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[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/LuckyLuke_8441.gif]]

A Franco-Belgian School [[TheWestern Western]] comic, it was created in 1946 by graphic artist Morris, who at first did both art and writing. It began as a semi-serious comic with a rugged cowboy hero, lots of gunplay and occasional almost-onscreen deaths. Then, from 1955 to 1977, the writing was taken over by ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' creator Creator/ReneGoscinny and the comic turned into an unabashed AffectionateParody of the whole western genre. Around the same time, the authors dropped all pretense of portraying the protagonist as a realistic cowboy and turned him into a [[TheDrifter Drifter]]/[[TheGunslinger Gunslinger]] type whose fame and skill often made him the US Government's last resort when it came to particularly tricky situations (much to his annoyance).

To know about the people and tropes Lucky Luke meets in his adventures, go to the WesternCharacters page and start from the top. Seriously, they're all there, gleefully parodied and occasionally played straight. But, while those make for the generic background crowds, one of the main points of the series is the number of historical characters Luke regulary meets and who most of the time take centre space in the story. Over the years they have included Judge Roy Bean (who owns a bar and acts as self-appointed "judge", complete with fake court proceedings, to extort money from locals ... and turns out to be harmless, helping Luke against the actual BigBad), Billy the Kid (portrayed as an actual, annoying BrattyHalfPint whose defeat consists of a good spanking), Jesse James's gang (with Jesse parodied as a delusional RobinHood fan and Frank as a Shakespeare-quoting pseudo-intellectual), Calamity Jane (with whom Lucky Luke developed a very sweet platonic relationship), Mark Twain, and Wyatt Earp, among others.

The most iconic characters of the series, though, weren't historical characters but the fictional ''cousins'' of historical characters. After Morris had Luke fight the real Dalton Brothers and showed their death on the page, Goscinny found this way to bring back a similar group of baddies, since the original Daltons' regularly descending sizes and identical ugly mugs made for lots of fun potential -- and did it work. At first, the Dalton cousins were hopeless bandit wannabes impressed by the fame of their relatives, but they quickly became feared outlaws in their own right in-story, while in the real world (in France and Belgium anyway) they completely [[WeirdAlEffect outshone their real-world counterparts]].

''LuckyLuke'' also gave us Rantanplan ("Rin Tin Can" in some English translations; "Bushwhack" in English dubbed 1980s animated series), a Rin Tin Tin parody and the stupidest dog in the world. With the hero's [[CoolHorse extra-smart horse]] Jolly Jumper, that's about it for the recurring characters, since Lucky Luke's [[TheDrifter wanderings]] took him to a different place each time. However, many character archetypes (the mayor, the sheriff, the undertaker, the saloon owner, the Chinese launderer...) are so [[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals similar]] from a town to another that they practically function ''as'' recurring characters and walking [[RunningGag running gags]].

After Goscinny's death, lots of writers took over penning the stories, with very irregular results. Now Morris has passed away too, Achdé is in charge of the art, restricting himself to strict Morris imitation because his style was so particular. French comedian Laurent Gerra was for a while in charge of the storyline, with at-best-lukewarm results; however the early reactions seems to be more positive to the latest album, scripted by novelists Daniel Pennac and script-writer/novelist Tonino Benacquista (co-writer of ''TheBeatThatMyHeartSkipped'', among others), so whether or not the series has become a bit of a FranchiseZombie at this point is open to question. As it has been so successful for over fifty years, it has also known several [[AnimatedAdaptation animated adaptations]], both with stories directly adapted from the comics and with original storis.

There were also three LiveActionAdaptation films: one starring Terence Hill (which spawned a series, too), another one centered on the Dalton brothers, and just recently a new one starring Jean Dujardin.

[[NoExportForYou English translations were fairly rare and obscure]], but thankfully British-based publishing firm {{Cinebook}} has to date published about 40 albums, with even more translations on the way. An English version of the animated series from 1983 exists, but was never shown in the United States, despite being co-produced by HannaBarbera (although a direct-to-video compilation of the first two episodes was released on VHS in the late 1990s).
----
!!The comic provides examples of:

* TheAce: Lucky Luke is good at what he does. Very much so.[[note]]It is said that he can draw faster than his shadow.[[/note]] A lot of the later Goscinny/Morris albums (especially those following the Daltons), tend to focus more on the villains trying to top Lucky Luke than Luke himself saving the day. Many of the movies also do this.
* AdultsDressedAsChildren: The Daltons, more than once. Happens to Luke as well in an early album, and causes him to be made fun of by an entire town.
* AdventureTowns
* AlliterativeName: Lucky Luke & Jolly Jumper.
* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: In one album, Luke comes across an alienist arrived from Austria to study the psychology of Western outlaws. His methods parody those of the Freudian school, even though Freud's own pioneering work is still some years in the future.
** Referenced in the last page: a panicked nurse comes running out of a baby's room yelling, "Mrs. Freud! Little Siggy just tried to--!
* AmnesiacsAreInnocent: The Daltons try to fake this after a real one is released from prison.
* AnachronismStew: The comic cherry-picks historical characters from around 1850 to the early 1900s while Luke of course [[ComicBookTime never seems to grow older]]. Strangely, the Civil War is almost totally absent from the stories.
** The Civil War does get a mention in passing when Jesse James' backstory is explained at the beginning of his eponymous album.
** Also, the Joss Jamon gang is stated to consist of ex-Confederate soldiers from the Civil War on the first page of ''Lucky Luke vs Joss Jamon''.
** The adult Lucky Luke meets (and helps out) the Earp brothers in the album ''O.K. Corral'', while in ''Oklahoma Jim'' a much younger Lucky Luke cites Wyatt Earp as an example of a sheriff who has been shot...
** Like in ''{{Asterix}}'', the comic often draws a lot of humor from using anachronisms on purpose and by making references to events that have not yet past during the time period the comic is set in.
* AscendedExtra: In the 1980's animated series, Rantanplan was frequently added as an extra character to episodes based on comics in which he did not apear. 
* AutomatonHorses: Jolly Jumper. Subvert-straightplay-parodied -- Jolly gallops faster than his own shadow, for days if need be, but also enjoys baths and such, and complains about exhaustion or discomfort at times.
* BadassLongcoat: Worn by the title character in ''The Bounty Hunter''.
* BadassMustache: The Dalton Brothers.
* BallisticDiscount
* BawdySong: presumably, many of the songs in the saloon girls' repertoire; the good-riddance-to-publisher-Dupuis comic (see the "Darker and Edgier" entry) featured an especially bawdy one, going "''see what the boys in the backroom will have''". This sang by saloon girls dancing ''can-can''. For the non-English speakers in the French audience, this counts as a BilingualBonus (see below) while GettingCrapPastTheRadar.
* BigEater: Averell Dalton and Rantanplan. Both are also {{Extreme Omnivore}}s, see below.
** The resemblance between them is more or less a RunningGag.
* BilingualBonus: To the readers of the original French. Goscinny was fluent in English and peppered the stories with funny English names, actual songs, and so on.
* BoomTown: Some spring from the ground in a few hours, and as often as not turn into deserted [[GhostTown ghost towns]] just as fast.
* BoringInvincibleHero: This is very much how Luke evolved in the series... An example of TropesAreNotBad: Morris and Creator/ReneGoscinny used this to their advantages, by making the villains (especially the Dalton Cousins) the driving force of many stories. The fun is not watching how Luke will win, but how the villains will lose (and, in the Dalton's case, how will Averell and Joe's interaction doom Joe's plans).
* BottomlessMagazines: Lampshaded.
-->'''Horace Greeley:''' Do you ever reload?\\
'''Luke:''' Yes, at the end of every episode.
* BountyHunter: the book ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasseur_de_primes The Bounty Hunter]]'' (in French ''Chasseur de primes'') is a hilarious parody of the trope. Following a short introductional treaty on the general status of bounty hunters in the [[TheWestern Old West]], we get introduced to the titular character, Elliot Belt, a notorious and unscrupulous representative of his trade. His appearance is an obvious nod on Western actor LeeVanCleef, particularly his acting roles as merciless bounty hunter.
* BreakoutCharacter: The Dalton brothers are curious examples, as they are [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Suspiciously Similar Substitutes]] and in fact the cousins of the original (and more competent) Daltons, who appeared in one album and died at the end of the story. When Creator/ReneGoscinny took over the script for the comic, he introduced the new IneffectualSympatheticVillain Daltons, who went on to become major characters, sometimes even becoming the {{Villain Protagonist}}s of their own stories.
** Rantanplan too got to star in his own comics, even having his own SpinOff series.
* ButNowIMustGo: At the end of lot of Luke's adventures, the people who wants to thank and honor him for service he has done for them, often finds that he has suddenly disappeared without a trace and asks where he has gone. Cue Luke RidingIntoTheSunset while singing (in English) ''"I'm a poor lonesome cowboy, far away[[note]]or "and a long way"[[/note]] from home..."''.
* ButtMonkey: Joe and Averell Dalton, in rather different ways.
* CanadaEh: Mounties, blizzards and lumberjacks.
** And all of them love tea, with a drop of milk.
** And did we mention Céline Dion?
* CardboardPrison: The Dalton's once-an-episode evasion. "Finding Lucky Luke and politely asking him if he doesn't mind bringing them back, please" is a standard prison protocol.
* CardSharp: There seems to be one in every town.
* CatchPhrase:
-->'''Averell:''' When do we eat?\\
'''Joe/Jack/William:''' Shut up, Averell.\\
\\
'''Joe:''' [[BerserkButton I'll kill him!]]\\
'''Jack/William:''' Calm down, Joe!\\
\\
'''Joe:''' I hate Lucky Luke!
* TheCavalry: Acts as OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow: the cavalry will come just in time, if and only if there is no other way to save the day anymore.
** Also notice that the cavalry was kind of MenOfSherwood in earlier albums. Later, they were flanderized into stupid militaries who still use YouNoTakeCandle with indians who talk perfectly.
* CelibateHero: Lucky Luke (although women tend to be sweet on him). Enforced comic book heroes had to be at the time; the ComicsCode was ridiculously afraid of anything resembling love, in case it led to something inappropriate. In many cases that "anything" included ''women''. Of course, to today's people it tends to suggest something else about those guys' sexuality... By FridgeLogic it might also be justified in-universe: being a cowboy means spending most of the year on the move after all, even if you herd the Daltons more than cattle.
** To be precise, it was the French equivalent of the ComicsCode: "Law #49-956 of 1949-07-16 on the Publications destined to the Youth", as a protectionist measure, which is one of the many reasons comics flourished more in Belgium than in France at that time.
** The irony is that while Luke is indeed celibate, the series didn't shy away from depicting saloon girls.
** In the end of the story ''Bride of Lucky Luke'', the full version of his "lonesome cowboy" song is about him not getting steady with women.
* ConvenientlyCellmates: The four Dalton Brothers will always get a cell together. Add to that the fact that it is a CardboardPrison and they are all {{Tunnel King}}s, and they will also very easily escape together.
** Typically by digging ''four'' tunnels. Yes, they're that smart.
* CoolHorse: exaggerated/parodied with Jolly Jumper; he can even play chess!
** Better yet, he can fish... and bait his own fishhook with a worm. Luke asks him how does he do it, and he replies "Like everybody: with disgust."
** When Luke's hired by to find a stolen horse, he wonders if it didn't simply escape. The owner then shows him the empty stall and asks him if he knows any horses that can pick locks. "Yes, my own. But he's one of a kind..."
* CountingBullets: Luke has occasionally tricked opponents into using up all their bullets by getting them to preform tricks.
* {{Cowboy}}: Our hero does find time to herd some occasional cattle.
* CutAndPasteComic: Morris had a tendency to do this in his last stories, when old age was slowing him.
* DarkerAndEdgier: PlayedForLaughs in a one-page comic that was made around the time the comic switched to a less strict publisher. In the comic, Luke enjoys the freedom the change has given him by acting completely OutOfCharacter. Namely by drinking alcohol instead of the usual lemonade, shooting a sheriff in the stomach and having implied, off-screen sex with a saloon girl, all while the other characters are pointing out that the publisher is too respectable to ever letting him get away with these acts, and Luke in turn pointing out that he got a new publisher now.
* DeadpanSnarker: [[FunnyAnimal Jolly Jumper]] is this a lot. Luke also does it a few times.
** Joe, mostly towards Averell.
* DiggingToChina: played hilariously in ''The 20th Cavalry''.
* TheDitz: Two obvious examples: Averell and Rantanplan.
* DogsAreDumb: Rantanplan is literally TooDumbToLive, having nearly drowned or otherwise killed himself numerous times.
* DubNameChange: As a slight {{Woolseyism}}, Cinebook decided to change Rantanplan's name to Rin-Tin-Can.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first albums of Lucky Luke rely more on visual gags. The characters are drawn in a more roundish way with big eyes, suitable for cartoon animation, which was Morris original intention.
** When René Goscinny became co-author the plots and gags improved enormously, even though the comic still was much darker compared to later albums. Lucky Luke tends to shoot his opponents dead.
* EarTrumpet: Old timers are often seen with these, especially if weakened to wheelchair condition. Usually the ear trumpet user still cannot hear and has to rely on someone else to personally deliver "what he said".
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: And the Daltons are quite right to. Ma Dalton was a fearsome bandit herself, and she still carries a loaded gun in her handbag.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The Dalton Brothers always stick together, proving that even among criminals blood is thicker than water. There's one time when they start singing the songs they used to sing back when they were kids and their parents brought them along to rob banks.
* EveryEpisodeEnding: Lucky Luke drives off into the sunset, while singing ''"I'm A Poor Lonesome Cowboy"''.
* EvilDetectingDog: Subverted. Rantanplan ''thinks'' he can do this...
* EvilGloating: The BigBad in the album about oil in Oklahoma. If he hadn't done it, he could've succeeded.
* EvilTwin: Mad Jim
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Lucky Luke is nicknamed (both in and out of stories) "the man who shoots faster than his shadow". That's no bragging, he really does. Regularly.
** Not to mention that he rightly deserves to be called "Lucky".
* ExtremeOmnivore: Averell Dalton and Rantanplan.
-->'''Averell:''' What's this delicious crust around the tamales?\\
'''Mexican:''' It's called a bowl, amigo.
* FalseRoulette
* FeudingFamilies: exaggerated UpToEleven wit the O'Timminses and the O'Haras in ''The Rivals of Painful Gulch''.
* FriendlyEnemy: A reversed version. Lucky Luke starts acting rather friendly to the Dalton brothers after a while.
* FriendlyLocalChinatown: In ''The Inheritance of Rantanplan'', much of the story takes place in the Chinatown of Virginia City, Nv, which is controlled by a [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs secret society]] (though a comparatively benign one).
* FunnyAnimal: Rantanplan, of course, by way of his [[TheDitz ditzy]] status. Jolly Jumper counts as this, too.
* GlobalIgnorance: From a telegraph operator:
--> '''[[DrillSergeantNasty Herr Direktor]]''': [[TelegraphGagStop Signed Herr Direktor stop.]]\\
'''Operator''': With a name like that, you wouldn't happen to be Canadian, would you?
* GhostTown: Several show up, and one is the setting of an entire episode.
* GoodFeelsGood: After an extended session of honest work, Jack / William comments that he's feeling something unfamiliar. Joe angrily tells him that he's feeling tired, everyone knows work makes you tired.
* TheGunslinger: "Faster than his own shadow."
* GratuitousEnglish: Like many French-language works, people use "Damned!" as opposed to "Dammit!".
* GratuitousSpanish: Averell's attempt to say "When do we eat around here?" while in Mexico ("Cuando se come aqui?") comes out as "Coacoacomékiki?".
* HangingJudge: Roy Bean in ''The Judge''.
** Isaac Parker in ''Belle Starr'' is a straighter example.
* HappyRain: In ''The Wagon Train'', when the caravan of California-bound settlers was running out of water after crossing a desert; and in ''Barbed Wire on the Prairie'', when a showdown between ranchers and farmers had turned to the latter's advantage because of a drought (the rain came just after an agreement to share water was reached).
* HenpeckedHusband: Mr. Flimsy in ''The Stagecoach''. Played with as he gradually becomes more self-assertive once he realizes that he has incredible luck with games of chance.
* HeyThatsMine: All the time in the album ''Fingers''.
* HistoricalInJoke: and how!
* HorsingAround: Jolly Jumper, the horse of Lucky Luke, is a textbook example. Besides being able to run impossibly fast and long, even while sleeping, and always coming when Lucky Luke whistles, as the series develops he gets the ability to speak and play Chess with Lucky Luke. Oh, and don't think of stealing him. It will get really painful, when he recognises that you are not his rider.
** In one case, [[MeddlesomePatrolman an annoying Mountie]] confiscated him as Luke goes into the saloon. By the time Luke gets out, Jolly is back, and the mountie is asking help from a ''penguin''... 
* IHaveAFamily: Parodied in one album, when the Daltons flooded the country with (faked, of course) {{Wanted Poster}}s. Every person Luke meets after that does this, culminating in "I have fifteen children..."
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Most memorably when Luke shoots what seems to be random holes into a roll of waxed paper. Then he puts the roll and a coin into a player piano, and the piano starts playing [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEX1dYyvmig Chopin's "Funeral March"]].
* InteractingWithShadow: In the intro to the cartoon, we see Luke actually shooting his shadow in a duel.
* InThePastEveryoneWillBeFamous: Luke has met almost every celebrity from the Old West.
* InstitutionalApparel: The striped prison outfits worn by the Daltons and other jail inmates.
* InevitableWaterfall: Lampshaded. As the Daltons are about to fall down one, Jack reassures Joe, saying that in adventure stories something always comes up at the last second to save the characters. Unfortunately, in this case nothing does and the four brothers take the plunge (though they ''are'' rescued afterwards by an Indian fisherman).
* InvincibleHero: Though [[TropesAreNotBad it's not a negative case]], specially as the colorful villains are usually the focus.
* JailBake: Inverted in one case: the loaf is so overbaked Averell breaks a tooth on it, so they just file the bars with the loaf.
* JerkAss: Joe Dalton. Once, when they steal an Indian's dogsled, Joe takes the sled for himself and lets his brothers run by foot. And later, when they lack time to harness the dogs, he lets them pull the sled.
* JokerJury
* JumpingOutOfACake: In "Dalton City", a saloon dancer is concealed inside a giant cake, but the homemade pastry is so tough that, by the time she manages to get out of it, the party, the fight and pretty much the story are over.
* JustLikeRobinHood: Parodied with Jesse James, who gives his stolen spoils to his poor brother, who gives it back, since giving away the stolen goods makes him poor as well.
* KangarooCourt: In the album "LuckyLuke against Joss Jamon". Complete with JokerJury.
* TheKeyIsBehindTheLock: In a cartoon episode, the Dalton Brothers are trying to be honest, and to have a honest work, they open their own bank. At one point Averell Dalton is commanded to open the safe, but he can't remember where the key is, so he opens the safe with dynamite. It turns out that the key is inside, and Averell closed it in there "for safety". Joe Dalton is not amused.
* KickTheDog: Joe Dalton really doesn't like Rantanplan.
* KungShui: The obligatory BarBrawl. In one episode the saloon owner routinely removes the mirror behind the bar whenever a brawl is about to begin. At least one occasion has the mirror smashed just as he's putting it back.
* LandInTheSaddle: Repeatedly.
** Subverted on at least one occasion, when he jumped through the wrong window and fell flat on the ground instead of ending up on his horse, much to the latter's amusement.
** On another occasion, as he didn't know from which window Luke would jump, Jolly Jumper posted a fellow horse under each window of the building.
* LighterAndSofter: The earlier comics were a bit darker and mostly based on Old West action and adventure (though not without some comedy). Luke even killed at least one man (lampshaded by Joe Dalton in ''Belle Starr''). One of the most famous effects of this trope is Luke quitting smoking and having a straw of grass in his mouth instead.
** Later lampshaded when a guy offers him a cigarette. Luke refuses, saying he quit. The guy apologizes, and offers a straw of grass. Luke then says, "No thanks, I'm trying to quit."
** Also lampshaded in the Go West movie, where he is offered a cigarette again and says he quit. He's asked if quitting was hard, and Lucky Luke admits to chewing on a straw for quite a long time.
* MadeOfIron: Ironhead in ''Going Up the Mississippi''.
* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Averell Dalton. He even has his own "Not Wanted" poster!
** In ''Daisy Town'' he does have a "Wanted" poster like the other brothers. The posters are shown throughout their childhood and teens until adulthood with older faces and larger bounties. Averell's bounty stays at $4... Until it's lowered to ''$3''.
* MisplacedADecimalPoint: In the episode ''Outlaw'', the Daltons (the original ones, not the nephews from the later stories) try to divide their loot among themselves. Having had no actual schooling, they [[EpicFail fail horribly, turning a simple long division into a mathematical nightmare]]. Bob Dalton uses his gun to place a decimal point "to simplify things".
* TheMobBossIsScarier: When Billy the Kid is captured, everyone is too afraid of him to testify against him.
* TheNapoleon: Joe Dalton
* NapoleonDelusion: The character of Smith, convinced he is the Emperor of the United States, references the historical "Emperor" [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton Joshua Norton]], with the important difference that he is a millionaire ranch owner who can afford full Napoleonic costumes, paraphernalia and ''army''. He names Napoleon as his "model" and insists on full-on First Empire protocol in all circumstances, to the hilarious dismay of his employees-turned-soldiers.
* NeverMessWithGranny: Ma Dalton.
** Luke even says he'd never been so scared as during his quick-draw with her, as there's no way he could shoot an old lady even if she was in fact very much about to kill him. [[spoiler: Good thing Sweetie chose that moment to jump into her arms, allowing Luke to disarm her.]]
* NitroExpress: One is comic devoted to this. It's just too bad that the Daltons decide to hijack the train, not knowing what's on it, and run close to blowing themselves to kingdom come.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Minor characters are often "played" by famous Western actors or other celebrities, e.g. LeeVanCleef, Randolph Scott and Creator/AlfredHitchcock.
* NoFourthWall: Jolly Jumper makes up for his [[SpeechImpairedAnimal speech impairment]] by addressing the reader all the time.
* NothingUpMySleeve: A derringer up the sleeve is the typical armament of gamblers in ''Lucky Luke''.
* OnceAnEpisode: Luke rides into the sunset, singing ''"I'm a poor lonesome cowboy, far away from home..."''
** Often [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] and parodied, such as the time he does so around page three and Jolly Jumper expresses his pleased surprise at this early ending. Sure as rain, the bridge they were riding on blows up.
** Not to forget the short ''Where The Sunset Is'' where Averell has a rare moment of Genre Savviness. After the Dalton brothers escape from jail again, Joe decides that rather than head for the nearest town (where they are bound to be found and arrested by Lucky Luke sooner or later), they will hide out in the wilderness. Soon they have found a nice peaceful place where they want to settle for the night -- all except for Averell, who feels uneasy about the place and wants to leave. Just as the sun sets, Luke comes riding along, spots the brothers and arrests them. Back in jail, Joe wonders how Averell knew that Luke would be there, and Averell replies, "Didn't you notice? That's the place where..." Cut to the closing scene with Luke riding into the sunset at that exact location. ''That'' is "where the sunset is".
*** It appears to be a rather perpetual sunset, as Luke has time to bring the Daltons to the nearest town and still be back at the sun set place before nightfall. That, or Jolly is a remarkably fast horse.
* OneNoteCook: All the station cooks they encounter on a travel with the stagecoach can cook nothing but potatoes with bacon (well, and coffee, or something similar.) [[OddOneOut Except for one, who makes beef with beans.]]
* OralFixationFixation: After chain smoking for much of the series, Luke eventually switched his cigarette for a straw of grass.
** Referenced when a government secretary offers him a cigarette, but Luke tells him he quit. So he offers him a straw of grass... only for Luke to tell him he's trying to quit.
* OutlawTown: ''Dalton City''
* OutOfCharacterMoment: At one point Luke is tied to a post with handcuffs and talking to Joly Jumper. ''Rantanplan'' overhears this, runs to the drawer where he remembers the keys are kept, runs back to Luke with the keys in his mouth ([[OOCIsSeriousBusiness astounding both of them]]) and promptly faints. Luke mentions he must have had a fit of intelligence. 
* PaperThinDisguise: In ''Barbed Wire on the Prairie'', Luke infiltrates a cabal of cattle ranchers by donning a suit, putting on a fake moustache, and dragging a single scrawny cow in tow. The disguise fails him, however, when someone realizes he's too thin to be a real cattle rancher (all of whom are badly overweight).
* PinballProjectile: Used many times to show off Luke's skill.
* PinkElephants
* PocketProtector: In ''Lucky Luke et Pilule'', Pilule ("Pill") is shot but not hurt, to his ununderstanding. Then he realizes that the bullet hit the box of pills that was in his pocket.
* PolkaDotPaint: An Indian camouflaging his horse in ''Daisy Town'' swipes his brush back and forth on the horse, and behold! the horse is coated in an elaborate landscape.
* ProfessionalGambler: Scat Thumbs. Characters like that often crop up in Lucky Luke stories. In fact this is kind of a stock character for Lucky Luke. Like many other western trope characters.
* RainDance: In one episode, an area inhabited by Native Americans is suffering from serious draught. As it turns out, their shaman has fallen from a horse and hit his head. He is otherwise ok but can't get the dance right and his various attempts only produce minor weather anomalies (like a small blizzard conjured by doing the macarena)
** In another, [[ItMakesSenseInContext a group of irate native dignitaries enters the local saloon to deliver an angry message to the townspeople]]. These include their shaman... and his unruly apprentice, who is far more interested in the saloon girls than their mission, and decides to start dancing on the stage. Afterwards, it starts raining in the girls' dressing-room.
* RealAfterAll
* RefugeInAudacity: Referencing drug use in a children's movie? Horrible! Devoting more than five minutes in a eighty minute children's movie to a musical number that is very clearly an extended drug trip by characters (after explicitly having their drink spiked with "mushrooms" by a snake doctor), including a desecration of Jingle Bells ("Shooting guns, shooting guns, shooting all the way")? Awesome!
** The entire segment, even in the French original, is in English, so this may actually count as GettingCrapPastTheRadar after all... but probably not)
* RidingIntoTheSunset
* ARoundOfDrinksForTheHouse: when the Dalton Brothers come to a city in Canada, a gold digger arrives and uses his gold to buy a round. The saloon owner says that the gold diggers all do that and then go back to digging gold for another six months. Cue to Joe Dalton planning to take over the saloon...
* RuleOfFunny: A ''huge'' percentage of the series runs on either this or RuleOfCool.
* RussianRoulette: Yes, it ''is'' possible to cheat.
* SapientSteed: Jolly Jumper often talks, but usually does this with other horses or with himself, in the same vein as Snowy with ''{{Tintin}}''.
** Mainly, but he also does talk to Lucky Luke sometimes.
** He's also exchanged the occasional word with Rantanplan, though not often -- probably because he detests the dog.
* ScoobyStack: The Daltons often do this. It helps that their height doesn't exactly change.
* ShesAManInJapan: Jolly Jumper is a mare called ''Dolly'' in Greece. It is interesting that this gender change never conflicted with the stories or caused confusion through the decades and as a result most people in the country consider the horse a female character. ...Until the #73th issue (created after Morris' death) was recently translated, which was all about Jolly falling in love with a mare. The publishers decided to correct the horse's gender from that issue and onwards.
* ShorterMeansSmarter: Joe Dalton.
** Smartest of the Daltons, which isn't saying much. Luke calls him the moronic brain of the gang.
* ShoutOut: Many!
* SirSwearsalot: Hank the stagecoach driver and Calamity Jane. The latter is contagious, as by the end of the story the three prim-and-proper ladies are also swearing like sailors.
* TheShrink: [[HerrDoktor Otto von Himbeergeist]], who tries to cure the Daltons. While his diagnosis is usually right on-spot, he doesn't manage to turn them. And then, he gets the idea that he should've started a career in crime rather than in academics...
* SittingSexyOnAPiano
* SnakeOilSalesman: Dr. Doxey
* SoapPunishment: Done by Ma Dalton to one of her foul-mouthed sons.
* SpeechImpairedAnimal: Jolly Jumper and Rantanplan can only chat with members of their own species. Though most of the time, Jumper seems to be able to have conversations with Luke. Well, ''he'' understands Luke, anyway.
** And occasionally they'll talk to each other as well, but these conversations are extremely spare. Probably because Jolly Jumper ''really'' doesn't like Rantanplan and either ignores him or makes sarcastic comments about him.
* SpinOffBabies: ''Kid Lucky'', portraying Lucky Luke in his childhood. It had only two albums.
* StarsAreSouls: In ''Kid Lucky'', Kid and the Dalton believe that the stars are the souls of sheriffs dead with their boots on.
* StealthHiBye: Luke slinks away every time people are starting to talk about rewarding him.
* StickyFingers: Fingers, [[ShapedLikeItself from the album]] ''Fingers''.
* StrawmanPolitical: Infamous case in the last story ''The Man of Washington''. The main villain is a hitman called Sam Palin (YES, Palin, and did I mention it was released around the 2008 American Elections?) who is a violent supporter of gun-owning rights. In a panel, his eye pupils become ''red'', ''foam'' comes out of his mouth as he says ''"Just because we have guns doesn't mean we are dangerous! Grrrr!"''
** Not to mention that the comic was also about a fictional [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything oil millionaire from Texas who wants to become president]] and doesn't coincidentally look like GeorgeWBush. Laurent Gerra is just ''that'' subtle.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: The Dalton brothers.
* SuperWindowJump: Repeatedly. Usually leads to LandInTheSaddle.
* TarAndFeathers: A common form of mob justice for professional gamblers who get caught. Also, in one story the Daltons got tarred and feathered repeatedly, to the point where Averell decided to stay that way.
* TelegraphGagSTOP
* ThoseTwoGuys: Jack and William, the two middle [[SiblingsInCrime Dalton brothers]]; Goscinny actually had trouble remembering which was which, so they tend to switch names between books. They work as an ensemble anyway.
* ThouShallNotKill: Lucky Luke has the reputation of never killing his enemies, and several media refer to him as never having killed anyone, a theory supported by Goscinny's daughter, Anne. This is close to CriticalResearchFailure: Luke has canonically killed EvilTwin Mad Jim, and this story was in the ''first album of the series''. In the original run of ''Lucky Luke vs. Phil Defer'' story, Luke kills Defer at the end in a duel. This was later [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] in the album releases by Defer only being injured but rendered crippled for life.
** Also, the original Daltons gang was hanged after Luke caught them.
*** In first publication, Luke actually ''kills'' Bob Dalton by headshot... and it's [[http://www.actuabd.com/IMG/jpg/Morris-Bob-Dalton.jpg onscreen]]. In the album version, it is censored and replaced by a simple caught with a barrel -- before their hanging.
* TrainingFromHell: On their debut adventure, The (replacement) Daltons start out as pathetic joke characters uncapable of anything bad, so they grind themselves through a brutal training regime to become more like the original Daltons. ''It works.''
* TruthInTelevision: It's actually possible to shoot faster than your own shadow. According to the law of cause and effect, it's impossible ''not'' to, no matter how slow you are.
* TunnelKing: The Dalton Brothers are experts in escaping through tunnels. With spoons no less. Often digging one tunnel ''per'' Dalton.
* UndersideRide: When a train is derailed, it's revealed a tramp was travelling on the axles.
* VillainousBreakdown: Joe Dalton, whenever someone mentions Lucky Luke in his presence. Inverted, in that it usually happens at the beginning of an episode, and once he regains his calm he devises a plan to take his revenge.
* WantedPoster: As another staple of Western, about OnceAnEpisode. Some gags are milked out of the Daltons wanted posters, as mentioned above.
* WeSellEverything: Any general store Lucky Luke patronizes. "For the impossible," as one store manager puts it, "we request a two-week delay."
* WrongGenreSavvy: SarahBernhardt's manager tries to get out of an Indian attack by throwing around glass beads and fake jewelry. The chief's response: "The paleface is thinking of [[DarkestAfrica the wrong continent]]. Seize them!"

!!The movies provide examples of:
* BadassLongcoat: Worn by Jesse James in the 2009 live-action film. ExaggeratedTrope: his coat is ''really'' long.
* ButNowIMustGo: In ''Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure'', [[spoiler:Lucky Luke brings his group to California but decides not to stay]].
* CompositeCharacter: Jesse James's character in the 2009 movie has taken on several character traits of his brother Frank from the comic, most notably the obsession with Shakespeare.
* DisneyAcidSequence: The animated film ''Lucky Luke: The Ballad of the Daltons'' has one of these. Although it is caused by MushroomSamba.
* LiveActionAdaptation: Three of them:
** ''Lucky Luke'', 1991: stars Terrence Hill as the title character and is infamous for being an InNameOnly adaptation.
** ''Les Dalton'', 2004: is centered on the Dalton brothers and star French comedian duo Éric and Ramzy as Joe and Averell. Lucky Luke is played by German actor Til Schweiger.
** ''Lucky Luke'', 2009: stars Jean Dujardin as the title character. Got ''much'' better reception than the two previous adaptations.
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Belle]] in the 2009 live-action film.
* NoExportForYou: None of these films were released anywhere other than Europe (sans the UK) and Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
* OnOneCondition: In ''Lucky Luke: The Ballad of the Daltons'', the Dalton brothers learn that their Uncle Henry Dalton died by hanging (which Joe considered a "natural" death) and left them their fortune on the condition that they kill the judge and the jurors who sentenced him to death and that Lucky Luke provides testimony confirming the fulfillment of the condition. [[spoiler:The judge and the jury convicted the Daltons for attempting to murder them and Lucky Luke provided testimony. The money went to charity.]]
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: [[spoiler:Cooper]] in the 2009 live-action film, when he makes a racist remark on [[spoiler:Luke's Native American mother]].
* TakingTheBullet: In the 2009 live-action film, happens with [[spoiler:Luke's mother]] and [[spoiler:Belle]].
* ThouShallNotKill: In the 2009 live-action-film, one of the main plot elements is about Lucky Luke's oath to never kill anyone.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailers of the 2009 live-action film give away the facts that [[spoiler:Jolly Jumper talks to Luke]] (which is meant to be a surprise in the film) and that [[spoiler:Jesse James and Billy the Kid go EnemyMine with Luke]].

!!The LicensedGame series provides examples of:

* MinecartMadness: Explosive Mine from the GBC title ''"Lucky Luke Desperado Train"'', complete with this trope's [[NintendoHard basic premise]] despite it can [[BestLevelEver get a lot better]] with practice (as pointed out in the page for the trope itself). It's the third-to-last level [[spoiler: and if you want to see it, the password is Gun-Gun-Star-Horseshoe]].
* UnexpectedGameplayChange: ''all over the place'' [[ScrewTheRulesIHavePlot for the sake of plot]] [[ExcusePlot (if any)]], in the GBC title "Desperado Train". For a noteworthy example, you get to play as Rantanplan as soon as you get stuck in a cage, only to guide the dog through an underground dungeon in order to get the key and ''backtrack the whole stage to free Luke''. And the level ends as soon as you free him.
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25th Feb '13 5:02:59 PM Maneko

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