Mac Coy
| Comic | |
|---|---|
| title | Mac Coy |
| country | France |
| author | Jean-Pierre Gourmelen |
| Illustrator | Antonio Hernández Palacios |
| publishing company | Dargaud |
| magazine | Lucky Luke |
| First publication | 1974-1999 |
Mac Coy is a Franco-Belgian comic .
action
The series is about the adventures that the protagonist Alexis Mac Coy experiences as a Confederate officer and, after the end of the Civil War , as a soldier (most recently Sergeant Major / Regimental Sergeant ) of the US cavalry in the Wild West .
In the first volume he fought as a lieutenant (first lieutenant) in the army of John Bell Hood in the Nashville campaign in 1864. After the fall of the army, he saved Hood from the pursuing Union troops and, meanwhile promoted to captain (captain), was captured.
In the second volume, he experiences the end of the war in a prison camp, where he is engaged by the Union Army for a secret mission. He is supposed to bring back a war chest with a unit of captured southerners, with which a renegade Union officer has disappeared. Mac Coy meets Sergeant Charly, who becomes his loyal companion. Both get caught up in the turmoil of the fighting sparked off by the French intervention in Mexico with their men . In the end, the war chest you are looking for is lost in a ravine out of reach. Mac Coy and Charly start their journey home to the States empty-handed.
On the way they meet, in the third volume, a dying prospector. The man gives them a treasure map that several parties are after. In the end everyone dies except Mac Coy, Charly and the bandit Maxi, who accompanies them from now on.
Still on their way home, in the fourth volume they meet four young women who want to free their father from prison. However, it is in reality a criminal's mistress who wants to hide his prey. Pursued by Apaches and the prison warden, the search for the treasure costs many lives, but in the end it cannot be recovered.
In the fifth volume the three companions finally reach the border river Rio Grande, but clash with a gang of arms smugglers. Chased by a lynch mob, they escape to Fort Apache, where surprisingly Mac Coy's former superior Hood is in command. The former Confederate general switched to the side of the victors after their defeat and is now a colonel in the US cavalry. Mac Coy, Charly and Maxi also join the US Army.
In the other volumes of the series, the trio experienced various adventures in the desert-like southwest of the USA, repeatedly entrusted with dangerous assignments.
background
Mac Coy's facial features are reminiscent of those of the young US actor Robert Redford . The situation was similar before with the ten years older comic western series Lieutenant Blueberry , in which the title character resembled the French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, at least initially . While Blueberry was never promoted and always remained a lieutenant in the US Army, Mac Coy experienced an eventful career and from the second half of the album series held the rank of sergeant major in the US cavalry.
In addition, the Mac-Coy series has some historical and chronological inaccuracies. From volume 2, the former Southern General Hood, as a colonel in the US Army, commands the garrison of Fort Apache. In reality, ex-Confederate officers were able to join the US Army after the Civil War, but their career as an officer was closed to them until the American-Spanish War in 1898.
In Volume 11, Mac Coy and Charly experience the Battle of Camerone in 1863, although, according to Volume 2, they only met in 1865.
German language edition
The series appeared in Germany between 1979 and July 1986, along with other series, in the series " Die große Edel-Western " from Delta Verlagsgesellschaft Stuttgart, distributed by Ehapa Verlag Stuttgart. Ehapa Comic Collection published further volumes until 1990 , before the series was prematurely discontinued in Germany.
As part of a complete edition, avant-verlag is also planning a German translation of the French-language original editions 17 to 20 for the first time. The project includes five anthologies with four original albums each. Four anthologies have been published so far (as of April 2020), including two short stories that have not yet been published in German.
The series ended after the death of the artist of the albums, Antonio Hernández Palacios, who died in 2000.
Album editions
| No. | title | year | French original title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The legend of Alexis Mac Coy | 1974 | La Légende d'Alexis Mac Coy |
| 2 | The treasure from Mexico | 1974/75 | Un nommé Mac Coy |
| 3 | A trap for Mac Coy | 1975 | Pièges pour Mac Coy |
| 4th | The triumph of Mac Coy | 1976 | Le Triomphe de Mac Coy |
| 5 | Wanted Mac Coy | 1977 | Wanted Mac Coy |
| 6th | The White Lady's Secret | 1977 | La mort blanche |
| 7th | The scalp hunters | 1978 | Trafiquant de scalps |
| 8th | The Battle of the Little Big Horn | 1980 | Little Big Horn |
| 9 | The devil's canon | 1981 | La Canyon du diable |
| 10 | Durango uprising | 1982 | Fiesta à Durango |
| 11 | The winner of Camerone | 1982/83 | Camerone |
| 12 | The outlaw | 1984 | L'Outlaw |
| 13 | Mountains of fear | 1986 | Les Collines de la peur |
| 14th | The desert of the mad | 1988 | Le Désert des fous |
| 15th | Mescaleros station | 1989 | Mescaleros station |
| 16 | El Conquistador | 1990 | Le Fantômes de l'Espagnol |
| 17th | - | 1991 | Terreur apache |
| 18th | - | 1993 | La Malle aux sortilèges |
| 19th | - | 1995 | La Lettre de Hualco |
| 20th | - | 1996 | Lointaine patrol |
| 21st | - | 1999 | Sur la piste de miss Kate |
literature
- Patrick Gaumer: Dictionnaire mondial de la BD . Larousse, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-03584-331-9 .