When at the end of our interview about Asde, designer and co-creator of Lucky Luke twenty years ago, he kindly offered to dedicate a small sketch of a poor and lonely cowboy to me, my reaction was not quite an adult: after muttering a trembling “thank you” and waiting for the drawing to be completed, I accepted it supposedly in cold blood, thanked the creator, and then I left, staring at him dumbfounded . As if that beloved hero, paper, but so beloved, was there, smiling good-naturedly only at me, like an old, slightly more experienced friend.

The same exclusivity was probably experienced by many others. This interview is in the context of a recent 7th Comic Con in Thessaloniki began with Asde stating how impressed he is every time with the popularity of the hero he draws. “Everyone knows him,” he said with admiration, “whether I am in the Scandinavian countries or in Portugal, Greece or China. It’s always magical for me.”

The origins of this magic can be traced perhaps decades back, when the now 61-year-old French comedian teamed up with Lucky Luke’s “father” the great Maurice on Radanplan (aka “the dumbest dog in the universe”). “) history. When Maurice died in 2001, his widow, at the behest of the Belgian creator, asked Asde to continue his work. “I experienced both great honor and an absolute nightmare!” the Frenchman recalls with a trembling laugh.

No wonder: from under his pen continued cult comics. However, Asdeth (whose nickname comes from the French pronunciation of the initials of his name, Hervé Darmenton) eventually co-wrote, with screenwriters such as Laurent Guerrat and, finally, Gilles, about ten successful issues, not counting the Lucky spin-off. Baby” (in Greek from Mammoth Comics). Now he feels like he belongs in the Lucky Luke universe. “And after me,” he adds seriously this time, “someone else will continue. Lucky Luke is immortal.”

Lucky Luke is of course also brave, calm, fair and resourceful, invincible at a target and uses his skills to hunt down the Daltons, take on a mission with Dolly in the United States, etc. d.

Our hero can find something good in everyone, I’m sure even in Joe Dalton.

His stories pay homage to and parody Westerns, and while their major components remain the same, the minor ones do not. “In the beginning there were good guys and bad guys,” explains the French comedian. “Now that’s unacceptable. So I wanted to step by step introduce a more complex character. In Western terms, Lucky Luke was not John Wayne, but James Stewart, and now it’s like in the Deadwood series. The problems he faces are new. Rather, if even in the 19th century there were questions of justice, racism, inequality, economics and others, now we are approaching them to illuminate our own era.

Take the 2008 film The Man from Washington, for example. Lucky Luke accompanies presidential candidate Rutherford Hayes on his campaign trail, and along the way they encounter black musicians who are in danger of being lynched by a white-hooded organization, Chinese workers who demand respect for their… eating habits and corrupt political opponent George W. Bush. “Sometimes this detour is the best way to get a direct message across,” says Asde, making a gesture with his hand to the side to symbolize the old cameo tradition that Morris and his most important screenwriter, the formidable René Gossini, have. “Some readers find this very funny,” Ashd continues, amused, “but we did and we didn’t like Bush at all!”

Another tradition is signs at the entrances to cities, villages or farms, which summarize the philosophy of the inhabitants and their owners. “You know, we’re not that fast, but our bullets are fast,” read anyone arriving at Pocopoco Pueblo, in the Dalton Indians. “I will plant trees on this land and pencil anyone who steps on it,” Pistol Pete wrote near his Toward Oklahoma field. In The Washington Man, a sign at the entrance to Texas reads: “We have oil, cows, banks, and no humor.”

Asde laughs at the examples and explains, “Yes, it’s a tradition. Readers need solid links – this is very important. Three generations have read Lucky Luke, and this is the fourth. Grandfathers and fathers pass his stories on to their children. In doing so, of course, they are also explained why Lucky Luke quit smoking or why he doesn’t use his flea jumping gun.”

However, while the cowboy quit smoking in the 80s to appeal to the American public, today Asde considers “revival culture” just “stupid”. One day he was told that he couldn’t draw black people because he wasn’t black himself. “If we continue like this,” he comments, “then everyone will be limited to their own identity and no one will talk to anyone.” Lucky Luke’s latest issue, “L’Arche de Rantanplan” (“Rantanplan’s Ark”) is dedicated to animal rights. The French comedian doesn’t tell the whole story. But he notes that there is a desperate vegan named Quinoa Bob, that in the finale “everything is perfect as always” and also highlights Lucky Luke’s timeless secularism. “With his respect, he can bring out the best in everyone,” Asde says shortly before offering to dedicate this sketch to me. “He can find something good in everyone. I’m sure he can do it even for Joe Dalton.”