The Daltons are being cured
The Daltons are cured ( French original title La Guérison des Dalton ), also known as The Daltons and the Psycho-Doc , is a comic book story from the Lucky Luke series, drawn by Morris and written by René Goscinny . It was first published in numbers 554 to 560 of the French newspaper Le Nouvel Observateur from June 23 to August 4, and in the same year from September 16 to December 9 in numbers 1 to 13 of the Nouveau Tintin newspaper and then in 1975 published as 44th album by Dargaud .
A German edition was published a little later as number 10 in the Zack album series by Koralle and from 1988 under a new name as number 54 by the Ehapa Comic Collection .
action
The Austrian psychologist Professor Otto von Himbeergeist comes to America to prove his theory that the will to crime is just another disease and therefore curable. As subjects he chooses the Daltons, much to the displeasure of Lucky Luke, who comes with and supervises the therapy. This consists of sessions in which the Daltons talk about their childhood or joint embroidery. While the Daltons, who see therapy primarily as an opportunity to escape, pretend they are getting better (although Averell of all people relapses on little things, which he always regrets), Joe manipulates the professor. Finally Von Raspberry Spirit believes his patients are cured and gives them pistols as a final test. The Daltons take him prisoner and flee.
Lucky Luke pursues them to a town where the director of a robbed bank laments desperately that his life has been botched. Through a haberdashery shop where Averell stole embroidery floss, Luke finds the Daltons' hiding place. He has to discover that the professor has not become their prisoner, as assumed, but their accomplice. Through Joe's whispering and the exciting stories of the Daltons, he found that he had botched his life so far and could use his genius for crimes. Under his direction, the Daltons ride with Lucky Luke as a prisoner into another city that night, where Von Raspberry Spirit shows Lucky Luke his method of robbing banks without firing a shot: he asks the bank manager to tell him about his childhood until this one understands his previous arrogance and greed and begs him to steal the money. Luke manages to manipulate Averell, the only Dalton on the mend, by labeling every sack of money he gives him as stolen until Averell shoots up in protest and wakes people up. There is a duel between Lucky Luke and the Daltons. Averell, desperate to talk to Joe, shoots again to make himself heard, but this ignites the dynamite stored above them. The Daltons and the psychiatrist are incapacitated by the rubble of the building. Both the Daltons and Von Raspberry Spirit go to prison, where he continues to use his psychological tricks by telling the prosecutor and the prison guard about their childhood, the latter even knocking the stones for him. The professor's theories are laughed at and referred to as the ideas of a greenhorn , yet his methods prove to be the forerunners of modern psychology when little Sigmund Freud's housekeeper runs out of the room and screams: “Madam! Madam! If you only knew what Siggi just explained to me! ".
useful information
With the figure of Professor Otto von Himbeergeist, Morris parodies classical psychology , especially Sigmund Freud. Just like him, Raspberry Spirit leaves his patients on the couch and listens to their childhood stories. The professor gets almost everyone he meets to talk about their childhood until the person concerned bursts into tears and claims their life has been botched. Even the professor admits this to himself after learning how exciting the criminal life of the Daltons is.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Comic Guide: Zack Album. Retrieved on October 9, 2018 (German).
- ↑ Comic Guide: Lucky Luke. Retrieved on October 9, 2018 (German).