Lucky Luke versus Pinkerton

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Lucky Luke against Pinkerton (French original title: Lucky Luke contre Pinkerton ) is an album from the Lucky Luke comic series, which was released for the first time in 2010. The volume was drawn by Achdé and written by Daniel Pennac and Tonino Benacquista . In the German translation by Klaus Jöken it appeared as volume 88 in the series of the Ehapa publishing house .

In the band, Lucky Luke has to compete with Allan Pinkerton , the founder of America's first private detective agency and protector of Abraham Lincoln .

Allan Pinkerton, ca.1861
Pinkerton (left) with Abraham Lincoln (center), 1862

action

The small town where the great western hero Lucky Luke is staying is inundated with counterfeit money . As he is about to convict the crooks, Pinkerton shows up with his troop and arrests the forgers. Pinkerton explains to Luke that he is the new hero and guardian of the law and that Luke has had his day. He shows him his company, in which policing is carried out meticulously and with many employees, although not all means are flawless. Luke doesn't particularly like these methods either, so he wants to check out Pinkerton's troop. First, however, he is lured on the wrong track when reports of a (fabricated) murder plot against the newly elected President Abraham Lincoln.

Luke rushes to Baltimore , where the attack is supposed to take place. There, however, the impending murder is already the talk of the town, which then smells a bit too conspicuously like a feint. When the rumor got around in the saloon that a Wild West legend and a man who pulls faster than his shadow would shoot the president, Luke has to flee.

When the president arrives in Baltimore by train, Luke informs him that the assassination rumors spread by Pinkerton were fabricated. But the president no longer listens to him and wants to trust Pinkerton from now on. Luke is supposed to retire, which makes him a mockery of the people and not at all his will.

After Lincoln is sworn in, he makes Pinkerton his closest confidante and chief of the secret police, which smugglers in everywhere. The large-scale surveillance of all Americans soon leads to results, in particular to a massive increase in convictions, including for minor matters. This in turn leads to overcrowded prisons. The Daltons then want to break out, but are caught. To their astonishment, the prison warden tells them that their sentence will be waived as Pinkerton brings more and more new prisoners. Joe wants to kill Pinkerton about it.

The Daltons' deeds - stagecoach robberies, bank robberies, thefts - are none of Luke's business, he has been retired. Eventually they reach Pinkerton's office, where they gain entry with a wild shootout and imprison the boss. At the last moment, however, he can send a message to Lucky Luke to help him. The Daltons discover that Pinkerton's records are worth a lot of money because they can be used to blackmail influential citizens.

Lucky Luke suddenly appears at the window. Immediately he is riddled with bullets by the Daltons. They only notice that this is a rag doll when the real Luke appears in their back. Luke ties the Daltons and destroys all of Pinkerton's files.

In the end, the Daltons go back to prison and the overcrowded prisons empty again. Pinkerton could not prevent the actual murder of Lincoln five years later.

backgrounds

Allan Pinkerton was actually a well-known American private investigator who started a large detective agency. He also prevented an assassination attempt on Abraham Lincoln . To this day, it is not known whether the rumor that Lincoln was to be murdered in Baltimore is true. In fact, after his re-election in 1865, he was murdered in a Washington DC theater.

Pinkerton himself died in 1884 of an infection that he contracted from a bite on his tongue. His company, the Pinkerton detective agency , still exists today.

dedication

The volume contains a dedication from Achdé to Morris' widow, which enabled him to realize his dream of living as a comic artist and supported him significantly in the process. He also thanks Albert Uderzo for encouraging him to pursue his calling.

literature