Joe, William, Jack and Averell Dalton, known together as The Daltons or the Dalton brothers, are fictional characters in the ''

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 par ...

'' Western

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

series. Four brothers and outlaws acting as the most recurring enemies to protagonist Lucky Luke, they were created by

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

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 ...

and writer

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 ...

. Loosely inspired by 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 ...

active in the United States in early 1890s (who themselves appeared in the 1954 ''Lucky Luke'' story " Outlaws"), 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'' (named as such because the four are billed as the cousins of their real-life counterparts within the ''Lucky Luke'' universe). While Morris depicted the real-life Dalton brothers as evil and successful, the fictional Daltons are dysfunctional, messy and less skillful. They are strictly identical except for height: Joe, the oldest and shortest brother, is the smartest and most cunning, while Averell, the youngest and tallest, is dumb and wholly incompetent; William and Jack, the middle brothers, have relatively colorless personalities and less dialogue than their other siblings. Their storylines often begin with the gang escaping from prison, followed by prison dog

Rantanplan Rantanplan (; alternatively spelled Ran-Tan-Plan and Ran Tan Plan) is a fictional hound dog created by a Belgian cartoonist Morris and French writer René Goscinny. Originally a supporting character in the ''Lucky Luke'' series, Rantanplan lat ...

, and later Lucky Luke, as they try to carry out whatever plans Joe, or their mother Ma Dalton, has in mind; they are traditionally captured or back in jail by the end of the story. The characters have appeared in a variety of adaptations, including the 1983 animated TV series, the 1991 film, and the 1992 TV series; they even acted as protagonists of several derived works, such as the 2004 film '' Les Dalton'' and the 2010-16 TV series '' The Daltons''.

The original gang's appearance

The "real" Daltons—Bob, , Bill and Emmett—appear in the ''Lucky Luke'' adventure " Hors-la-loi" written and drawn by Morris in 1951. Morris drew them absolutely identical in everything but

height Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is). For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is abou ...

: Bob was the shortest and also portrayed as most dangerous (he led the historical gang), and Emmett was the tallest (also the youngest, historically). At the end of this adventure, all the Daltons are killed in an attempted double bank robbery in

Coffeyville, Kansas Coffeyville is a city in southeastern Montgomery County, Kansas, Montgomery County, Kansas, United States, located along the Verdigris River in the state's Southeast Kansas, southeastern region. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

. Historically, Bob and Grat were killed there, but Emmett survived severe wounds and was imprisoned for 14 years, while Bill did not take part at all. In a later ''Lucky Luke'' story, Emmett is shown as having survived the Coffeyville shoot out, and has since fathered a son which the cousins Daltons are now laying claim to. Emmett Jr. is characterized as taking after Averell in his gluttony and childish nature.

The fictional cousins

Morris regretted killing off the Dalton gang, who were popular with readers. Thus, he created a second quartet, introduced as cousins of the historic persons. By this point, he had made the series more humorous, with violence featured as

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...

and less lethal. The entirely fictional brothers are Joe, Jack, William and Averell. They look just like their "cousins". Each is taller than the previous one, though they vary in personality: from Joe the hot-tempered leader to the dim-witted, childlike Averell who thinks chiefly about food. These Daltons are featured in many of Lucky Luke's adventures, typically breaking out of jail at the beginning and being sent back by Luke at the end. The prison dog

is often assigned to help Luke in tracking them down. The Daltons also appear in a spin-off series ''

,'' as well as many episodes of various Lucky Luke animated series. In another spin-off, ''Lucky Kid'', they appeared in a story titled "Oklahoma Jim," in which they meet Lucky Luke for the first time as kids.

Joe Dalton

The shortest, oldest, angriest, evilest, and least stupid of the brothers, Joseph "Joe" Dalton, is the leader of the gang who frequently masterminds their prison breaks and various schemes. Perpetually furious and motivated chiefly by a consuming hatred of Lucky Luke and Rantanplan, Joe frequently beats up his youngest brother Averell for his dim-wittedness. Joe is quick to draw his gun but is fortunately not much of a shooter. When the brothers split up in "Cavalier seul", Joe is the only one who continues robbing banks, stagecoaches and trains; he settled in a ghost town to revel in his new wealth. He sometimes sings a parody of Lucky Luke's signature tune. Instead of "I'm a poor lonesome cowboy and a long, long way from home," he sings, "I'm a rich lonesome outlaw and a long, long way from home".

William and Jack Dalton

The middle of the quartet, William Dalton and John "Jack" Dalton are the middle brothers. They have somewhat colorless personalities and mostly act as buffers between Joe and Averell, calming down the former and shutting up the latter. They often repeat the same sentence: "Calm down, Joe" and "Joe, calm down". In their first appearance, Jack was a trigger-happy arms maniac and William a master of disguise, but those characteristics were not kept in subsequent albums. When Morris created the brothers, William was usually the shorter of the two, but in some stories, as well as animated series, William becomes the taller of the two. Yet their personalities stay the same. In "Cavalier seul", William becomes the boss of an illegal gambling hole, while Jack becomes a corrupt politician. In both cases when Lucky Luke arrives with warrants for their arrest, he finds that each brother has made use of his new status to gain legal impunity. In the Xilam Animated Series, Jack is Joe's Right hand, often questioning and agreeing with Joe's schemes while William becomes the Bookworm of the gang, being knowledgeable about topics that the gang usually ignores and sometimes breaking the fourth wall to explain some facts to the viewer (The Diving Bell Concept, Women's rights in the 19th century, etc.).

Averell Dalton

Averell Dalton is the tallest, youngest and most dim-witted of the Daltons. Obsessed chiefly with food, Averell is sometimes prone to eating various non-edible items such as soap, which he finds delicious. His very limited understanding of any situation and tendency to goof make him the weakest link of the gang. Averell is actually rather good-natured and not particularly interested in criminal activities, but he has almost no will of his own and simply follows his brothers. He likes rather girlish things such as sewing and dancing. As a result of his good behavior and his idiocy, his rewards for his capture are often very low unlike his brothers. However, as shown in several albums, Averell is perfectly capable of taking care of himself when out on his own. He boldly calls Lucky Luke out for hand-to-hand combat in the album in which he is introduced (and inadvertently triggers a brawl in the street outside the saloon he and Luke are in). And after the brothers split up in "Cavalier seul", Averell befriends an Italian chef who he helps by working in the kitchen, expanding the line of dishes and later becomes involved with extortion of other surrounding restaurants and Mafia practices to expand the brand. Again as Lucky Luke arrives with a warrant for his arrest, he finds that largely thanks to Averell, his new "family" has gotten legal impunity. In "La corde au cou" Averell is shown to be quite content with married life, much unlike his brothers (although the personal traits of their respective

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

wives could also be a contributing factor). Despite usually being tender-hearted, Averell sometimes is quite nasty. He also has a changing relationship with Rantanplan. In some books, he seems to like him, but in others he hates him, swears about him and kicks him. Notably, despite his enormous affinity for food, Averell is a mediocre cook at best, but hates having the quality of his food questioned as seen in Dalton City, where he asks for Joe's gun when Lucky Luke criticizes his speciality, curry and eggs (though the virtually omnivorous Rantanplan still likes the dish).

Other Daltons

There were other Daltons that either appear or are mentioned where they are the fictional relatives of the historic Daltons: *Never appeared, but was once mentioned in a Dalton episode, is an uncle Abigail. He left the boys a cow. * Later stories of Lucky Luke also feature the mother of the Daltons named Ma Dalton who was the fictional aunt of the historical Daltons. Unlike her sons, Ma Dalton was a popular character in her area and the locals agreed to keep her well stocked in food. Not wanting to appear to be an object of charity, Ma would do her shopping with an old gun, the way her male relatives would rob a bank. Customers and staff would just raise their arms and serve her with a smile. Ma later returned to actual crime, allowing her sons to dress up as her in order to rob the banks more easily (the bank managers hesitate to admit that they had been robbed by an old woman). Of all her sons, she appears to prefer Averell but has said that Joe is the one she loves the most. She treats her grown-up sons as if they were still children: washing the mouth of one of them with soap when he uses abusive language and even spanking Joe. In ''

La Ballade des Dalton ''La Ballade des Dalton'' (aka ''The Ballad of the Daltons'' in English) 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 ...

'', it's commented she used to remind Jack to put on his sweater whenever she took them to raids. Ma Dalton was somewhat inspired by real-life

Ma Barker Kate Barker (born Arizona Donnie Clark; October 8, 1873 – January 16, 1935), better known as Ma Barker (and sometimes known as Arizona Barker and Arrie Barker), was the mother of several American criminals who ran the Barker–Karpis Gang ...

. * Never appearing himself, but often mentioned is the Daltons' father. Joe is supposed to be very much like him. He was a safe-cracker, but decided to try out dynamite in his job and was killed in the explosion. * One story features Marcel Dalton, a bank owner living in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, a disgrace to the Dalton family because of his honesty. He is Ma Dalton's only brother and the Dalton Brothers' uncle. * In the animated movie ''

'' (and the adaptation comic album of the same name), an Uncle Henry Dalton is mentioned. He is only seen on a "Wanted" poster and a statue of him is also shown near the end (he looks much like Joe). He is referred to as a great bandit, inspiration and idol to Joe, Jack, William and Averell. In the movie, the boys are told that Henry was hanged. His will stipulates that the boys inherit his fortune if they will kill the judge and jury who convicted him, under the eye of Lucky Luke, the 'only honest and trustworthy man' Henry ever met. Henry is said to look like the Daltons' father who was mentioned to have stayed in prison for 40 years. After the Daltons are arrested, Henry's fortune is given away to charity. * Another uncle named Jim is mentioned once in ''

La Guérison des Dalton ''La Guérison des Dalton'' is a '' Lucky Luke'' adventure written by Goscinny and illustrated by Morris. It is the forty fourth book in the series and It was originally published in French in the year 1975 and in English by Cinebook in 2010 a ...

'' where he is mentioned to have been hanged. * The Xilam Series introduces Bill Dalton, Ma's missing brother who stole a suitcase that contained something valuable. * Also from the Xilam series, the Daltons are introduced to their female Cousins from Boston, Joana Dalton, Jacqueline Dalton, Wilhemina Dalton and Eva Dalton, who break out their cousins in order to get an inheritance from their late father, Jason Dalton. * A grandfather is mentioned once in ''La Guérison des Dalton'' whose name is Franky Dalton. He is Ma Dalton's father. * Emmett Jr., as the name implies is the son of Emmett Dalton. He is very much like Averell, a glutton and a fun loving goofball. * In ''

'', Averell mentions an Uncle Zeke, briefly when reminiscing how, on the day of his hanging, Ma Dalton butchered a pig in honour of him. It is unknown, however, which side of the family Zeke came from, so it is not clarified whether Zeke was the brother of the brothers' father or of Ma Dalton.

Appearance in albums

The Dalton brothers appeared in the following Lucky Luke albums: #

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 ...

(11) (one-panel cameo) #

Les Cousins Dalton ''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''. This album is the first o ...

(12) (proper introduction) #

L'Évasion des Dalton ''L'Évasion des Dalton'' is a '' Lucky Luke'' comic written by Goscinny and Morris. It is the fifteenth album in the series. The comic was printed by Dupuis in 1960 and Cinebook Cinebook Ltd is a British publishing company that publishes c ...

(15) #

Sur la piste des Dalton ''Sur la piste des Dalton'' is a '' Lucky Luke'' comic written by Goscinny and Morris. It is the seventeenth title in the ''Lucky Luke'' series. The comic was printed by Dupuis in 1962 and by Cinebook Cinebook Ltd is a British publishing co ...

(17) #

Billy the Kid Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty; September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), also known by the pseudonym William H. Bonney, was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at t ...

(20) #

Les Collines noires ''Les Collines noires'' is a ''Lucky Luke'' adventure written by Goscinny and illustrated by Morris. It is the 21st book in the series and it was originally published in French in 1963 and in English by Cinebook in 2009 as ''The Black Hills''. ...

(21) #

Les Dalton dans le blizzard ''Les Dalton dans le blizzard'' is a ''Lucky Luke'' adventure written by Goscinny and illustrated by Morris. It is the twenty-second book in the series and it was originally published in French in 1963 and in English by Cinebook Cinebook Lt ...

(22) #

Les Dalton courent toujours ''Les Dalton courent toujours'' is a ''Lucky Luke'' adventure written by Goscinny and illustrated by Morris. It is the 23rd book in the series and it was originally published in French in 1964 and by Cinebook in English in 2012 as ''The Daltons ...

(23) # Les Dalton se rachètent (26) # L'Escorte (28) # Tortillas pour les Dalton (31) # Dalton City (34) #

Jesse James Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the " Little Dixie" area of Western Missouri, James and his family maintained stro ...

(35) # Ma Dalton (38) #

L'Héritage de Rantanplan A list of comics albums featuring the character Lucky Luke, written and drawn by Morris. ''La Mine d'or de Dick Digger'' ''La Mine d'or de Dick Digger'', written and drawn by Morris, is an album containing two stories from serial publica ...

(41) #

Le Cavalier blanc ''Le Cavalier blanc'' is a ''Lucky Luke'' comic written by Goscinny and Morris. English translations of this French comic titled ''The Dashing White Cowboy'' have been published by Dargaud and Cinebook. Plot Lucky encounters a wandering theater ...

(43) #

(44) # (47) # (48) # "Les Dalton prennent le train" dans "La corde du pendu et autres histoires" (50) # Daisy Town (51) # (52) # (54) # (57) # "Olé Daltonitos" and "Un cheval disparaît" in "L'alibi" (58) # (59) # (60) # (62) # (65) # (68) # (69) # (70) # (72) # (74) # (76) # (77) # (78)

The Daltons in film and television

Several animated ''Lucky Luke'' films feature the Daltons, including: * ''

'' (1971) * ''

'' (1978) * ' (1983, an anthology film with episodes of the

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

Lucky Luke TV series) The

cartoon in the 80s called ''

'' featured the fictional Dalton Brothers with Joe Dalton voiced by

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

, Jack Dalton voiced by

Rick Dees Rigdon Osmond Dees III (born March 14, 1950), best known as Rick Dees, is an American entertainer, radio personality, comedian, actor, and voice artist, best known for his internationally syndicated radio show '' The Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Coun ...

, William Dalton voiced by

Fred Travalena Frederick Albert Travalena III (October 6, 1942 – June 28, 2009) was a U.S. entertainer, specializing in comedy and impressions. Early life Bronx, New York-born and Long Island-raised, Travalena moved to Los Angeles and developed a mult ...

, Averell Dalton voiced by Bob Holt, and Ma Dalton voiced by

Mitzi McCall Mitzi McCall is an American comedian and actress. Life and career Television In the early 1950s, then known as Mitzi Steiner, McCall had the ''Kiddie Castle'' program on KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She received national attention in 1 ...

. The animated TV series of the early 1990s, which closely adapted the comics, also featured the Daltons, including in "Hors-la-loi" in place of the original Daltons. The Daltons appeared also in the first Italian live action movie ''

'' (1991) and the follow-up TV series, in which they were portrayed by Ron Carey, Dominic Barto, Bo Greigh and Fritz Sperberg. Note that "Averell" was constantly misspelled as "Averill". The Daltons also starred in a 2004 movie titled simply '' Les Dalton'', in which Luke barely appeared and which got poor reviews. The TV animation series ''The New Adventures of Lucky Luke'' (started in 2001) includes the four Dalton brothers in most episodes. The 2007 animated film '' Go West! A Lucky Luke Adventure'' produced by

Xilam Xilam is a French production company that specializes in animated television series and feature films. Marc du Pontavice and his wife Alix founded it in 1999 as a replacement for the animation division of Gaumont Multimédia; though Gaumont ...

stars the Daltons as the main characters, even though the comic ''The caravan'' that served as inspiration to the film does not.

has also produced an animated television series titled The Daltons, focusing on the characters of the Daltons. The series contains 78 episodes each lasting for 8 minutes and premiered in fall 2010 in France.

In other media

Joe Dassin Joseph Ira Dassin (; 5 November 1938 – 20 August 1980) was an American–French singer-songwriter and actor. He was the son of film director Jules Dassin. Early life Dassin was born in New York City to American film director Jules Dassin (1911 ...

had a

hit record A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

, " Les Dalton", inspired by the characters. *The Walibi leisure park in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

features a "Dalton Terror" drop ride loosely themed upon the Daltons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daltons, the (Lucky Luke) Belgian comics characters Comics characters introduced in 1951 Dalton Gang Fictional bank robbers Fictional characters based on real people Western (genre) outlaws Fictional families Lucky Luke Fictional quartets Fictional prison escapees Comic strip villains Male characters in comics Works about outlaws of the American Old West