By Morris & Lo Hartog Van Banda
Publisher: Cinebook
ISBN: 9781849181389
After Goscinny sadly died the Lucky Luke books continued under a host of writers and, more recently, with a completely new creative team (see Lucky Luke Versus The Pinkertons). Goscinny certainly brings something to Lucky Luke that is very difficult to replace, but this volume, Fingers, does a tremendous job at capturing the daft predicaments and absurdities that make the books such fun to read, and for that Lo Hartog Van Banda can take much of the credit. It's still Morris on art chores (and by now he must have been drawing Luke in his sleep) which no doubt helps matters considerably as the visual gags and the ebb and flow of the storytelling can retain the rhythm and pace they need.
This story is all about the titular character of Fingers, a stage magician of might but who is utterly unable to help himself from demonstrating his skill at the slight of hand. What comes so natural to him is either outrageous, fascinating or baffling to others, as Fingers makes his way across the pages in full stage get-up somewhat oblivious to the way he behaves. He instantly runs into the Daltons who see nothing wrong in taking advantage of Fingers' good nature and apparent innocence, and it takes Lucky Luke (after several false starts and conjuring tricks) to get that matter sorted.
Lucky Luke finds himself promising to be responsible for Fingers' actions which seems like an innocent enough statement until it becomes obvious that Fingers really can't stop himself and it means problem after problem leading up to something far more serious when temptation is laid in the way. However, Luke doesn't believe Fingers is bad, just in need of some guidance and a helping hand to set him on the right path. It's just a question of how that's achieved.
Some lovely moments that I'm sure Goscinny would have been proud of, from the besotted wives who have fallen for Fingers' charm and their disgruntled husbands to the constant application of magical paraphernalia and tricks that repeatedly turn events on their head.
There aren't many Lo Hartog Van Banda scripted Lucky Luke's, but here's hoping we get to read another soon.
And if you liked that: You're spoilt for choice! Go read another!
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