By Morris & Goscinny
Publisher: Cinebook
ISBN: 978-1-84918-076-4
This is an early Lucky Luke book following on from the recent Joss Jamon title where we get a first sneaky glimpse of the Daltons. The suggestion here is that the other Daltons are nefarious bandits that Lucky Luke has dealt with already, and these four desperadoes are their somewhat lesser cousins. They aim to step into their cousins' shoes and take their revenge on Lucky Luke, something that appears to be more than a little ambitious based on their obvious incompetence, but they persist, they train and, before too long, Lucky Luke realises they're going to be a problem. After a one-on-one fisticuffs where he black's the Daltons' eyes, he is still faced with their determination to be as good as, or better, than their cousins, and they decide they're better off asking Luke to join them rather than battle against him. Luke takes this an opportunity to stay close and thwart them from the inside.
As this is an early book it doesn't have the polished humour of the later ones – not that it lacks the funny stuff, it's just not as slick, but you can appreciate that all the building blocks for the later Dalton-themed books are all here. Lots of clever twists on the western genre, with my personal favourite being Luke, as part of the Daltons' Gang, going ahead to scout the banks they intend to rob and convincing the bank managers that the Daltons are actors looking to get in a little theatrical practice. Luke suggests the bank managers fill their money bags with rocks as props, so when the Daltons burst in all they make off with is something far removed from precious stones.
And if you liked that: Book 29 is out now – will review soon!
No comments yet.