''Les Cousins Dalton'' is a

Lucky Luke ''Lucky Luke'' is a Western '' bande dessinée'' 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 ...

comic written by Goscinny and

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia *St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Manitob ...

. It is the twelfth album in the Lucky Luke Series. The comic was printed by

Dupuis Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines. Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis was founded in 1922 by Jean Dupuis, and is mostly famous for its comic albums and magazines. It is originally a French ...

in 1958 and by Cinebook in 2011 as ''The Dalton Cousins''. This album is the first of many Lucky Luke albums to feature the brothers Joe, William, Jack and Averell Dalton as significant characters (they appear briefly in the previous album ''

Lucky Luke contre Joss Jamon ''Lucky Luke contre Joss Jamon'' is a ''Lucky Luke'' comic written by Goscinny and Morris (comics), 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 ...

'' as part of the jury set out to convict Lucky Luke). Within the Lucky Luke universe, they are cousins of the real-life

Dalton Gang The Dalton Gang was a group of outlaws in the American Old West during 1890–1892. It was also known as The Dalton Brothers because four of its members were brothers. The gang specialized in bank and train robberies. During an attempted double ...

. (The "real" Daltons appeared in, and were killed off, in the earlier album '' Hors-la-loi''.) As the story begins, the Dalton cousins are rather inept outlaws who aspire to become as notorious as their cousins, and vow to get even with Lucky Luke, the man responsible for their cousins' demise.

Synopsis

Joe, William, Jack and Averell Dalton, the cousins of the authentic Dalton Brothers, dream of avenging the dead by killing Lucky Luke and becoming desperados as famous as their famous cousins. As they are bad as bandits, they follow an intensive training and become dreaded outlaws. The Daltons turn to their vendetta against Lucky Luke, whom they find at Killer Gulch. The latter fools them when they play cards that the winner will have the pleasure of killing the cowboy: Luke provides them with cards (which only has aces) and the four brothers each have four aces. They start fighting each other, each believing that another is cheating. Luke meanwhile escapes. Then they go in pursuit of Luke before understanding that the latter is still in the town of Killer Gulch. To get him out, they blockade the city, preventing anyone from entering or exiting, and Luke agrees to a fight. Luke fights each Dalton with his bare hands and beats them one after the other. Impressed, the Daltons offer to Lucky Luke to become their accomplice. Luke apparently agrees and arranges to prevent the Daltons from committing crimes. When the Daltons understand that they have been deceived, they separate and leave each other on their own to find Lucky Luke. Thus, Luke confronts and captures each Dalton one by one (going from Averell, the first to find him, to ending with Joe) and the four brothers go to jail.

Characters

* ''The Daltons'' **Joe: The smallest, the most evil, "selfish, conceited, cruel and greedy", he has an unquenchable hatred for Lucky Luke; he is wanted for $5 at the start. ** William: Smaller than Jack and Averell, but taller than Joe; he is wanted for $2.50 at the start. ** Jack: Smaller than Averell, but taller than Joe and William, with William he is the "

Greek chorus A Greek chorus, or simply chorus ( grc-gre, χορός, chorós), in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, and modern works inspired by them, is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers, who comment with a collect ...

"; the reward for his capture is "an object of art in real plaster" at the start. ** Averell: The biggest and the dumbest, always hungry, "born-blunderer"; he is not wanted at the start.

References

Morris publications in ''Spirou''
BDoubliées

External links

Lucky Luke official site album index
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cousins Dalton Comics by Morris (cartoonist) Lucky Luke albums 1958 graphic novels Works by René Goscinny