Fort Navajo is a comic book by Jean Giraud and Jean-Michel Charlier. The original French version was first published in Pilote magazine in 1963-1964. Then it was published as a comic album in 1965. An English translation was published in Valiant in 1965 under the same title. An English-language comic album was published in 1977. This is the first episode of the Blueberry series and the first part of the First Indian Wars series.
Lieutenant Graig, a young, idealistic cavalry officer, travels to Fort Navajo, Arizona, his new posting. On the way to the fort, he meets Blueberry, a man who is involved in a Gambling Brawl. He is surprised to hear that Blueberry is a cavalry officer who is going to Fort Navajo too. They continue their journey on the same stagecoach. Along the way, they discover that the Indians attacked a ranch and kidnapped a white kid. Graig suggests to follow their trail, while Blueberry thinks that this is foolish.
Fort Navajo provides examples of the following tropes:
- Almost Dead Guy: Stanton is dying, but he manages to stay alive long enough to tell Blueberry and Graig that his son was kidnapped.
- Anti-Hero: The protagonist is not Graig, the idealistic officer, but Blueberry, a gambler who cheats on poker and drinks a lot.
- Big Damn Heroes: Blueberry shows up just in time to save Graig when he is going to be killed by the Apache whose trail he was following.
- Blasting It Out of Their Hands: During the Gambling Brawl, Blueberry shoots a weapon out of the hand of one of his opponents.
- Bring Help Back: Dickson sends a messenger to Santa Fe to ask for reinforcements. He is caught by the Apache who kill him.
- Drink-Based Characterization: In the saloon, Graig orders a lemonade. Since there is no lemonade, he asks for ice tea or ginger ale. Unfortunately for him, there is only hooch.
- Ensign Newbie: Lieutenant Graig is a young officer, fresh out of West Point. He is quite naive and foolish: he follows the trail of the Apache alone and he would have been killed if Blueberry had not showed up just in time.
- Foil: Graig to Blueberry. They are both young lieutenants in the US cavalry, but Graig is idealistic, chivalrous, disciplined, unexperienced and foolhardy, while Blueberry is jaded, undisciplined and wise.
- Gambling Brawl: Blueberry plays poker. His opponents accuse him of cheating and one of them draws his gun. Graig intervenes. Graig and Blueberry eventually have the upper hand.
- General Ripper: Bascom hates the Indians. He orders to slaugter a group of Apache in retaliation for the attack of the ranch. Later he takes the Apache chiefs hostage although Colonel Dickson promised to let them go.
- The Gunslinger: In the saloon, Blueberry shows off his aiming skills: he shoots the cork out of four bottles.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: Bascom insults Crowe because he is a person of mixed race.
- Historical Domain Character: Cochise and Bascom (who in real life was a lieutenant, not a major, at the time of the Bascom affair).
- Military Maverick: Blueberry is an undisciplined officer. He is not expelled from the army only because of his outstanding conduct during the Civil War. Instead, he is sent to Fort Navajo as a punishment.
- The Place: Most of the action of this episode happens in Fort Navajo.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Colonel Dickson. He does not agree with Bascom's plan to attack the Apache. He thinks that Cochise might not be responsible for the attack of the ranch (he is right). He agrees to negotiate with Cochise. He ignores the report about Blueberry's past behavior and he gives him a chance.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Blueberry is an undisciplined officer, therefore he is sent to Fort Navajo, a dangerous posting.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blueberry and Graig, two young lieutenants in the US cavalry, but Graig is disciplined, respectful, polite and stuffy, while Blueberry is undisciplined, rude and cunning.
- Right in Front of Me: Just after meeting Graig, Blueberry insults a general. He did not know the Graig was the general's son.
- The Siege: By the end of the album, Fort Navajo is surrounded by the Apache.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: This episode is inspired by the Bascom affair (1861), but the plot differs from the real events.
