L'Empereur Smith is a Lucky Luke adventure written by Goscinny and illustrated by Morris. It is the forty fifth book in the series and was originally published in French by Dargaud in the year 1976 and in English by Cinebook in 2010 as Emperor Smith. The story is loosely based on the life of the historical Emperor Norton of San Francisco.
Synopsis
In the small town of Grass Town, Lucky Luke meets Dean Smith, a wealthy rancher in the area who has lost his mind and imagines himself to be the Emperor of the United States. Thanks to his fortune, Smith was able to afford to hire a small army, equipped with cannons, and to put on a whole apparatus. Amused by this character who they consider harmless, the people of Grass Town play the game and pretend to take Smith seriously.
Emperor Norton
The situation escalates when Buck Ritchie, a notorious bandit of the region, gets to meet Smith, and convinces him to use his army to occupy the city. Terrorized, the locals rank on the side of Smith, who sets out to reconquer all the United States, making Grass Town the new capital of the country.
Judged for high treason, Sheriff Linen and Whitman, the editor of the newspaper, cowardly plead their case, and are pardoned by Emperor Smith who gives a title and a ministry to each. Convicted, Barney, the judge, is sentenced to death, commuted to life in prison, while Lucky Luke manages to escape, and plans to neutralize Smith, and free Grass Town. He does this by infiltrating a ball and kidnapping Smith. Gates, his second-in-command, and former cook, attempts to lead them, but with no-one to pay them, his soldiers quit. Luke arrests Gates. Richie duels Luke, cannon versus pistol, with Luke firing a bullet down the cannon, exploding it.
Luke goes to Smith, locked in a small hut nearby, and advises him to cross the nearby Rio Grande into Mexico.
Characters
Dean Smith: Rich rancher of the region who has gone mad, and imagines himself to be the Emperor of the United States; he now calls himself "Emperor Smith," and speaks of himself in the plural.
Buck Ritchie: Notorious bandit, who manages to infiltrate Smith's army.
Colonel Gates: former cook of Smith, who became his right-hand man. His important role also made him lose his head.
Judge Barney: Judge of the city, he is the only notable of the city, helped by Lucky Luke, to oppose Smith when the situation degenerates.
Sheriff Linen: Sheriff of the city, he does not concern himself with Smith, who he considers harmless and fun before he takes over. Cowardice leads him to join him.
Rudolph Whitman: Director of the Grass Town Guardian, the city's newspaper, which publishes Smith's proclamations and decrees. He considers the latter as a picturesque figure before joining.
René Goscinny was a French comic editor and writer, who created the Astérix comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. He was raised primarily in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he attended French schools, and he lived in the United States for a short period of time. There he met Belgian cartoonist Morris. After his return to France, they collaborated for more than 20 years on the comic series Lucky Luke.
Lucky Luke is a Western comic album series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborating with French writer René Goscinny. Their partnership lasted until Goscinny's death in 1977. Afterwards, Morris collaborated with several other writers until his own death in 2001. Since Morris's death, French artist Achdé has drawn the series, scripted by several successive writers.
Joe, William, Jack and Averell Dalton, known together as The Daltons or the Dalton brothers, are fictional characters in the Lucky Luke Western comics series. Four brothers and outlaws acting as the most recurring enemies to protagonist Lucky Luke, they were created by artist Morris and writer René Goscinny. Loosely inspired by the real-life Dalton Gang active in the United States in early 1890s, The Daltons first had a one-panel cameo appearance in the 1958 comic Lucky Luke versus Joss Jamon, before being prominently featured later that year in the comic The Dalton Cousins.
Bernard "Barney" Fife is a fictional character in the American television program The Andy Griffith Show, portrayed by comic actor Don Knotts. Barney Fife is a deputy sheriff in the slow-paced, sleepy southern community of Mayberry, North Carolina. He appeared in the first five seasons (1960–65) as a main character, and, after leaving the show towards the end of season five, made a few guest appearances in the following three color seasons (1965–68). He also appeared in the first episode of the spin-off series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968–1971), and in the 1986 reunion television film Return to Mayberry. Additionally, Barney appeared in the Joey Bishop Show episode "Joey's Hideaway Cabin", and, unnamed, in the first episode of The New Andy Griffith Show.
David William Huddleston was an American actor. An Emmy Award nominee, Huddleston had a prolific television career, and appeared in many films, including Rio Lobo, Blazing Saddles, Crime Busters, Santa Claus: The Movie, and The Big Lebowski.
Blue Steel is a 1934 American pre-Code Monogram Western film directed by Robert N. Bradbury and starring John Wayne. Wayne plays a U.S. Marshal who is trying to capture the Polka Dot Bandit, who has taken off with $4,000. The film also featured Yakima Canutt and George "Gabby" Hayes. It was released as Stolen Goods in the UK, and this version was later released in a colorized version on home video. Since the movie has fallen into the public domain, several versions are in circulation, including a colorized edition with a jarringly re-dubbed soundtrack, including dialogue, music and sound effects.
Stanley Martin Andrews was an American actor perhaps best known as the voice of Daddy Warbucks on the radio program Little Orphan Annie and later as "The Old Ranger", the first host of the syndicated western anthology television series, Death Valley Days.
Earl Dwire, born Earl Dean Dwire, was an American character actor who appeared in more than 150 movies between 1921 and his death in 1940.
Daisy Town is a 1971 French-Belgian film based upon the comic book character Lucky Luke and making it his first animated appearance. A Lucky Luke comic based on the film, with the title Daisy Town was released in 1982, drawn by Pascal Dabère.
Billy the Kid is a Lucky Luke comic book written by Goscinny and illustrated by Morris. It is the twentieth title in the original series. The original French-language version was printed in 1962 by Dupuis. It is the first in the English versions published by Cinebook Ltd.
À l'ombre des derricks is a Lucky Luke comic written by Goscinny and illustrated by Morris. It is the eighteenth title in the series and it was originally published by Dupuis in 1962, in French. English editions of this French series were published by Cinebook Ltd in 2007 as In the Shadow of the Derricks. The story is based on the historical oil rush in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859.
Lucky Luke contre Joss Jamon is a Lucky Luke comic written by Goscinny and Morris. It is the eleventh album in the Lucky Luke Series and the second on which Goscinny worked. The comic was printed by Dupuis in 1958 and in English by Cinebook in 2011, under the title Lucky Luke versus Joss Jamon.
Les Cousins Dalton is a Lucky Luke comic written by Goscinny and Morris. It is the twelfth album in the Lucky Luke Series. The comic was printed by Dupuis in 1958 and by Cinebook in 2011 as The Dalton Cousins.
Le Juge is a Lucky Luke comic written by Goscinny and Morris. It is the thirteenth album in the Lucky Luke Series. The comic was printed by Dupuis in 1959 and by Cinebook in 2010 as The Judge. The story is inspired by the historical Justice of the peace Roy Bean. As usual, Lucky Luke does not interfere unless injustice is done, or one party acquires an unfair advantage over the other. Siding with Bean takes place only for that reason, to the level that things are fair game again. The unsung side-kick of the Judge is Jacinto, a diminutive Mexican, who lightens up several details of the story.
Lucky Luke : La Ballade des Dalton is a 1978 French animated film written and directed by René Goscinny, Morris, Henri Gruel and Pierre Watrin starring the comic book character Lucky Luke. Two different adaptations of the film in book form were both published in French in 1978. The first, adapted by Guy Vidal, was in text form rather than comic strip, and was accompanied by images from the film. The second was a comic strip adaptation by an uncredited Pascal Dabère and formed part of the book, La Ballade des Dalton et autres histoires.
Go West! A Lucky Luke Adventure is a 2007 French animated western comedy film directed by Olivier Jean-Marie and written by Jean-Marie and Jean-François Henry. Based on the 2001–03 animated television series The New Adventures of Lucky Luke and loosely based on La Caravane by Morris and René Goscinny, the film was produced by Xilam, France 3 Cinéma, Pathé, Dargaud Média and Lucky Comics, and was released theatrically in France by Pathé Distribution on 5 December 2007.
Go West, Young Lady is a 1941 American comedy western film directed by Frank R. Strayer and starring Penny Singleton, Glenn Ford and Ann Miller. It was produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures.
The Daltons is a French comedy animated television series based on the works by artist Morris and writer René Goscinny, focusing on the four main villains of the comic book series Lucky Luke who try to escape the prison as they get locked up in every time Lucky Luke captures them. The show is being adapted by Olivier Jean-Marie and Jean-François Henry while the series is directed by Charles Vaucelle.
Lucky Luke is an animated television series based on the comic book series of the same name created by a Belgian cartoonist Morris.
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