La Mine d'or de Dick Digger
Encyclopedia
La Mine d'or de Dick Digger, written and drawn by Morris
, is an album containing two stories from serial publication in Le Journal de Spirou
during 1947, namely La Mine d'or de Dick Digger and Le Sosie de Lucky Luke. Together they were released as the first official Lucky Luke
hardcover album in 1949.
meet an old friend, the prospector
Dirk Digger in extasty over a recent gold ore discovery, en route to register his gold mine claim in Nugget City. Celebrating loudly at a saloon, Digger is identified as a target of robbery by two hardened criminals, and after assaulting him alone in his room, they get away with his gold and a map leading to the gold find. The following day, Lucky Luke and Jolly Jumper take up pursuit following their trail.
In The Look-Alike of Lucky Luke, Luke discovers he causes fear in the inhabitants of a town, because he is remarkably similar to a notorious fellain named Mad Jim, currently in prison and scheduled for hanging. Spotted by two thugs who are Mad Jim's associates, Luke is ambushed and knocked out in a scheme to replace him with the doppelgänger
in a drunken sherrif's jail cell, in order to get a share of Mad Jim's loot. Taken without doubt for the dangerous villain, Lucky Luke barely escapes the mob lynching
before he is able to pursue the criminals and bring them to justice.
Footnotes
Morris (comics)
Maurice De Bevere , better known as Morris, was a Belgian cartoonist and the creator of Lucky Luke. His pen name is an alternate spelling of his first name.-Biography:...
, is an album containing two stories from serial publication in Le Journal de Spirou
Spirou (magazine)
Spirou magazine is a weekly Belgian comics magazine published by the Dupuis company...
during 1947, namely La Mine d'or de Dick Digger and Le Sosie de Lucky Luke. Together they were released as the first official Lucky Luke
Lucky Luke
Lucky Luke is a Belgian comics series created by Belgian cartoonist, Maurice De Bevere better known as Morris, the original artist, and was for one period written by René Goscinny...
hardcover album in 1949.
Story
In Dirk Digger's Gold Mine, Lucky Luke and Jolly JumperJolly Jumper
Jolly Jumper is a horse character in the Franco-Belgian comics series Lucky Luke, created by Belgian artist Morris. Described as "the smartest horse in the world" and able to perform tasks such as chess-playing and tightrope walking, Jolly Jumper accompanies his master in their travels across the...
meet an old friend, the prospector
Gold prospecting
Gold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector...
Dirk Digger in extasty over a recent gold ore discovery, en route to register his gold mine claim in Nugget City. Celebrating loudly at a saloon, Digger is identified as a target of robbery by two hardened criminals, and after assaulting him alone in his room, they get away with his gold and a map leading to the gold find. The following day, Lucky Luke and Jolly Jumper take up pursuit following their trail.
In The Look-Alike of Lucky Luke, Luke discovers he causes fear in the inhabitants of a town, because he is remarkably similar to a notorious fellain named Mad Jim, currently in prison and scheduled for hanging. Spotted by two thugs who are Mad Jim's associates, Luke is ambushed and knocked out in a scheme to replace him with the doppelgänger
Doppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...
in a drunken sherrif's jail cell, in order to get a share of Mad Jim's loot. Taken without doubt for the dangerous villain, Lucky Luke barely escapes the mob lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
before he is able to pursue the criminals and bring them to justice.
Background
- Among the very earliest Lucky Luke work (produced the following year after the first story, Arizona 1880) La Mine d'or de Dick Digger and Le Sosie de Lucky Luke were published before Morris began his five year stay in U.S.A. The artwork of the two stories (which shows obvious differences although created only months apart) demonstrates the changes from the earliest style to what would become the settled Lucky Luke expression. At this point the Jolly Jumper character had not yet been given the power of speech.
- The end of Le Sosie de Lucky Luke marks one of the very few times Lucky Luke kills the villain. The final duel of Lucky Luke et Phil Defer appears to end with the death of the latter, though the doctor then declares him simply injured but his shoulder in such a state that his career as a gunman is over. Bob Dalton (cousin of the less fierce DaltonsThe Daltons (Lucky Luke)The Daltons are fictional outlaws who regularly appear in the Lucky Luke comic book series and are recurrent villains. They were created by Morris and writer René Goscinny...
) also met a violent end in the story Hors-la-loi, though after the original Spirou publication this was judged to be too bloody by La commission française de surveillance des publications destinées aux jeunes after new restrictions by the law of 1949, and softened for the album reissue, with the Daltons simply being hanged and buried.
- These stories also feature caricatures of people from Morris' circle, notably André FranquinAndré FranquinAndré Franquin was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best known comic strip creations are Gaston and Marsupilami, created while he worked on the Spirou et Fantasio comic strip from 1947 to 1969, during a period seen by many as the series' golden age.-Franquin's beginnings:Franquin was...
, WillWill (comics)Willy Maltaite known by the pseudonym Will, was a comics creator and comics artist in the Franco-Belgian tradition...
, and the fathers of Morris and Eddy PaapeEddy PaapeEddy Paape is a Franco-Belgian comics artist best known for illustrating the series Luc Orient.-Biography:Eddy Paape was born in Grivegnée , Belgium in 1920...
.
Sources
- Morris publications in Spirou BDoubliées
Footnotes