness marked on his face. All other characters could appear in the same form in other König comics, despite the Western costumes. The picture story mostly proceeds in small pieces, large landscape tableaus are rare and untypical of König’s dialogical style. Episodes such as Lucky’s and Bud’s bath in the lake or Lucky’s hesitation about whether to shave before entering the city, König succeeds in a witty way. In addition to the central love story, the “Schwyzer” chocolatier Sprüngli appears with five purple dairy cows that Lucky Luke drives to the idyllic Dandelion Valley with the job-seeking Bud. In addition, Lucky is harassed by autograph hunters, the Dalton brothers must not be missing, and Calamity Jane also appears. Bud’s story ends in a real showdown between him and Terence in front of everyone on the main street of Straight Gulch, and Lucky watches calmly …

Matthieu Bonhomme has little courage to caricature

Matthieu Bonhomme’s elegant, sophisticated line seems at first to be closer to the original by Morris than the friendly drawing by König. His homage band soon turns out to be too little caricature. Lucky is the one who has been persecuted many times: three sisters bet who can get hold of him first. He meets the three of them when they desperate to sell their herd. Indians, among other things, threaten to rob them. Lucky helps the three of course. Bonhomme drew the sisters as beauties, pretty and sexy, there is no grotesque, satire or any other funny exaggeration. Second, all kinds of bounty hunters are after Lucky when suddenly a profile of him for $ 50,000 appears. Everyone now meets in the ghost town of Liberty and soon scrambles over Lucky Luke, whose head is supposed to give away so much money: the bandit gang, the Indians and even the cavalry and, by the way, a relative of the Dalton brothers, who are eternally enemies with Lucky Luke, the lower Feelings of inferiority towards his famous relatives suffer and therefore … By the way, the three beautiful people also change fronts when they hear about Lucky’s profile.

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Bonhomme’s comic is fluid and told in a cinematic manner with close-ups, long shots and rapid cuts. The required Western clichés are hardly broken ironically or even comically. In Morris’ Lucky Luke universe there is a recurring panopticon such as the undertaker, the vulture on the town signs, the wonderful batches of fat mayors to green-faced gallows, from Jack Palance doppelgangers to the various Chinese cooks their language deficiencies. Bonhomme also has a Jack Palance double like this, but the height of the fall is low. Lucky Luke can’t play out his coolness and his sovereignty, which has grown in all situations.

After such homages, you end up longing for the real “lonesome cowboy”. Especially the traditional closing pictures of the two volumes with the cowboy riding into the sunset conjure up the real magic of Lucky Luke, which was missing in the cozy Ralf König and the virtuoso smooth Matthieu Bonhomme.