#luke and jolly jumper is peak friendship

[speakyn]

Lucky Luke and Jolly Jumper

Lucky Luke

His name is Lucky Luke, but luck seems to be rare in his adventures. His classic task gets (mostly) made easier by a combination of circumstances. He has an uniform, a 'function'(lonesome cowboy) and a favorite animal(Jolly Jumper). Like all heros, he has a supernatural gift. Sherlock Holmes possesses a great deduction, Lucky Luke shoots faster than his shadow. He seeks no problems, but they tend to find him the moment he goes into a town or inside a saloon. Then he uses his talents to get rid of the problems and bring the peaceful rest back. He's just doing his job.

Lucky Luke has had a great change throughout the run of the comics. In the beginning, he smoked till the 80s(when the American Hanna-Barbera studio decide to make a Lucky Luke film) and he didn't hesitate to kill people. Out of fear of French censorship, that gets quite strict from 1949, and Goscinny's humor makes him more calm. He becomes an ideal hero who wins without kiling anyone.

Lucky Luke is thus the same as other mythic heros. Not because he can shoot so fast and is a good boxer, but because he doesn't have huge weaknesses: only in certain situations he loses his cool, he knows no jealousy, greed, gluttony or hate. But most importantly: he is saved from the universal idiocy - perhaps the most important one in the comics.

Jolly Jumper

After Lucky Luke(with LL as initials), we get Jolly Jumper(with JJ as initials), his horse. It's a simple way to show they are an inseparable duo. Jolly Jumper is more than just a normal horse. Even from the first story on, he saves his rider by nibbling through the handcuffs. Later, he will show more skills: cooking, climbing in trees, playing chess...

Jolly Jumper can talk as well, however that is not natured. He only starts to say something in The Bluefeets are Coming! and even that was not in a speech bubble. On the Daltons' trail is the first comic Jolly actually talks in, when he reacts upon the arrival of Rin Tin Can, the dumbest dog of the Wild West. Jolly Jumper's commentaries are very valuable. They let the readers see a new point of view and softens the drama.

Jolly Jumper is Lucky Luke's closest friend and favorite animal. He accompanies him everywhere, helps him more than once and shares successes and setbacks with him. Just as Haddock from Tintin, Jolly shows more temper than the hero. Luke is mostly undisturbed, but Jolly can get angry, gives criticism and commentaries on what happens. You can feel he prefers to want a more calm lifestyle, but his unbreakable friendship with Lucky Luke makes him follow him under any circumstances.

According to experts of the comics, Jolly Jumper is more than just a side character. Has Morris not said many times that he decided to make a western because of his love for drawing horses? It is because of this love that Morris decided to create Lucky Luke, and not otherwise. The cowboy originates from the horse.

[L'art de Morris: page 270-273]

[Billy the Kid – 1962]

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