Lucky Luke Volume 44 Lucky Luke Versus Pat Poker

Having accepted the sheriff’s job in Red City, Lucky Luke arrives to find a town entirely under the control of Pat Poker, a ruthless gambler, cheat and saloon owner, and his henchmen. His horse, clothes and revolver stolen, Luke decides to pass himself off as a harmless, bumbling tenderfoot, all the better to study his opponents and catch them unaware. Still, Pat won’t give up easily, and keeping him behind bars might require some additional work...

Everyone knows Joe, Jack, William and Averell Dalton, the four dumbest desperadoes in the Old West and the worst enemies of Lucky Luke’s holidays. But before them, Luke had also encountered their cousins: real-life legends of the West Bob, Grat, Bill and Emmett. When these four began making too much trouble, Luke was called to get rid of them. Fortunately for him, they weren’t much brighter than their successors... but they did provide plenty of entertainment!

While taking part in a rodeo in Wisconsin, Lucky Luke and Jolly Jumper meet Mario Bombardier, a Quebecois cowboy, and his mare the beautiful Province. It’s love at first sight for the two horses, and after the inevitable separation, Jolly Jumper can’t stop moping. Eventually Luke decides to head to Quebec in order to arrange a reunion – and discovers the merry atmosphere of the Nouvelle France: mounted police, bar fights, poutine, traditional French songs ... and an unscrupulous, wealthy banker...

In 1860, getting from Missouri to California on the West Coast took a long, long time – not to mention a certain degree of courage. Annoyed at the delay in communication, the federal government offers a grant to whoever can solve the problem and set-up a fast, reliable mail system linking East and West. In response, entrepreneur W.H. Russell founds the Pony Express company: fearless men riding day and night, changing horses at way stations. But not everyone likes that idea...

After a fellow inmate, having received a blow to the head, forgets his own name and is freed as a brand new man, the Daltons start pretending to be amnesiac in order to escape the prison. So as to test their supposed amnesia – and hopefully allow them to retrieve their memories should it be real – they are put in familiar situations: bank hold-ups, train robberies ... under Lucky Luke’s supervision, of course.

After their umpteenth defeat at Lucky Luke’s hands, the Dalton brothers get into a big argument that ends with the four of them splitting up. They make a deal: Whoever is first to get a million dollars will be the leader of the gang. Going their separate ways, trying various schemes, each spreads his own kind of mayhem, forcing poor Lucky Luke to do four times the work to keep up with their antics !

We all know that Lucky Luke has a busy life. When it’s not Washington calling upon him for some national project, it’s the local penitentiary asking him to recapture the Daltons. But not every moment is spent in such grand adventures. Here is a collection of smaller stories depicting the everyday life of our cowboy, from taking a child to the dentist to helping passing settlers – and even attending a classical concert in Houston! What a full life he leads!

Horace Greeley is heading west with his printing press and his rock-solid belief in the power of the press, printing issues of his Daily Star as he goes. But his insistence on publishing the truth isn’t making him universally loved. When Lucky Luke meets the quirky journalist, he agrees to help him settle in Dead End Gulch and protect him against those who would rather not see their dirty deeds in print.