''Chick Bill'' is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

humorous

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series created by

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

. It was first published in 1953 in the magazine ''Chez Nous Junior'', and its Dutch language counterpart '' Ons Volkske'', and began serial publication on October 19, 1955, in ''

Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...

'' magazine under the title ''Les aventures de Chick Bill le cow-boy''. 70 books of the series were published, and it lasted until Tibet's death in 2010. Tibet wrote many of the scripts as well as drawing all the episodes, but various stories were written by

André-Paul Duchâteau André-Paul Duchâteau (8 May 1925 – 26 August 2020) was a Belgian comics writer and mystery novelist. Biography He worked with Tibet on the detective comics series ''Ric Hochet'' and the more humoristic western comic '' Chick Bill''. He also ...

and

Greg Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory. Greg (more commonly spelled " Gregg") is also a surname. People with the name *Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people *Greg Abel (born 1961/1962), Canadi ...

and one episode was scripted by

René Goscinny René Goscinny (, ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Raised largely in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he attended French schoo ...

. Frank Brichau was credited as co-illustrator for the last two books. The series follows the adventures of Chick Bill, a young cowboy who lives in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, helping people in need and righting wrongs. His companions include an Indian child called ''Little Poodle'' ("Petit Caniche" in the French version), a gruff sheriff called Dog Bull and the latter's bumbling and dim-witted deputy, Kid Ordinn. Chick Bill and Little Poodle act as the series' heroes while Dog Bull and Kid Ordinn are the

comic relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...

characters. Kid Ordinn is also the series'

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...

and the real protagonist of many episodes.

Evolution

In the very first ''Chick Bill'' adventures, the characters were portrayed as anthropomorphic animals, rendered in a manner similar to the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

style and directed at a younger audience, before the series gradually evolved to feature human characters. This change was made when the series began publication in ''Tintin'', at the request of

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', ...

who was then the magazine's artistic supervisor.Didier Pasamonik
Chick Bill contre l’Invisible par Tibet - Le Lombard
''actuabd.com'', 17 May 2006

Sources

an

BDoubliées

Bedetheque ;Footnotes

External links

Chick Bill Complete Story Index With Cover Gallery in India Belgian comic strips Belgian comics characters Lombard Editions titles Comics characters introduced in 1955 Humor comics Children's comics 1955 comics debuts 2010 comics endings Western (genre) comics characters Western (genre) comics Comics set in Arizona Male characters in comics Fictional cowboys and cowgirls {{FrancoBelgian-comics-stub