One of the benefits of a job like mine is constantly mining for material that might make a good exhibit. An added bonus, and one that cannot be overstated, is working in a library where you have access to an amazing amount of potential–including some surprises.

Back in April, the newest Asterix and Obelix hit Netflix. I remember watching a dubbed feature as a kid back in the 80s. This started me down a trip of checking on other European properties that found a foothold in the states. The Smurfs are probably the most popular one. My son even put together a little exhibit outside my office for their 65th a few years ago. TinTin was another that came up, but one that really stayed with me from the early Hanna-Barbera series and the earlier feature was Lucky Luke who turns 80 next year. If the 70th celebration was any indication there should be plenty in store for 2026. And it’s crazy to think that one of the most recognizable American cowboys in popular culture was born in Belgium.

Like most things in my life I met Lucky Luke in the world of animation. A local video rental had Daisy Town and I probably rented it twice a month. I was much older when I finally found the Hanna Barbera series which had replaced his trademark cigarette with a piece of straw. I was older still before I ever saw an actual comic that the cartoons were based on.

Wondering what a search for Lucky Luke would kick up in our collections–the search for TinTin and Hergé produced a few nuggets for later–I headed over to our search systems.

Lo and behold, we had something physical in our Western History Collections. Incidentally, it is part of our library’s Special Research Collections, so I arranged a time to visit and see the material in the reading room.

Not only was it Lucky Luke (a hardbound reprint) but it was the specific story of the Land-Run of Oklahoma (as interpreted by the Belgian creator Morris).

Besides just being funny, that latter part has become fascinating for me to see how European artists viewed and interpreted the American West after World War II. Lucky Luke first appeared in 1946, though not quite as he would look as his popularity took hold.

For me it was just like meeting up with an old friend. But there was more to it than that. The book had a gift plate in it which sends any good researcher out to find out more about the benefactors.

Jacques taught French at OU briefly, but more interestingly they stayed connected with OU after leaving the university. From an article I found in Sooner Magazine, they became kind of the de-facto landing for students who were studying abroad in France. Helping students get settled into the country and acting as kind of a diplomatic familial community for those from out of town.

The letter didn’t say, but given the popularity of Lucky Luke it is perfectly reasonable to imagine Jacques or Marie-Christine reading these comics as kids in France and then having it close the circle as they gifted a copy to the collections of the university where he had worked.

This also started me back scouring the internet for find what copies of the series that I could. I still have the first series on VHS in varying stages of digitization. To that end, and following a theme that has emerged with my posts, here are the intros through the years.

And since it is such an international affair, here we have the original series theme in French:

German:

Spanish:

Finnish (the guns make a different sound in Finland apparently):

Swedish:

Afrikaans:

Polish:

and English:

In 1991 they use the same intro but removed the lyrics. They may have made this switch in Season 2 of the 1984 series, I am not sure. Unfortunately the version available online was ai upscaled (people, please stop doing this, or at least upload the original one as well) and re-ratio-ed before it was uploaded so it cuts off the bottom and top of the screen. If you compare the intros you’ll see what I mean. There is another uploaded with just the music, but the video isn’t the best quality.

What I did learn while looking for this was there was a 21st century series (The New Adventures of Lucky Luke) from 2001 available to watch. Having a whole new series of Lucky Luke to watch is a real treat. I haven’t hunted down the dvds yet to see if there is an English version of the intro, but the French one is fun, too.

We also have the French score of Inspector Gadget so we do listen to French cartoon music fairly regularly. So we picked up the LP scores for the early Lucky Luke feature length productions.

To confound the search for the 1991 animated series, there was a live action short-series as well as a feature length film starring Terrence Hill in the titular role. You may remember him from my earlier My Name is Nobody post.

I should also mention, if you aren’t familiar with it, that the horse (Jolly Jumper) talks. And plays chess.

By 2009 they could have played with their own marketed set.

There were also board games. Lucky Luke The Iron Horse:

And Lucky Luke Rodeo:

There were also puzzles. Lots of puzzles. And I mean LOTS of puzzles. They range from four to six piece tray puzzles up to 1000 pieces.

In 2007 Pathé and Xilam made a feature length which is on our to watch list. The animation looks amazing and it’s great to see that it was rendered in 2D.

There was also a 2009 movie, which I haven’t watched yet, but the intro looks promising and there are positive comments on the videos.

Now, something I did learn that I am both annoyed that I missed growing up and realize it is a moot point with regional disc availability, was just how many video games Lucky Luke starred in. You can watch that evolution here.

I would have loved to have played these. I am sure I can find them on emulators now, but I still want to stew on it a bit. Like the first time finding out that Europe had a Wacky Races racing game.

It’s also a great parody of the popularity of westerns. It’s wild how many historical figures feature in storylines, some involving a lot of real death. Though the make Custer a self absorbed dwarf in the 2001 series. The Daltons were a real gang who met their end robbing a bank in Coffeyville, Kansas. And literally as I wrote this to include the link I found a 2010 spinoff series featuring The Daltons. It’s produced by Xilam, the same company as the 2001 series and the 2007 feature.

Rantanplan (the dog) got a series spinoff of short-shorts (90 second episodes) called Rintindumb in 2006.

It’s fun to see the property still going strong as it knocks on the door of 80. Lucky Luke’s popularity doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Even if many Americans have never heard of him, he’s been featured on a host of different media including stamps and commemorative coins. The latter as recently as last year.

I’ll close with a memory from my French Revolution class in college. My professor said that one of the interesting things about France was how much (overarchingly) culturally similar to Texas it was. That it was roughly the same size, it had roughly the same population, and they both possess a self-importance among their geographic neighbors. At this several people in the back started mumbling how we weren’t like the French (this is 2005). It really sold her comparison because we all know that given the same conversation in a Texas Revolution course in France, someone would be in the back mumbling nous ne sommes pas comme le Texans. And there then is something to be said about France being one of the six flags having flown over Texas.

It also never fails to make me laugh that “poor and lonesome cowboy” gets transliterated into the English with the heavy accent “he ezz a cowboy; pour and lounsomme.”