80 years of Lucky Luke: A cowboy through the ages

80 years of Lucky Luke A cowboy through the ages As of: November 4th, 2026 • 8:47 a.m

Lucky Luke isn't supposed to be a comic book hero from yesterday. Author Jul therefore has the cowboy fight against racism and animal cruelty. The new volume for the 80th birthday plays with religious cults and the hype surrounding big stars.

Lucky Luke is a hero. But in the new album “Heiliger Lucky” the “lonesome cowboy” now also becomes a messiah. At least for the residents of Faith and Beliefs Junction. They worship their hero because he can talk to animals, shoots faster than his shadow and also saves them from a plague of locusts.

Religious communities quickly form that spread “Lukism”. Before that, the cowboy meets a conspiracy theorist who believes the earth is flat. "Don't tell me you believe the nonsense of the government in Washington, which wants to make us believe that the earth is round just so we can pay more taxes!" says the farmer.

A reverend has found his messiah and founded "Lukism". The legendary cowboy, on the other hand, is not very enthusiastic about his new role.

The connections between the Wild West and the here and now are obvious. In the new adventure, author Jul plays with religious cults and the fandom of big media stars. There really was a plague of locusts in Kansas in 1874. In the new album, the newly installed telegraphy figuratively represents the Internet.

“It’s unbelievable how much nonsense comes into the house through the internet,” explains pharmacist Colson Creed to the astonished Lucky Luke. For Jul, who has been responsible for the stories since 2016, it's a contemporary way to write Lucky Luke adventures.

Of course, you can also just write funny stories, says the author. "It would sell really well, but that's not enough for me," explains Jul at the preview of the new album in Berlin. "Of course I always want to make historical references, but at the same time I also want to address relevant, current topics."

Want to bring Lucky Luke as close to the present as possible: illustrator Achdé (Hervé Darmenton) and author Jul.

That's why the Lucky Luke author writes stories that he hopes have something to say to us. It's about "what we believe or what we share," says Jul. "That's part of my responsibility as an author when you continue such a popular series."

In this respect, the series has changed a lot in its 80-year history. While in the early days it was primarily intended as a humorous Western parody, the adventures became much more current since 1955 at the latest. As a copywriter, Asterix's father René Goscinny linked the stories to socially relevant topics.

On a redemption tour: Giant locusts, a biblical plague, are also among the problems from which “Holy Lucky” is supposed to free his followers.

Lucky Luke expert Horst Berner, for example, is thinking of the adventure "The Emperor of America" ​​from 1976. Today it appears "almost a parody of what has been going on in the White House in Washington for some time." Berner is co-author of the large Lucky Luke lexicon.

Back then, Goscinny was amused by being able to show “a harmless weirdo,” a puppet. "But from the moment he has a certain amount of power, he becomes extremely dangerous because he is manipulated by clever people and ambitious people," Berner quotes Goscinny's prophetic words.

The series has always been modified again and again. The clearest sign of this was the abandonment of the cigarette, which was always present in the title header. This waiver, according to Berner, "was accompanied by the production of a series of Lucky Luke cartoons that were produced for children and young people in the USA."

In 1983, Lucky Luke swapped the glow stick for a blade of grass in the album "Fingers". In 1988, illustrator Morris was awarded a medal by the World Health Organization (WHO).

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Even more recent albums repeatedly make references to social issues. Author Jul criticized racism in the volume “Torches in the Cotton Field”. The following issue, “Rantanplans Arche,” was about vegetarianism and animal welfare.

This is an elegant way to make the series interesting for new readers, says Felix Görmann, better known in comic circles as the illustrator Flix. He has just curated a Lucky Luke exhibition at the Museum for Communication in Berlin.

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“This is a revitalization for the series,” believes Flix. In his view, the strongest volumes are those "that don't just adventure along, but have something to tell and something to negotiate." It therefore makes sense to include much-discussed contemporary topics in the magazines.

However, you have to be careful when telling stories, says Wolf Stegmaier. The head of programming at Egmont Verlag publishes the Lucky Luke comics in Germany. In fact, the racism-critical album “Torches in the Cotton Field” sold significantly better than other volumes. A comic series also has to be adapted again and again in order to be contemporary.

However, it is just as important that the update is done with a sense of proportion. “You don’t want to overwhelm readers with contemporary topics,” says Stegmaier. "It also has to fit into the context of the Western story." What's important is that Lucky Luke remains the man who shoots faster than his shadow.

This topic in the program: The First | daily news | Nov 3, 2026 | 5:00 p.m. HR Info | Current | Nov 3, 2026 | 4:50 p.m