Lucky Luke Volume 45 Tying The Knot

Urgent message for the Dalton brothers: the president has approved a special measure to combat overpopulation in the country’s prisons. They’re going to be... hanged! Their last hope lies in a little known law that would see them walk free if they were to marry. A frantic Ma Dalton tries to locate brides for her boys, but their reputation precedes them, and the only candidates she eventually locates could well turn out to be a worse choice than the rope...

This third volume in the collection brings us to the very edge of absolute greatness, with two later, far more mature solo outings – Doc Doxey’s Elixir (including Manhunt) and Phil Wire (including Lucky Luke and Pill) were first published in 1955 and 1956, and already Luke was much closer to the cowboy that we now have in mind – followed by Rails on the Prairie, the first collaboration between Morris and Goscinny, that would usher in 30 years of a legendary collaboration. These stories are prefaced by a staggering 46 pages of extra material – biographies, essays, interviews, illustrations – that will delight every fan.

At last Lucky Luke is getting a hardback collected edition, with the first adventures of the Lonesome Cowboy. After 70 years of life and almost 70 translated volumes, it was high time English-speaking readers were offered a hardback collected edition. This first volume contains the first seven adventures of Lucky Luke, previously published as volumes Arizona, Rodeo and Dick Digger’s Gold Mine, and offers an unrivalled insight into the evolution of the character in terms of design as well as personality. The extras available make up a whooping 48 pages of illustrations, photographs, biographies, essays and anecdotes on Morris and the origins of Luke. A must read for any true fan of this legend of the West!

After a fellow inmate, having received a blow to the head, forgets his own name and is freed as a brand new man, the Daltons start pretending to be amnesiac in order to escape the prison. So as to test their supposed amnesia – and hopefully allow them to retrieve their memories should it be real – they are put in familiar situations: bank hold-ups, train robberies ... under Lucky Luke’s supervision, of course.

The Old West was full of itchy trigger fingers, but also had its share of hemp necktie enthusiasts. Lucky Luke is not a fan of such summary justice, and when he interrupts an improvised hanging with no less than three ropes for a single man, he runs afoul of an unpleasant individual with a knack for manipulating bored and drunk crowds ... Seven short stories by Goscinny and his friends and illustrated by Morris himself – pure Lucky Luke concentrate!

Having accepted the sheriff’s job in Red City, Lucky Luke arrives to find a town entirely under the control of Pat Poker, a ruthless gambler, cheat and saloon owner, and his henchmen. His horse, clothes and revolver stolen, Luke decides to pass himself off as a harmless, bumbling tenderfoot, all the better to study his opponents and catch them unaware. Still, Pat won’t give up easily, and keeping him behind bars might require some additional work...

In 1860, getting from Missouri to California on the West Coast took a long, long time – not to mention a certain degree of courage. Annoyed at the delay in communication, the federal government offers a grant to whoever can solve the problem and set-up a fast, reliable mail system linking East and West. In response, entrepreneur W.H. Russell founds the Pony Express company: fearless men riding day and night, changing horses at way stations. But not everyone likes that idea...

Big surprise for the Lonesome Cowboy: a rich widow and admirer of his exploits has bequeathed him a 250 acre cotton plantation in Louisiana! Thrust into the role of a rich landowner, welcomed as one by his white neighbours, he will have to fight to gain the trust of his terrified black employees and split his heritage among them. A goal towards which he’ll receive help from the local Cajun community, and from ... the Daltons!

Everyone knows Joe, Jack, William and Averell Dalton, the four dumbest desperadoes in the Old West and the worst enemies of Lucky Luke’s holidays. But before them, Luke had also encountered their cousins: real-life legends of the West Bob, Grat, Bill and Emmett. When these four began making too much trouble, Luke was called to get rid of them. Fortunately for him, they weren’t much brighter than their successors... but they did provide plenty of entertainment!

After their umpteenth defeat at Lucky Luke’s hands, the Dalton brothers get into a big argument that ends with the four of them splitting up. They make a deal: Whoever is first to get a million dollars will be the leader of the gang. Going their separate ways, trying various schemes, each spreads his own kind of mayhem, forcing poor Lucky Luke to do four times the work to keep up with their antics !