The stagecoach
The stagecoach ( French original title: La Diligence ) is a comic book from the Lucky Luke series, which was drawn by Morris and written by René Goscinny . The story was originally published in 1967 in the Belgian-French comic magazine Spirou and a year later as the first volume by Dargaud (32nd volume in total) in France.
According to the Ehapa-Verlag (or at the beginning of the Delta-Verlag from Ehapa and Dargaud ), Die Postkutsche is the 15th volume in the series and thus the first volume published by Ehapa. The count started at 15, as the volumes with smaller numbers were initially available from Koralle-Verlag . The comic had previously been shown as a sequel to Kauka and Yps or in Zack at Koralle-Verlag, but the comic was given different names at the time.
This band was filmed for the cartoon series Lucky Luke .
content
Lucky Luke is called in by Mr. Oakleaf, the director of Wells Fargo & Co , because the Wells Fargo stagecoaches are subjected to an excessive number of robberies. Lucky Luke is supposed to accompany a stagecoach whose coachman is Hank Bully and which is said to have loaded gold. Luke accepts, and so the trip is announced on posters and in newspapers. Passengers of the stagecoach are a photographer, a gold digger who owns the gold, an apparent preacher, an accountant and wife, and the cardsharp Scat Thumbs, who is forced to take a ride. The journey is disrupted by a number of bandits, natural obstacles, and Indians. When the itinerary is changed so that only the passengers know about it, the carriage is still robbed. This shows that the preacher is a deceiver. In Salt Lake City he is therefore handed over to the sheriff , where another cardsharp has to accompany the trip. Before reaching the final stop, Sacramento , which must be reached without an escort, Black Bart's carriage is successfully ambushed. The photographer takes a picture of Black Bart. But since, as it turns out, there are only stones in the gold box, and he is then surprised by Lucky Luke, he flees. Wells Fargo had the gold secretly brought to Sacramento. Black Bart can be identified based on a laundry mark that is visible in the photo.
Remarks
On the 3rd page two (signed) photographs by Henry Wells and WF Fargo are shown. The second founder of Wells Fargo is called William George Fargo , so either someone else is meant or there is a mistake.
Abbott-Downing, named on page 19 as a stagecoach manufacturer, and Black Bart, actually Charles E. Bolton , really existed.
The coachman Hank Bully is based on Wallace Beery , on page 31 Alfred Hitchcock is shown as a bartender, which is reminiscent of his cameo appearances in his own films. The plot shows strong similarities to the Western Ringo (original title: Stagecoach , translated "stagecoach") from 1939; the role of the gambler Scat Thumbs is reminiscent of John Carradine , who has a similar reputation for his role in this film.
A running gag is the recurring dish of potatoes with bacon , which is served to passengers at almost every one of the numerous stopovers and is also offered in different variations as the only dish at the Wells Fargo final meal.
The coachman Hank Bully appears again in Lucky Luke's Fiancée .